Prostate exam gay

Gay, bisexual and gay men face barriers to accessing healthcare that make it challenging to obtain tested for cancer. Barriers that can make participating in cancer testing challenging for men in 2SLGBTQI+ communities include:

  • homophobia or biphobia
  • misinformation about cancer testing needs
  • a lack of 2SLGBTQI+ specific resources
  • concerns about physical and passionate safety

If you contain a prostate, you should make an informed decision about whether the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assess is right for you by talking to your healthcare provider about the benefits and limitations of testing, your personal risk, your values and preferences, and what other procedures may follow.

  • If you are at average risk of developing prostate cancer, consider testing from age 50.
  • If you are at upper risk of developing prostate cancer, contemplate testing from age 45. Black men (including men of African or Caribbean ancestry) and those with a family history of prostate cancer are considered to be at high risk.

Your PSA levels will decide how often you get tested. The decision to terminate testing is based on your PSA levels, age and overall health.

Find out more about prostate cancer test

Let’s be honest: it’s pretty complicated to get healthy men to go for a routine checkup. But it becomes even harder if that checkup requires anything … down there.

Yet, when it comes to prostate cancer, it’s the best way to diagnose the problem early and cure it successfully.

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and a flawless time to revisit fears and myths around the prostate, with the help of John Warren and Sylvain Côté.

John was a welder for most of his life. Sylvain began his career as a mining exploration geologist, then continued as an airplane mechanic for 24 years.

Both are now retired and serve on the steering committee of the Prostate Cancer Support Group–Montreal and West Island.

John’s journey with prostate cancer

When he was 35, John heard a doctor on CBC Radio explain that men should have their prostate checked regularly after turning 50. John did this faithfully. When he was 69, his PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen blood test) score was OK, but a digital rectal exam (DRE) found a node on his prostate, which could be a sign of cancer.

A biopsy showed a Gleason score above six. The Gleason score is a grading system used to evaluate how aggressive a

Digital Rectal Exam for Men 

A digital rectal exam is type of prostate cancer screening for men. 

A digital rectal exam is performed so that a doctor can perceive a man’s prostate gland and decide if there are any lumps or abnormalities present. The prostate is a walnut-sized organ that supplies some of the semen released during male ejaculation and is located just below the bladder and in front of the rectum.  

Conditions Treated 

In general, a digital rectal exam for men is part of a series of tests performed as prostate cancer assessing. It's important to note that a digital rectal exam alone cannot provide enough information to diagnose cancer and may be used a part of a diagnostic process for other conditions, such as: 

  • An enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia) 
  • Prostatitis  
  • Rectal cancer 
  • Prostate infections 
  • Fecal incontinence  
  • Hemorrhoids  
  • Rectal bleeding 

Stool samples can also be collected during a digital rectal exam, which can be used to aide diagnose colon cancer. 

Procedure Details 

During a digital rectal exam, your doctor will lubricate h

What Happened to Getting a Doctor’s Finger in Your Butt?

It’s a rite of passage for men. You’re in your 40s, you’re at your annual checkup, and suddenly you overhear the snap of a rubber glove. The medic slathers on some lube and tells you to bend over. Boom—a finger right up your butthole.

The digital rectal exam, or DRE, has long been used to screen for signs of prostate cancer—the most shared non-skin cancer in men, killer of over 30,000 a year. Most men understand that’s important. We may even know fathers or uncles or friends who’ve suffered from prostate cancer. But it’s still a petty bit of a shock to be probed so intimately by a person you only see once a year, at most. The DRE is so infamous a procedure that it’s turned into a kind of folk information, a proto-meme every guy hears about long before it happens to him. It’s the subject of uncomfortable jokes in the locker room, in the examination room, and in Hollywood. Who can neglect M. Emmet Walsh lubing up before enthusiastically plugging Chevy Chase in Fletch?

But at my most recent physical, my longtime principal care physician did not seem to be prepping for the probe. I’m pushing 50. When I asked—a little hesitantly—