Source: R1 / R1
Jay Dixon sits down with Dr. Lee from Penn Medicine about prostate cancer, its trends, and what we can do as black men to avoid falling victim to such disease. One of the best ways to manage the disease is to find out if it exist in your body. If it does, not to worry. Prostate cancer is one of the least detrimental cancerous diseases.”Prostate cancer is one of the most curable cancers we have around” Dr. Lee explains. “But the trick is to get an early diagnoses — and know your risk”.
Dr. Lee then went onto explain that although cancer can come for anybody, he acknowledges that its numbers are greater in the African-American community. “We know that prostate cancer strikes a little bit harder among black (community) — especially Afro-Caribbean communities, so our brothers from Jamaica, from Trinidad, etc. We do want to make sure we pay close attention to those (people)”
Health experts now recommend screening for prostate cancer earlier in manhood than recommended in previous years. Dr. Lee said the recommended testing age for African-American males is 45 years old. A commonality among men is that no man enjoys the rectal exam. Medical experts have discovered to be able to produce similar results via a blood test. Although it is not 100% accurate, it is one of the more accurate test that is used as a first step in the discovery process. Dr. Lee tells Jay that a rectal exam is not absolutely necessary for males to go through with a prostate cancer screening. “Nobody likes having those types of exams — it is not one hundred percent necessary” Dr. Lee explained. “Please don’t let the fear of that exam persuade you from coming in for a screening.”
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