Can A Doctor Shrink The Prostate?

An enlarged prostate is a painful disorder seen in men as they grow older and many wonder if there is a possibility for doctors to shrink the prostate to bring about relief. The problems related to the enlarged prostate include frequent urination, urinary infections and stones in the bladder. These symptoms most often go unnoticed, mainly due to sheer ignorance or high tolerance for pain and discomfort. However, delaying the treatment of prostate diseases may seriously affect the treatment choices available and the possibility to full recover from them. Early detection and diagnosis by a doctor are critical to the recovery from prostate diseases. A doctor may have several treatment options to shrink the prostate gland. Some of them are described below.

Can Medication Shrink The Prostate?

The first option usually suggested by doctors to shrink prostate is the use of drugs. Finasteride or Dutasteride are the drugs prescribed by doctors to help reduce hormone concentration in the body, if the prostate inflammation is detected at an early stage. These drugs help in controlling inflammation in the prostate, thereby reducing the size of the prostate. Alpha-blockers such as doxasozin or tamsulosin have been found to be helpful in the relaxation of prostate muscles thereby reducing the discomfort caused by the symptoms of an enlarged prostate such as frequent urination. To date, these measures have been found to be effective in the quest to shrink the prostate.

Can Surgery Shrink The Prostate?

In many cases when medications fail to shrink prostate the next option has to be surgery. There are surgical options which can be done on an outpatient basis. These surgical treatments include removal of the prostate tissues in the urethra. The apparatus that is used here is the Catheter which generates heat to expunge the infected prostate tissue in isolated areas.

If outpatient procedures do not work for some patients, then doctors opt for yet another measure to remove the excess prostate tissue through the transurethral resection. In this process an electrical loop is inserted into the urethra to dissect the inflamed and infected tissues on one hand and seal the blood vessels on the other to prevent bleeding. This process involves a short recovery time and has minimal side effects. The main side effect of this treatment is the problem of ejaculation into the bladder during sexual intercourse. Although it sounds very strange for this to happen, it is not as serious or harmful as previously thought. Doctors are still paving the way for the introduction of more advanced technology to shrink the prostate in the future. In the meantime, men in their late forties and fifties should heed the early signs and symptoms of prostate disorder and seek medical attention promptly to reduce the need to rely on more advanced methods to shrink the prostate instead of using suitable medications.