Austin — AUSTIN -- An Austin doctor is on a mission to try to get men to talk about something uncomfortable: their prostate and whether or not they can use the restroom.
Our area's only reconstructive urologist is doing this as we ring in Men's Health Month in June.
Davoud Safari first came to see Dr. Charles Osterberg. The 62-year-old says his life was unbearable.
"Waking up at nighttime, up to five times, daytime, every 40 minutes, going to the bathroom and so on. Everybody needs to sleep without interruption. Can you imagine five times interruption," said Safari.
It turned out, Safari had an enlarged prostate, a condition Dr. Osterberg said affects 200,000 men every year.
"Enlarged prostate happens as a result of the prostate gland, just like we have a thyroid gland or an adrenal gland, it grows and gets to a size where by it restricts the flow of urine," said Dr. Osterberg.
Symptoms of an enlarged prostate include frequent urination, nighttime urination, difficulty emptying the bladder and prolonged duration of urination.
But Safari also had urethral stricture disease, or scarring inside his urethra. For the 62-year-old, he went through several different treatments before he saw relief.
The most recent was a surgery called urethroplasty.
"We performed a unique technique too, again, to open up the urethra channel," said Dr. Osterberg.
Dr. Osterberg also said with Men's Health Month in June, now is the time for men to pay attention to their prostate health, no matter how sensitive, because he knows many men don't like going to the doctor.
"As men, we have this John Wayne complex, whereby we don't want to go see the doctor, we feel that by seeing the doctor, we may seem weak," said Dr. Osterberg.
Meantime, Safari said nothing could be further from the truth. By going to the doctor, it gave the 62-year-old him his life back.
His advice?
"Pay attention to your body. If you're having flow problems, there's something wrong. Everybody needs to be aware of their body, especially as they age," said Safari.
Dr. Osterberg became the first and only reconstructive urologist in Central Texas in 2016. He is the Chief of Urology at Dell Seton Medical Center at UT.
You can learn more about Dr. Osterberg at his website, drcharlesosterberg.com, or on seton.net.