Treatment For Male Bladder, Prostate, and Urinary Problems In Glens Falls, NY

Benign Prostatic Enlargement (BPH)

What is BPH?

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, or BPH, is a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland. It’s a very common condition in men as they age. The prostate surrounds the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body), so as it grows, it can squeeze or partially block urine flow.

While BPH is not prostate cancer and does not increase your risk for prostate cancer, it can cause bothersome urinary symptoms that affect quality of life.

Men with BPH may experience:

Difficulty starting urination
Weak or interrupted stream
Frequent urination, especially at night (nocturia)
Urgency to urinate
Feeling of incomplete emptying

Evaluating BPH

When you visit our office for urinary symptoms, the evaluation usually includes:

Medical History & Physical Examination – We’ll discuss your symptoms, medical background, and medications. We may perform a digital rectal exam to assess the size and shape of the prostate.
Urine Testing – To check for infection, blood, or other abnormalities.
Symptom Score – Often using a standardized questionnaire (such as the AUA Symptom Score) to measure how much your symptoms are affecting you.
Post-Void Residual Measurement – An ultrasound to see how well your bladder empties.
PSA Blood Test – When appropriate, to help rule out prostate cancer risk.

In more complex situations or before considering certain procedures, we may recommend additional testing:

Cystoscopy – A small camera is used to look inside the urethra and bladder.
Prostate Imaging – Often with transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), or we can evaluate on scans if you’ve had recent imaging.
Urodynamic Testing – Used in select complex cases to measure bladder function.

Treating BPH

Not every man with BPH needs treatment—sometimes monitoring is enough. If treatment is needed, options include:

Lifestyle and behavioral changes
Medications
Procedures to improve urine flow

If you elect to undergo a procedure, we typically perform a cystoscopy and prostate imaging beforehand to guide the approach and ensure the best results. Urodynamic studies are reserved for select, more complex cases. In Glens Falls we offer surgical treatment options including UroLift, TURP, Greenlight Vaporization, and Robotic Simple Prostatectomy. Your preoperative cystoscopy and imaging will help determine which procedure you are the best candidate for.

The choice of treatment depends on your symptoms, goals, and preferences. My role is to make sure you fully understand your condition and the options available, so you can make an informed decision that feels right for you.

Male Incontinence

What is Urinary Incontinence?

Urinary incontinence is the unintentional leakage of urine. While it is more common in women, it can also affect men, especially with age or after treatment for prostate cancer. Incontinence is not a disease itself, but a symptom that can have several possible causes.

It can be temporary or long-term and may significantly impact quality of life. The good news is that in most cases, we can improve or manage symptoms with the right evaluation and treatment.

Types of Male Urinary Incontinence:

Stress Incontinence – Leakage with coughing, sneezing, lifting, or exercise.
Urge Incontinence – A sudden, strong urge to urinate followed by leakage.
Overflow Incontinence – Dribbling due to incomplete bladder emptying.
Mixed Incontinence – A combination of the above types.

Evaluating Incontinence

Your evaluation starts with:

Medical History & Symptom Review – Including onset, frequency, and situations when leakage occurs.
Physical Examination – Including a focused neurological and prostate evaluation when appropriate.
Urinalysis – To check for infection, blood, or other abnormalities.
Bladder Diary – Sometimes we ask patients to track fluid intake, urination times, and leakage episodes for several days.
Post-Void Residual Measurement – An ultrasound to assess bladder emptying.

In some situations, we use specialized testing:

Cystoscopy – To look inside the urethra and bladder for structural causes of leakage.
Urodynamic Studies – Particularly useful in more complex or unclear cases to measure bladder function and pressure.

Treating Incontinence

Treatment for incontinence depends on which type of incontinence is found on the evaluation above.

If you are found to have primarily stress incontinence treatment may involve:

Pelvic floor (Kegel) exercises or Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy to strengthen the muscles that control urination.
Lifestyle adjustments such as timed voiding or managing fluid intake before activities.
Surgical or procedural options if symptoms are significant and conservative measures aren’t enough. If you elect a procedure, we typically perform cystoscopy beforehand.

The primary surgical option we perform for male stress incontinence is an Artificial Urinary Sphincter

If you are found to have primarily urge incontinence (over active bladder) treatment may involve:

Bladder training to gradually increase the time between urinations.
Lifestyle adjustments such as limiting bladder irritants (caffeine, alcohol, certain acidic foods).
Medications to relax the bladder muscle and reduce urgency.
Procedural options for persistent cases.

Procedures to help with overactive bladder at Glens Falls include Bladder Botox and Sacral Neuromodulation. It is also possible that in males, some components of overactive bladder may be due to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, in which case we may incorporate treatment of that as well.

My role is to help you fully understand the cause of your leakage, review all appropriate options, and support you in choosing the approach that best matches your goals and preferences.

Overactive Bladder

What is Overactive Bladder (OAB)

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a condition where the bladder contracts before it should, causing a sudden urge to urinate—sometimes with leakage—and often leading to frequent trips to the bathroom during the day and night.

While OAB can occur in both men and women, in men it is often connected to another common condition: benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or enlargement of the prostate.

The prostate sits just below the bladder and surrounds the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body). When the prostate grows larger with age, it can partially block the flow of urine.
This blockage can make the bladder work harder, and over time, the bladder muscle can become overactive—contracting too often and too strongly, even when it’s not full.

Typical symptoms of male OAB include:

Sudden urge to urinate
Frequent urination (often more than 8 times a day)
Waking multiple times at night to urinate (nocturia)
Urge incontinence (leakage before reaching the toilet)

Evaluation for Overactive Bladder (OAB)

We start with a detailed history, physical exam, and possibly:

Urinalysis (to rule out infection)
Bladder scan or ultrasound
Uroflowmetry (measuring urine flow rate)
Post-void residual (checking if the bladder empties fully)
Sometimes, a cystoscopy or urodynamic study

Understanding the cause is important—especially in men—because OAB may improve by treating the prostate, the bladder, or both.

Treatment for Overactive Bladder (OAB)

Before or alongside medications, simple changes can help:

Bladder training: spacing out bathroom trips gradually
Fluid timing: limiting fluids a few hours before bedtime
Reducing bladder irritants: cutting back on caffeine, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, and spicy foods
Managing constipation: since bowel pressure can worsen bladder symptoms

If behavioral changes do not improve symptoms, there are a number of medications that can help with both treating any potential obstruction from the prostate, as well as helping to relax the bladder.

If symptoms do not improve with behavioral changes and medications, we will discuss surgical options. A Urodynamic study may be necessary prior to any surgical intervention to better understand if the prostate or the bladder is contributing more to the symptoms. If you or obstructed from an enlarged prostate, surgical options such as UroLift, TURP, Greenlight Vaporization, and Robotic Simple Prostatectomy may be beneficial to relieve the obstruction and improve bladder issues. If there are no signs of obstruction but you are experiencing signs of bothersome urgency, Bladder Botox or Sacral Neuromodulation may be options to relieve symptoms.