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44 Results for search "Men's Problems: Misc.".

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Male circumcision is perhaps the world's oldest operation. It's depicted on ancient Egyptian tombs, and it's mentioned -- commanded, actually -- in the book of Genesis in the Bible. Over the years, it has been prescribed as a cure for epilepsy, asthma, alcoholism, insanity, and other maladies. Today, doctors realize that the only thing it really eliminates is the foreskin. The days of cutting off ...

What is an enlarged prostate? The prostate, a small gland that produces fluid for semen, is in an ideal position to cause trouble. The gland wraps snugly around the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder. It's a tight squeeze -- and it only gets tighter as men grow older. As men age, the prostate inevitably grows, putting more and more pressure on the urethra. For some men, this ...

Men are always just one misstep away from groin pain. Even if they manage to avoid serious injury, some aches and pains just come with the territory. It's important for a man to know which types of pain can be shrugged off and which require medical attention. Pulled groin muscle (adductor strain) Groin injuries are common among athletes, especially soccer players. One common type of injury is...

Have you ever heard your dad talk about the day you were born? He may be able to describe the weather or the big story on the television news. Chances are, though, he can't talk about your actual birth. Back then, fathers were often barred from the delivery room. While your mother was pushing, your dad was probably in another room, worrying and looking at his watch. When you talk to your kids, the...

Josh Kraft and his wife originally planned to have their first baby in a hospital. But as the months went by, the idea seemed less and less appealing. "My wife wanted to control things," Kraft says. "She didn't want a doctor saying, 'Well, it's 5:30 on a Friday, let's move this thing along.'" Eventually, they decided to have the baby at home, where they could be in charge -- at least until the bab...

In many ways, Josh Kraft of Billings, Montana, had perfect training for fatherhood. As the oldest of nine children, he was already an expert baby wrangler who knew his way around a diaper. But when Kraft and his wife started talking about having kids of their own, a few doubts and fears started to creep in. Was he really ready? Was his wife ready? How could they afford a child? In the end, the des...

Anne Hofstadter is a breast cancer survivor. Her sister and mother have also had breast cancer. So Anne worries that her 46-year-old daughter may eventually be diagnosed with the disease -- especially since her daughter's paternal grandmother also suffered from it. But it never occurred to her to fret about her 44-year-old son. "I guess I knew men could get breast cancer, but it seemed more like a...

Few teenagers have the experience or resources it takes to start a family. But that doesn't keep them from doing so. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, each year more than 750,000 teenage girls become pregnant. The rate of pregnancy among American teenagers dropped steadily in recent years, but it is higher than almost all other industrialized nations. Whi...

Some dads do a great job from day one. They're loving, supportive, and attentive. They change a diaper in seconds flat, bank it into the pail from 20 feet, and kiss the baby who made the assist. More likely, though, new dads are scared. They're afraid they'll do everything wrong. They'll pale at changing her diapers, they'll mess up her feeding, and they'll fumble when they hold her. But good pa...

If you're caught in an abusive relationship, your top priority should be safety. You may not be able to control the abuse, but with some planning and determination, you can take steps to protect yourself and your family if it persists. Even if you plan to continue the relationship, you should have a plan in place for dealing with the next possible attack. And if you intend to leave, you should do...

Ask any woman, especially one with children and a mortgage, and you're likely to get an earful on stress. In fact, studies show consistently that women score higher on the stress-o-meter than do men. In a survey conducted in 2006 by the American Psychological Association (APA) fully 51 percent of women -- compared to 43 percent of men -- reported that stress had an impact on their lives. Other ...

Many people equate "domestic violence" with an angry husband hitting his wife. In reality, that's only one possible scene. Although women are much more likely to be victims of domestic violence, it's not so uncommon for wives to hit husbands, boyfriends to hit or verbally abuse girlfriends, girlfriends to hit or abuse boyfriends. There's more than one way for a relationship to turn violent or abus...

Women aren't the only ones who get hot flashes in their later years. Aging men can get them, too, along with osteoporosis, dwindling energy, fading sex drive, and a host of other problems that would be familiar to millions of menopausal women. Over the years, health journalists, members of the general public, and a few doctors have embraced the term "male menopause" to describe the changes that so...

From a man's point of view, starting a family is easy. While women are on the job for nine months, men can often complete the task in a single evening. When it comes time to try for a pregnancy, they just naturally assume that it will happen. But among the couples who try unsuccessfully for months or even years to get pregnant, about half the time the problem lies either with both partners or with...

