Through years of experience, I found that if you choose to maintain a healthy lifestyle and take care of yourself, it will help you to determine your own future. The “Movember initiative” is a fun idea to focus attention on men’s health, where you can grow a Mow Bro moustache, and regularly record the process with “selfies.”
The idea of Movember is not only to focus on prostate and testicular cancer, but also to promote men’s health in general. Historically, men are so focused on taking care of their families to such an extent that they neglect their own health. Men don’t become sick! There has also been a stigma attached to the sickness of men and, in particular, men’s private parts.
On average, it takes one year for men to seek medical help when they are exposed to penis cancer, as it is a visible, fungal and bad-smelling growth. What is the chance that men with testicular cancer will seek medical help when they have started with a painless little lump? Prostate cancer has no symptoms, and the first time you will observe something is wrong is when you battle to urinate or experience bone pain from the spreading of cancer that has moved to your skeleton.
The occurrence of prostate cancer can be drastically reduced by improving Omega-3 levels and restricting Omega-6 levels. According to Professor William Aronson (Medical School of the University of California), this study is currently only being done on animals and has not been confirmed yet on humans. Unfortunately, another study in the United Kingdom shows that Omega-3 sebacic acid accelerates the spread of prostate cancer.
In 2022, approximately one and a half million new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed, and almost 400 000 men die annually as a result of prostate cancer. If early prostate cancer in young men (40 – 60) is ignored, the result is death in 45% of them within 10 years and 20% for men older than 60 (source).
In 2003, while they were enjoying a beer, two Australian friends, Travis Garone and Luke Slatery, came up with the idea of Movember. This idea was probably to the frustration of many women across the world! In 2009, the Executive Head of Men’s Foundation launched Movember in South Africa. Currently, the Movember initiative is active in 21 countries worldwide.
Presently, there is a number of other awareness programmes that are also active worldwide. For example, annually, there is the DAREdevil run in all big cities in South Africa to create awareness of prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Dressed in colourful Speedos with messages such as” I am man enough”, Run cancer outta town” and “cancer asigcwali ngawa”, men run the 5 km race to promote the awareness of cancer. There is also a movement that requests men to dress in tuxedos in November when going to work. It is just another effort to promote awareness of cancer in men.
The purpose of Movember is not only to make men aware of prostate cancer and other illnesses (physical and mental), but also to create an environment where men will sooner seek medical assistance and to support those with existing problems. In this way, illnesses can be detected much sooner and treated accordingly. Women are way ahead of men with regard to all their campaigns on breast cancer.
If prostate cancer is diagnosed early enough, many treatments can be selected, making the chance of healing very good. One of the latest treatment options, which has increased in popularity, is Brachytherapy. This is a treatment option where radioactive rods are implanted in the prostate with needles. The prostate is internally radiated for a period of three months. The benefit of this treatment is that the complications of external radiation are now eliminated. This procedure can be performed in a day hospital facility, and the patient can be discharged the same day.
I have been performing these procedures at Advanced Worcester Surgical Centre since 2016. Patients are admitted on Friday mornings and discharged in the afternoon. Monday morning, these men are back at work, and they can continue with their lives. It is just because of the minimal impact this procedure has on men’s lives that it has become a favourite option. For us as doctors, this is also a favourite option because statistics show that it has a 97% healing rate for patients.
Dr Deon Marais has been practising as a Urologist in Worcester for the past 24 years. Medical, as well as surgical treatment options, are offered for any health issues related to men’s or women’s urogenital systems, as well as men’s sex organs. The patient’s opinion and preferences form an integral part of the individual patient’s treatment.
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