Urologists are medical doctors who specialise in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the urinary system in men and women and disorders of the male reproductive system. Urologists can specialise in an array of disorders and diseases such as diseases affecting the bladder, urethra, ureters, kidneys and adrenal glands, along with problems with the prostate, penis, epididymis, testes and seminal vesicles.
You may need to see a urologist if your primary care doctor needs more specialist help or advice in order to treat your condition. If you have blood in your urine, a frequent or urgent need to urinate, pain in your lower back, pelvis, or sides, pain or burning during urination, trouble urinating, urine leakage, or weak urine flow. Any of these symptoms could suggest that you have a problem in the urinary tract and may need to be examined and treated by a urologist.
A urologist can help you by relieving and treating any symptoms or ailments you may be suffering from. A urologist can often work with other specialists, such as an oncologist, for example, in order to provide the best possible care and treatment for your condition. This ensures that all physicians involved are working together to address the concerns you face. Common procedures that urologists may perform to help treat conditions include circumcision, cystectomy, cystoscopy, excision and biopsies, kidney transplantation, nephrectomy, penile prosthesis, prostate surgery, stress incontinence surgery, testicular surgery, stones treatment, urethral dilation, and vasectomy.
When you see a urologist you can expect that he or she will ask you to provide a urine specimen, so try not to go to your appointment with an empty bladder! You can also expect that you will be required to fill in some paperwork, including questionnaires to help assess how severe your condition is. You will also be required give your medical history to the urologist, and you may also have to provide a complete list of all your medications, including supplements and vitamins. You can also expect to have a physical examination concentrating on the genitourinary system and an evaluation of other systems. A genital exam and rectal exam may also be included. After all of this you can expect that your urologist will develop a treatment plan that he or she will discuss with you, and following this you may have a cystoscopy, urodynamics and/or a biopsy.