Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH for short, is a condition that affects the prostate gland in men. The prostate is a small gland that produces some of the fluid found in semen. It’s located just below the bladder, where urine is stored, and surrounds the tube (urethra) that carries urine from the bladder out through the penis.
In BPH, the prostate gland grows bigger. The word “benign” means that this is not cancer, and it doesn’t lead to cancer. But the problem is, as the prostate grows, it can squeeze the urethra, the tube you pee through. This can cause problems with urination.
Men with BPH might find that they need to pee a lot, especially at night. They might feel like they need to rush to the bathroom urgently, or they might have trouble starting to pee. Sometimes, they might not be able to empty their bladder completely. While these symptoms can be annoying, BPH is not usually a serious problem.
BPH is common and becomes more common as men get older. It’s part of the normal aging process for many men. There are treatments for BPH that can help reduce the symptoms, like medications to relax or shrink the prostate, or in some cases, surgery. If a man has problems with urination, he should talk to a doctor. It might be BPH, or it could be something else that needs treatment.
Image license: Basquetteur, CC BY-SA 4.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
