New medical technique helps men with enlarged prostates

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/ WMGT) –  With June being Men’s Health Awareness Month, we want to shine light on a new procedure. If you’re suffering from an enlarged prostate, there’s a new medical technique bringing relief.

The Urolift System is a tiny implant, about the same width of a nickel.

Rick Partin has suffered from enlarged prostate for a decade, and took medicine for seven of those years. After getting the Urolift, he said goodbye to the pills.

“I was just going to take the meds and suffer [from] the symptoms [for] the rest of my life, before the Urolift came along,” Partin said.

Traditional surgery was out of the question for him.

“I didn’t know what a UroLift was, since it was a new procedure in this area. I kind of drug my feet for a while and let it get a longer track record,” he said.

Then last June, Urologist Dr. Joshua Perkel with the Urology Specialists of Georgia, said Partin is the perfect candidate, for a new procedure, Urolift.

“With Urolift, we have an alternative to surgery,” Perkel said.

Finally, some relief to Partin’s frustrations that once effected his quality of life.

“You have to go a lot. Particularly at night-time. You have to plan and know where the bathrooms are at,” Partin said.

The UroLift System is a one-day, in-office procedure that Dr. Perkel says is done in less than an hour.

“Most of the men coming in are already on medicine and the medicine’s not working,” Perkel said.

Here’s how it works:

“The scope is going in there, what they’re doing is compressing the lobe that benign enlarged prostate is obstructing the flow. So the first phase is the needle comes out and deploys the capicular end-tab and in that compression, the suitors is a short enough length that it’s keeping that compression and the tab keeps it at that length,” Perkel said.

Now, Partin has a part of his life back because of UroLift. He can enjoy activities without the constant urge of needing the bathroom.

“I don’t take any medicine now for it. I don’t have any side effects, at all,” Partin said.

The recovering time is minimal. Partin says he was uncomfortable for a few days. After that, Dr. Perkel says they’ll do a quick phone check-up, then a few weeks later another check up.

The UroLift System doesn’t stop the prostate from growing. It just helps so urine can flow in a normal fashion, so you may have to go get it adjusted afterwards.

For more information: https://www.urolift.com/