Why should I check my prostate?

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Jun 6, 2019/ 0 Comments / in Male health / by

Usually, teenage girls inaugurate their gynaecologist appointments when they have their first menstruation and keep up a yearly medical check-up. However, when it comes to men, it is customary in our clinics to receive adults of 30, 40 or even 50 years old have never visited an urologist ever.

Booking a medical appointment foreshadows the possibility of “finding something wrong” even though we feel fine. Nonetheless, we must change this perception and perceive a medical appointment as a chance to celebrate everything is fine or an opportunity to find room for improvement.

Going to the doctor is a preventive measure before there is a serious health problem. The male prostate is a gland that should be closely monitored so that it develops in a normal way and without anomalies. We shouldn’t wait until it hurts or until there is any discomfort before going to the doctor, because not every pathology manifests itself with symptoms like pain or uncomfortable sensations.

When men reach 40 years old, prostate begins to grow and it is crucial to control this process to check if it is a benign increase (which is known as “BHP” or benign hyperplasia of the prostate), or a malign increase (which may be a cancer). The main reason to check our prostate is to have an early detection, should there be any kind of anomaly. Besides, the sooner we find out, the less invasive the solution will be.

Over the years, risk factors increase, so a visit to the doctor may save a lot of anxiety and many more visits to the doctor. Other reasons for a timely yearly check-up include:

• You are responsible for your health and therefore, the first person who must take care of it.

• Monitoring prostate health is painless.

• Lack of pain does not mean everything is fine, some pathologies don’t show any symptom until there is a serious problem.

What kind of tests do I need if I want to check my prostate?

Firstly, the patient should go to an urologist to carry out a non-invasive anatomical examination. In this first visit, the doctor will simply ask some simple questions to assess your case and will request a prostatic ultrasound and a complete blood and urine analysis to determine the levels of PSA (prostate-specific antigen).

The results will allow the doctor to determine what the following step is. It is important to bear in mind that digital rectal examination is not always part of the initial diagnostic protocol. This test is normally only necessary if both ultrasound and blood and urine analysis give signs of abnormalities.

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