What You Need to Know About Your Prostate

June 11, 2015

You are going to put your finger where?

As a male you are getting older and the inevitable happens, you wind up at your doctors office with your pants down, asked to turn over and the doctor explains where his finger is going. You take a deep breath and let it happen, it is for your own good.

So, right as you are hitting the ages of 55-70 it is recommended that you get a prostate exam and also a PSA blood test. These tests are to make sure you do not have prostate caner. The new guidelines recommend that men between the ages of 55-70 get tested every two years. If you are African-American or have a family history of prostate cancer, yearly testing is recommended at the age of 40. After awhile it will seem like a normal doctor visit.

After going into the doctors office as explained above if the doctor feels anything “funny” such as a mass or if the doctor sees a rise in your PSA they will recommend a prostate biopsy. A prostate biopsy is a procedure where they take samples of the mass and test to see if it is cancerous.

How the process goes is that the doctor may ask you to take an enema beforehand or have you not eat the night before. The procedure can take place at either a doctor’s office, a day clinic or even at the hospital. You take an anesthesia. Whether it is local or general depends on your doctor.

After your doctor gets the samples that they need they will contact you with your results and go from there.