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Real Men Wear Gowns: University Health System revolutionizing prostate surgery

University Health System in San Antonio is using a new method to treat enlarged prostates which could revolutionize treatment for the future.

If you're a man over the age of 60, it’s a coin flip as to whether or not you have an enlarged prostate.

Not all of them cause problems, but if they do get too big, they can cause a great amount of pain.

Mario Davila, 69 started having problems with his prostate seven years ago.

"At the beginning, it was just an urgency to go to the restroom," he said.

After several years, his prostate had gotten bigger and bigger, making it almost impossible to go the bathroom.

"I couldn't even release any fluid, so I went to the restroom three, four, or five times before releasing that fluid," Davila described.

Along with that came pain. Lots of it.

"I went to the emergency room because of the pain and I was released,” he recalled. “Two weeks later, I went back to the emergency room with the same pain. That's when I met the doctor."

"When the prostate enlarges, it squishes that little tube, and that's why it narrows the pathway through which the urine comes out," said Dr. Ahmed Mansour, an assistant professor of urology at UT Health-San Antonio.

Dr. Mansour told Davila about a procedure called laser enucleation of the prostate.

"Instead of cutting the prostate into pieces, it is taking a big scoop of the prostate in an anatomical plane," Dr. Mansour said.

Those pieces are pushed into the bladder, ground up, and removed. Davila jumped at the chance for the surgery, and after just only one night in the hospital, Davila says he felt like a new man.

"Remember the painkillers you gave me? I didn't even touch them,” Davila told Dr. Mansour. “I still have the bottle full at home."

Davila urges all men to accept medical help, like he did, so they can live a life pain-free. He told us,

For more men's health information call 210-358-3045. You can also find the rest of our Real Men Wear Gowns stories at WearTheGown.com.

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