Dr. Ander Astobieta Odriozola, urologist at Top Doctors, will talk about urinary incontinence.
Does it affect only women?
Well, urinary incontinence affects both men and women. Usually it is better known that urinary incontinence affects more women, but also men in certain situations such as pelvic surgery that is performed can affect incontinence, therefore, we can say that it is a problem of both men and women.
Female Incontinence
What is incontinence?
Incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine. When we do not want to leak urine for certain reasons, we are wetting and it is a really unpleasant situation that greatly affects the quality of life.
How does incontinence affect us?
Urinary incontinence fundamentally affects the quality of life of patients who suffer from it. It is uncomfortable to be wetting continuously and to carry either pads or to wet some kind of cloth, a towel, means that, well, there can be a bad odor, which really affects the quality of life of the person and makes them feel really uncomfortable in their usual social life.
What types of incontinence are there?
Urinary incontinence can be divided into two main groups: urge incontinence, which is when a woman urinates urgently, when she feels the urge to run to the bathroom, when she cannot get there, and when in the end the urine leaks out. This must be differentiated from stress urinary incontinence, which is usually related to previous births and to age in women, so in these cases when a woman coughs, makes an effort or does any kind of sudden exercise, urine leaks out. In the end, the end is the same, but the mechanism is different for some and for others.
What is the solution?
When it is an emergency urinary incontinence we call the problem an overactive bladder and in these cases the treatment is pharmacological, by means of a series of drugs we can help this woman to urinate less frequently and therefore not end up wetting a diaper or a sanitary napkin. When it is a stress urinary incontinence, the treatment is surgical and consists in that as the defect is an anatomical problem and is a change of the angle of the urethra, what we do is to surgically place a mesh, which does is to reposition the urethra, compress the urethra a little, to prevent urine from escaping.
What are the results?
The results are good, but the fundamental thing is the indication. If there is a good indication, the results will be very good; if the indication is bad, the results will not be good.
Male Incontinence
What are the causes?
The problems derived from the surgery that has been performed, fundamentally with radical prostatectomy. Nowadays many men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and require surgical intervention and this surgical intervention, even in the best hands with the best means, because 5% or 8% of the people, of the men, have some problem of incontinence. Therefore, the causes are usually post-surgical, but it is a problem that until twelve months or so after the operation, we are not going to make any decision regarding the treatment, which in these cases is going to be surgical, in most cases.
What is the solution and what are the results?
When incontinence really affects a man’s quality of life, in this case we must look for a surgical alternative, as I have said, which has very good results, whether we use mesh or artificial synthesis.