When women feel a lump in their breast, they usually seek medical attention within a few weeks. Yet men who notice something abnormal in a testicle typically don’t see a doctor for two to three months.
“I think part of it is the macho man complex – that everything is fine,” said Dr. Jay Raman, chief of urology at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “Then you add on top of that the fact that it is a sensitive area, and they may have some embarrassment about it.”
Men who know about testicular cancer may also be freaked out by the idea that surgical removal of the affected testicle is the best way to cure the disease. “So they wait to see if it gets better on its own,” Raman said. “But sometimes they wait and wait until they’ve waited too long.”
