Even with advanced cases, however, we usually can relieve the symptoms, enabling them to live a relatively normal life. The two common types of surgery performed for this enlargement are not without their own attendant difficulties. In transurethral resection, a cutting edge is passed up the urethra and a section of the prostate is removed from the inside. This is useful in some patients, but usually it requires another operation ten to fifteen years after the first one, unless natural therapy is instituted. Most surgeons are loath to mention these sexual difficulties before surgery, but it is rare for a patient not to have sexual weaknesses after either operation.
Prostatic operations are currently very popular among physicians.
It's not necessarily their fault, however, that such operations must be performed. Most men have an inherent dislike and fear of medical treatment, and therefore usually won't seek attention for a prostate disorder until it is well advanced. If we could treat these men at an earlier state, much surgery could be avoided. By constant publicity, we have convinced the women of our country to get their Pap tests and to examine their breasts, and from these simple procedures many disastrous problems have been prevented. Unfortunately, no such efforts have been made to have prostates checked on a similar basis.