Every second man over the age of 50 is affected by benign prostate enlargement, which is also called benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH for short. When men reach their 40s the cells of the prostate begin to change. Problems are commonly noticed when men are in their 50s. Approximately every second man over the age of 50 and four out of five men over the age of 80 have prostate problems.
Nodules are formed, which in turn may lead to the prostate gland enlarging. Sometimes these changes take a long time to happen and the nodules never grow larger than microscopically small. In these cases the changes to the prostate go unnoticed. If the prostate grows large it can often compress the urethra and make it difficult to urinate. The prostate gland surrounds the urethra.
There is no risk of benign enlargement of the prostate developing into prostate cancer.
The classic symptoms “awake at night – hunting toilets during the day”, i.e. sleep is interrupted by having to get up to visit the bathroom and desperate urges to urinate mean that it is necessary to know where the next toilet can be found in case of emergency. This will have a negative effect on quality of life. It is also important for partners of sufferers, since it also have negative affects their life quality. Other typical symptoms are that it takes time to start the urine flow, residual drops may follow urination, or it may feel that the bladder has not emptied completely.