Barring some unexpected scientific breakthroughs, pregnancy will always be a woman's job. A man can feel a baby kick and love it before it's born, but he can never truly know what it feels like to have a life growing inside him. Likewise, men often have trouble understanding the pain felt by women who are struggling with infertility, says Diane Clapp, RN, a fertility counselor and director of med...

What's so great about condoms? The condom, a thin rubber sheath that fits over your erect penis, traps your semen during sex and keeps you from impregnating a female partner or infecting your partner with a sexually transmitted disease. It can also protect you from picking up one of these diseases yourself by shielding your penis from your partner's secretions. Although they may reduce the sens...

For as long as people have been having children, they've been trying to understand the mystery of fertility. We've come a long way, but many misconceptions remain. Here's a look at the top modern infertility myths: Myth 1: Infertility is almost always a woman's problem. Fact: When there's an identifiable cause of infertility, about half the time men contribute to the problem, according to Resolv...

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) revolutionized treatment for male infertility. The procedure, introduced in 1992, involves taking single motile sperm and directly injecting the sperm into the egg to initiate the fertilization process. ICSI necessarily requires the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process to directly manipulate sperm and eggs. ICSI boasts a fertilization rate of 50 to 80 perce...

The sex lives of men can seem like something akin to an Aesop's fable. As years go by and youth fades, we may stop aspiring to the mating style of rabbits and become more like red foxes, lonely animals that make do with one brief breeding season each year. The moral: Even if you're a happy rabbit now, don't take your sex life for granted. You could still turn into a fox. Lasting desire This ...

What is the prostate, and how common is the cancer? It's a walnut-size gland that lies at the base of the bladder and surrounds the urethra. In the United States prostate cancer is one of the two most frequently diagnosed cancers in men (the other is skin cancer), accounting for 10 percent of cancer-related deaths in men. The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that one man in six will be diag...

Every year, about 2 million doctor visits result in a diagnosis of prostatitis, a term that means "inflammation of the prostate". Behind that simple definition lies a complicated, mysterious malady. In up to 95 percent of cases, there's no known cause for the inflammation. Prostatitis is a bewildering condition, but that's starting to change. Researchers are pressing to understand its characteris...

Editor's note: William Martin is a professor at Rice University who has lectured on sociology and wrote books on religion, as well as a memoir about surviving prostate cancer. My prostate and I were not exactly strangers. At first, I hardly noticed its enlarged role in my life. I had always drunk large quantities of liquids, with the consequent need for frequent trips to the restroom. But about...

Editor's note: William Martin is a professor at Rice University who has lectured on sociology and wrote books on religion, as well as a memoir about surviving prostate cancer. Increasingly, strategic planning for urination became a conscious part of my routine. I learned to void just before leaving the house and then again upon arriving at almost any destination -- church, a restaurant, my offi...

Editor's note: William Martin is a professor at Rice University who has lectured on sociology and wrote books on religion, as well as a memoir about surviving prostate cancer. This series was excerpted from his book, with permission. Soon after I woke up, I was wheeled back to my room, where Patricia was waiting. She reported what Dr. Scardino had told her after the operation. As best he could ...

There is no part of a man's body he is more protective of than his penis, an organ he becomes intimately familiar with -- first as his own personal fire hose, then as an instrument of pleasure. Just the thought of a knife wielded down there brings shivering, or more accurately, shriveling. Going in for a vasectomy is not the kind of thing you share with the guys at work either. Guys don't talk abo...

Even in the Age of Viagra, when jokes about the little blue pill can be heard at every turn, impotence is rarely a topic among men. It is not for lack of interest or experience. Most of us have known that desperate, humiliating moment when our sexual machinery fails to operate -- and some of us have known it more than others. A few years ago, it became all too evident that I was edging toward impo...

What is erectile dysfunction? At some time in his life, almost every man finds himself with an aroused mind, a willing partner, and a penis that refuses to cooperate. The inability to get an erection may be disappointing or even devastating at the time, but it's nothing to worry about -- unless it becomes a recurring problem. As many as 30 million American men experience erectile dysfunction (also...

Why does my penis have a bend in it when it's erect? Many men have a slight curve in their penis, so if you've always been this way, it's probably normal for you. But if it's a change you recently noticed, see your doctor. You may have Peyronie's disease, a condition in which thick scar tissue forms in the penis so that it contracts on one side and bends up, down, or to the side when hard. This pr...

How fast is too fast? You don't need a stopwatch to decide whether you have a problem with premature ejaculation. If you're reaching orgasm before you really want to, that's premature enough. That said, a definition from the International Society For Sexual Medicine notes that men who suffer from premature ejaculation "always or almost always" reach orgasm within about one minute of starting sex. ...

