Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)


Benign Pro­sta­t­ic Hyper­pla­sia (BPH) is a com­mon con­di­tion in men as they age that caus­es your prostate gland to become enlarged.Nearly 50 per­cent of men will devel­op BPH by the time they reach the age of 60. As your prostate gland becomes larg­er, it can put pres­sure on your uri­nary tract and impair the flow of urine from your blad­der and may cause a vari­ety of uncom­fort­able uri­nary symp­toms. Symp­toms vary from per­son to per­son and don’t nec­es­sar­i­ly depend on the size of your prostate gland. Com­mon symp­toms include: 

  • Increased fre­quen­cy and/​or urge to urinate
  • Changes with your urine flow includ­ing dif­fi­cul­ty start­ing, a weak­ened stream and/​or dribbling
  • Dif­fi­cul­ty emp­ty­ing your blad­der completely

Less com­mon­ly, you may expe­ri­ence blood in your urine or devel­op uri­nary tract infec­tions. If left untreat­ed, BPH symp­toms can wors­en and have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on your dai­ly life. 

If you devel­op BPH, there are many treat­ment options avail­able to man­age your symp­toms and main­tain your prostate and blad­der health. In addi­tion to lead­ing a healthy lifestyle, med­ica­tions may be pre­scribed to help relax your prostate and blad­der mus­cles, improve your urine flow and tar­get the hor­mones caus­ing your prostate to grow. Min­i­mal­ly inva­sive sur­gi­cal options are also avail­able includ­ing laser and Uro­Lift procedures. 

If you are expe­ri­enc­ing uri­nary prob­lems that may be due to an enlarged prostate gland, your urol­o­gist can help you select the treat­ment plan that is right for you.

Com­plet­ing a symp­tom scor­er can help deter­mine the sever­i­ty of your BPH symp­toms and their impact on your dai­ly life. 

For ways to main­tain your prostate health and BPH, click here.

Infor­ma­tion about sev­er­al treat­ment options for BPH can be found using the links below:

Uro­lift

Bi-polar Transurethral Resec­tion Prostate (TURP)

Green­light Laser Therapy 

Rezum Water Vapor Therapy