TAMPA, Fla — Humor — that's the way Dr. Manuel Jain at WellMed at Haines City helps to break the ice with his patients.
"I usually tell my patients, 'I'm going to examine you from head to toe and most of it [will be] in the middle,'" he laughed.
He said using this intro is especially effective for patients dealing with testicular issues.
"They volunteer their ED problems, but not their testicular problems," Dr. Jain said.
When it comes to that area of the body, Dr. Jain said patients often carry a lot of embarrassment or shame if they're experiencing an issue.
But as the number of testicular cancer cases keeps going up he says people need to speak up.
"Sometimes it develops rapidly," he said. "The only time they feel it, they already have the problem."
Dr. Jain said the first step to reducing that number is for people to eat better, exercise more, and cut down on smoking.
Next, he encouraged his patients to try self-examination for lumps, swelling, pain, or lesions. He added low energy and hormonal changes can also be a sign of cancer.
"When they have some budding of the breast and their femininity. Because [of] their testosterone, there are hormones that are produced by the tumor or cancer that will lead to them having more feminine features than males," he said.
If you notice something's off, Dr. Jain advised to speak up on issues and to address them sooner rather than later.
"The cure rate for testicular cancer is up to 95 percent," he said.
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