Men can experience loss of bladder control after illness, surgery or simply with advanced age. Although male incontinence may have many causes, men are much more likely than women to suffer from overflow incontinence. This is because men have prostates that may become enlarged with age and block the outflow of urine from the bladder.

Whenever urinary leakage occurs, it is important to see your urologist so that he can correctly diagnose the type of incontinence. Many treatment options are available for male incontinence, including pharmaceutical, behavioral and surgical interventions.

Some Risk Factors for Male Incontinence:

• Prostate Enlargement
• Urinary tract infections
• Prior pelvic surgeries - bowel resections, prostatectomy
• Neurologic illnesses - multiple sclerosis, diabetes, or stroke
• Advanced age
  

Types of Incontinence

There are several different types of incontinence, but they all have similar outcomes - urine leakage. The vignettes below describe some common symptoms seen with each type of incontinence. Remember, it often takes a visit to your doctor's office to receive the testing necessary to confirm your diagnosis and form the best treatment plan for your urinary leakage.

• Urge Incontinence - "I have to go to the bathroom all the time. Sometimes the urge to urinate comes on so suddenly that I cannot make it to the toilet in time."
• Stress Incontinence - "Whenever I cough, sneeze, or even stand up I leak urine."
• Mixed Incontinence - "I seem to leak all the time ... sometimes I lose urine when I'm rushing to the restroom and other times when I cough or sneeze."
• Overflow Incontinence - "I feel like my bladder never empties even though I am going to the restroom all the time. Sometimes urine even leaks out at unexpected times."
• Functional Incontinence - "I can hold my urine reasonably well, but I don't get around as well as I used to, and reaching the bathroom in time can be so difficult."

For more details on each type, please click here.