It’s that time of year when previously smooth-lipped gents start sprouting proud lip lapas and women around the country brace themselves for fresh new batches of facial hair to appear in all shapes and sizes on their fathers, brothers, boyfriends, husbands, sons and male friends. It’s Movember in sunny South Africa and the boys have come out to play. Why the facial hair shenanigans? Movember is about more than just handlebars, soul patches, side bars and walruses - it's about increasing the life expectancy of South African men. The state of men's health in our country is in crisis. Men experience worse longer-term health than women and die on average six years earlier. Prostate cancer rates are poised to double in the next 15 years, while testicular cancer rates have already doubled in the last 50. Three quarters of reported suicides are committed by men. Poor mental health leads to half a million men taking their own life every year - that’s one every minute. These are frightening statistics, which is why organisations like the Men’s Foundation of South Africa seek to create awareness and start important conversations about difficult topics that tend to be swept under the collective rug by generations of men who have been brought up to grin and bear it. Topics like prostate cancer. If you just heard a business-like snap of a surgical glove and flinched involuntary when you read the word ‘prostate’, you are not alone. There is not a man alive who looks forward to a visit to the urologist. However, when statistics show that 80% of men over the age of 80 have prostate cancer, it’s clear that it is something that needs to be addressed. PSA blood test vs rectal exam (do you have to?) According to Dr Jörn Malan, a Clinical and Radiation Oncologist at the Cancercare Langenhoven Drive Oncology Centre in Port Elizabeth, all men should have a PSA blood test at least once a year from the time they turn 50, or as early as 40 if they have a history of prostate cancer in the family – but not just the blood test, a rectal examination is just as important. “The PSA blood test measures the amount of prostate-specific antigen, a protein produced by both cancerous and non-cancerous tissue in the prostate. The higher the count, the more suspicious it is, but one must also be aware that one can have a cancer with a normal PSA count, and this is why the … [Read more...]