Who should have this exam? If you're 50 or older, you should discuss whether to have the exam with your doctor. Sure, it's uncomfortable, maybe even a little embarrassing. But it may be worth it. The doctor will manually check your prostate -- a walnut-sized gland that surrounds the duct connecting the bladder with the penis -- to look for signs of prostate cancer. The doctor will also check to s...

It's a familiar complaint: Men receive better medical care than women. Research has shown, for instance, that male heart attack victims are given more aggressive therapy than female heart attack patients. The problem has been blamed on bias -- doctors tend to think of heart attacks as a predominantly male problem. But a new study suggests that men may also be undertreated for conditions associated...

Men are notoriously leery of doctors, especially when it comes to "sensitive" topics like the prostate. So when over-the-counter herbal products claim to "promote prostate health," many men will listen. Over two million men in the United States use saw palmetto for prostate problems, an herb that, among other things, has the reputation of easing the symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate (a...

What is the PSA test? It helps determine whether you have cancer of the prostate, a walnut-sized gland enfolding the duct leading from the bladder to the penis. The test measures how much of a protein essential to human reproduction, PSA (prostate-specific antigen), is in your blood. The PSA's job is to turn your gelatinous pre-semen into a liquid, thus energizing the sperm. Your prostate makes th...

What is a prostate biopsy? For many men 50 and over, digital rectal exams (DREs) have become a routine part of the annual checkup, as have prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests. These tests can uncover signs of prostate cancer, a disease that kills roughly 29,000 Americans each year. But before a doctor can make the diagnosis, he needs to do another procedure: the prostate biopsy. To confirm the p...

Who should have this exam? If you're 50 or older, you should discuss whether to have the exam with your doctor. Sure, it's uncomfortable, maybe even a little embarrassing. But it may be worth it. The doctor will manually check your prostate -- a walnut-sized gland that surrounds the duct connecting the bladder with the penis -- to look for signs of prostate cancer. The doctor will also check to s...

To treat prostate cancer, doctors perform tens of thousands of surgeries each year. In recent years, one procedure -- called a radical prostatectomy -- has become a fine art, says J. Brantley Thrasher, MD, a professor of urologic surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. While side effects like incontinence and impotence are still major concerns, most patients respond well...

Every year, roughly 190,000 American men learn they have prostate cancer. It's bad news, but it isn't likely to be a death sentence. Thanks to widespread screening, nearly 90 percent of prostate cancers are detected before they spread beyond the gland. At this point, the disease is highly curable, meaning that after five years men who have undergone treatment remain cancer-free. Men with early-st...

Is it important to examine my testicles? Routine self-exams have not been shown to improve your chances of detecting and surviving testicular cancer. However, if you have symptoms of testicular cancer such as pain or swelling of the testicles or the scrotum, a testicular exam could save your life. Most cases of testicular cancer are first detected by men themselves, when they notice something unus...

Why am I losing my hair? If your hair is gradually deserting your temples or crown while standing fast at the back and sides of your head, you're probably experiencing male-pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia). Normally, individual hairs grow for two to four years, "rest" for about three months, and then fall out to make room for new hairs to grow in. But in some men, the hair follicles near...

The journey from conception through pregnancy to childbirth can be so full of twists, turns, and obstacles that it's no surprise many couples have trouble reaching their final destination -- parenthood. According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, about 6 million American couples -- roughly 10 percent -- struggle with infertility at any given time. Fortunately, many "infertile" coup...

The human erection is an amazing feat of engineering. The progression from flaccid to firm requires close cooperation between the brain and the nerves, blood vessels, and muscles that control the penis. Unfortunately, the delicate process can break down for many reasons, making erections either difficult or impossible to achieve. Impotence (the inability to have intercourse because of erectile dys...

If you've attended a large family reunion lately, it may come as no surprise that women tend to outlive men. In the United States, the life expectancy of men is about five years less than women, according to the American Journal of Public Health. For African American men, it's still worse: They tend to live about six years less than white men. Nearly all of the biggest killers in America -- inclu...

Jet lag in London, mosquito bites in Madrid, Montezuma's revenge in Acapulco, an emergency medical bill in Nepal -- the perils are enough to scare would-be travelers into tossing away those glossy brochures. But a little knowledge and planning can stave off many a trip's unhealthy side effects. To test your travel smarts, take our quiz. 1. You probably already know that the direction you fly c...

What's the best way to keep your skin soft, smooth, and supple? By staying out of the sun, of course. But that's not all there is to it. Take our quiz and find out what it takes to save your face. 1. The skin on your face ages faster than the rest of you because: a. It's exposed to the sun more often b. You use it to communicate your feelings c. It's exposed to cigarette smoke more ofte...