Self-examination of your scrotum is as important for men as self-breast examination is for women. We hear about the importance of self-breast examinations often. We read about it in magazines, hear about it on TV and on the radio but we rarely hear them speak of the importance of TSE or Testicular Self-Examination.
You need to know your own scrotum well enough to be able to detect any suspicious changes that may appear. Knowing how your body is supposed to feel will help to detect irregularities if they should appear.
Early detection is the key to your well-being. About 7,000 men develop some kind of Testicular malignancy each year in Canada alone with the greatest number of those affected between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five. If not detected early, malignancies can double in size in less than a month and eventually spread to other parts of the body such as bowels, bladder, kidneys, liver, and stomach.
The good news is that the cure rate for advanced testicular cancer is about seventy percent but waiting until your next physical examination is not the answer. Early detection of any type of scrotal problem is always the best course of action. Treatment and recovery can be long and uncomfortable while the type of cancer and its developmental stage will be the deciding factor of the treatment required. Even with chemotherapy, radiation, testicle removal, and at least two years of close follow up treatment, the recurrence rate in testicular cancer is ten percent in stage one patients.
TSE is free and effective, there is no pain, and it can be done in private.
How to do a TSE
It is easier to do a TSE in the shower or bathtub. Having warm and soapy skin makes it easier to perform the exam.
- Before you enter the shower and while standing in front of a mirror, look for swelling of the scrotum
- Once you are in the shower, place the index and middle fingers under one testicle while placing the thumb on top. .
- Gently roll the testicle between your thumb and fingers feeling for lumps or anything that seems abnormal
- Do the same with the other side
- Find the soft tightly coiled tube that runs behind the testicle (the epididymis) checking for any lumps. The epididymis itself is sometimes mistaken for a growth because of its natural thickness. What you are looking for are lumps or any abnormalities on the epididymis.
While lumps are mostly found on the side of the testicles, they can sometimes show up on the epididymis and the front of the testes. Early detection is crucial so if you find anything suspicious no matter how small, see your doctor right away. Finding a lump does not mean you have a malignant growth but your doctor is the only one who can accurately make that diagnosis.
