The finger of the prostate massager is introduced into the rectum through the anus and the prostate gland is gently massaged via the anterior (front) wall of the rectum. The use of a finger for anal penetration and prostate stimulation can enhance a man's orgasm or vary the sensations experienced during sexual arousal. The increasing availability (online via the Internet) of purpose-designed, safe and hygienic sex toys and devices aimed at prostate stimulation may encourage sexual experimentation and incorporation into sex play.
Prostate massage may be practiced between sexual partners, either as a discrete activity or during other sexual acts stimulating the penis for example. However, all male orgasms, including those by penile stimulation, involve muscular contractions in the prostate gland. Prostate stimulation can produce a stronger, more powerful, and "deeper" orgasm than solely penile stimulation, described by some men as more widespread, intense, and enduring, and allowing for greater feelings of ecstasy than orgasm elicited by penile stimulation only. Some men can achieve orgasm through stimulation of the prostate gland, such as prostate massage or receptive anal intercourse, and men who report the sensation of prostate stimulation often give descriptions similar to females' accounts of G-spot stimulation. The prostate is sometimes referred to as the "male G-spot" or "P-spot". Stimulation may be achieved by use of one or more fingers or by using sex toys designed to bring pressure to the anterior wall of the rectum at the location of the gland. It is possible for some men to achieve orgasms through prostate stimulation alone. Prostate massage is also used as an erotic massage for sexual stimulation, often in order to reach orgasm. Vigorous prostate massage has been documented to have injurious consequences: periprostatic hemorrhage, cellulitis, septicaemia, possible disturbance and metastasis of prostate cancer to other parts of the body, and hemorrhoidal flare-up, and rectal fissures. The practice is still used in some parts of China. In a recent trial, however, prostate massage was not shown to improve outcomes compared to antibiotics alone. In the late 1990s the ineffectiveness of drug treatments for chronic prostatitis led to a brief resurgence of interest in prostate massage. Once the most popular therapeutic maneuver used to treat prostatitis, it was abandoned as primary therapy in the 1960s.
Prostatic massage should never be performed on patients with acute prostatitis, because the infection can spread elsewhere in the body if massage is performed. As a consequence of these findings, prostate massage is not officially sanctioned in medicine for the treatment of any medical disorder today. In recent trials, however, prostate massage was not shown to improve outcomes compared to antibiotics alone. In the late 1990s, a small number of doctors tried prostate massage in conjunction with antibiotics for the treatment of chronic bacterial prostatitis with uncertain results.