I've been reading a lot of reviews/patient experiences that have been bad with Urolift. I think the problem in the US is that it is so extremely lucrative that urologists can't pass it up. Ken had a good outcome probably because his condition was a good fit for it. A larger uncomplicated prostate with no middle lobe or bladder neck issues. Mine was a smaller more "funky" shape. My doctor does 10 a day, a couple times a month. At 15K a pop that's 150K a day or about $1000.00 a minute, for the procedure. If you are over 40 and have difficulty urinating the default diagnosis with no testing is BPH and the default solution is a 15k urolift office procedure. If it doesn't work, then maybe a 15-20k follow-up Turp procedure. There is no incentive to do urodynamic testing to determine if the problem might be bladder related. I wish I had read more of the "not so good" reviews before having the procedure. Now I am worried that I have 6 implants that might break loose down the road and cause issues when the result didn't really improve my condition and was painful and expensive. My suggestion to anyone considering it would be to get a second opinion from another doctor that has no financial incentive
i tend to agree. i saw my Uro yesterday for an annual check up. Had to in order to get my Tamulosin refiill approved. only saw his PA, the doctor never made an appearance. PA's first words were "last year we suggested a Urolift and you declined, have you reconsidered?" No thank you! I asked about Alfuzosin instead of Tamulosin because of the "tipping Iris" issue I 've read about. He said no difference. As I was leaving he came back saying he had just read some more and agreed to change it.
Firstly, I do believe that many of the men who have had successful urolift procedure probably do not visit a forum like this to post about it. But, I do agree with you. I think many of the failed urolift procedures are because the actual problem causing the BPH was not diagnosed and matched with the urolift procedure. I am not sure why Neotract, developers of Urolift , do not more closely regulate their procedure and who it can be performed on. It must hurt their success rates when they allow it to be performed on a man whose BPH problem cannot be fixed by the urolift procedure. I was lucky when I trusted my urologist. I was not as knowledgeable about urolift, as I am today. However, I am in my fourth year with still great results. Bob
Good Morning Ben
There have been a lot of good out come with Urolift and there are a few bad ones that have not worked but that is with any procedures because we are are different and procedures are not a one size fix all.
Urolift has been around for all most 9 years. With checking with the men that had it done in the trails there was only a 2 % redo of procedure with the men. If you had a median lobe problem or if you were in retention it is not going to help you . That is why they came up with the MedLift Procedure which has worked for many men with Median Lobes. They take and pin it to one side away from the bladder neck
Every man has the right to have any procedure that they feel is right for them but it is up to the doctor to fined what is the problem which my doctor did He know after the test that my prostate was close tight and all I needed was to have it pulled apart. He know also how I felt about my sex life and retro ejaculation because we talk about all of it.
Most doctor do not do that they are looking at the turn over which I am very sorry for these men. This is because they do not know enough about a procedure and there problems. Also there are a lot of doctors that do not care about your sex life the only function they care about is to get you to pee better.
I don't want to keep going all I am going to say is before you have any procedure make sure you have all the test to find out what the problem is and do not be talked into anything that you are not sure of. Remember it is your body and if it does not work and you have side effects the doctor is just going to move on to the next. They do not want to be told they are wrong
I hope you all have a great day....Ken
I tend to agree. It also seems like a procedure that is not technically sound, almost like shooting with a bow and arrow hoping you hit the target. Just my opinion, you're mileage may vary, but would not want this done to me.
You are spot on right. Urolift does work for a small group of people, with certain right conditions. To be more precise, people with very mild symptoms yet are very concerned with sexual side effects, mostly retro ejaculation. Lazy and greedy uros and promoters just over sold the products, sometimes using forums like this one to overhype it. The result is what we have seen repeatedly. I feel sorry for those people that took the bait. I myself was offered Urolift last year and luckily declined it.
It's the reason why doctors carry malpractice liability insurance.
I had a Urolift done in August of 2015 and it did zero good and took months to recover from. I have since continued to suffer with BPH sypmtoms. I have a median lobe and at that time having a median lobe ruled out the Urolift. I truly think that the urologist who did the surgery just wanted to ramp up the number of cases that he had under his belt. I actually had a cystoscopy today with my new urologist and as I watched along on the screen the first thing that she said when she got to my prostate was 'Oh, the Urolift had no chance of fixing that'. I was scheduled to do a Urodynamics test at the end of this month but the urologist said that there was no need to do it, that the prostate obstruction was my problem. I think that I am headed for a TURP. I'm 59 and have been dicking around with BPH symptoms and meds for 20-25 years. I don't want retrograde ejaculation but I do want my life back and having chronic BPH ruins, hikes, movies, dates, etc. Just want my life back.
Rob
Rob, have you looked into CIC ? No RE, just a little inconvenience. Rezum ? More effective than Urolift, less effective than TURP but much less risk of RE than TURP. If your only choice is TURP, ask for bipolar TURP.
Hey Hank
That doctor that did his Urolift should not have done it at all. When he was inside I know he had to have seen the median lobe and he left it in front of the bladder neck. Rob was just a number.
Back when Rob had his procedure done. 2015 Me to They did not have anything for the median lobe. Now there is a new procedure that has been out a year that deal with the median lobe by clipping it to one side.
I have gotten the information on the doctors in there area and it has been working great for the guys that had it. It was invented because there were to many men that did not want to have any problem with there sexual function and retro.
I hope you all have a great day. And God Bless.........Ken
Hey Hank,
I have not heard of a bipolar TURP but will ask my doctor about it as well as CIC.
Hey Ken,
I truly believe that I was just a number to that urologist. I had a cystoscopy prior to the Urolift and he said that I had a median lobe and that the procedure would only be a double and not a home run but that it was still worth doing. He soft sold the procedure to me, said I could play tennis the next day if I wanted to, etc. that I believed him that there was no downside. I obtained the surgery report a few months later and I saw that he misfired the gun once and the clip didn't deploy and another time that the gun fired but the clip didn't seat correctly so he had to do it again. During my cystoscopy yesterday I watched along on the screen and actually saw at least one clip and it was just sitting to the side and doing nothing. I think that I actually have two clips but I only saw one. I think that we all have to be advocates for our own health and push back on any doctor who tells you how easy the recovery is going to be and how this or that procedure is a magic fix. It may be for some but not for others and I think that doctors need to be more straightforward.
Rob
Right there you should have said no. At that time they had no procedure for the median lobe. He put the 6 clips in but did not touch what was the problem. He did use you wanted you to come back for another procedure
Like you said you were just a number.
Ken
Hey Ken, both you and I know that his uro should not have done Urolift, knowing that he has median lobe, but many uros out there are doing it anyway. In my case, last year my uro suggested Urolift, without any testing, knowing fully well that I have bad retention, which is no no for Urolift. I pretended ignorance and asked for a cystoscopy first, to see if I have median lobe. He said "You'll find out if you have median lobe or not during the Urolift procedure." What a quack ! Of course, I declined it.
Hey Hank
That is why that men need to do some research before they see a doctor so they know something and ask questions. A lot of doctor do not like when the patient knows anything.
Have a good day. Ken
Rob, CIC means self cathing. It's very simple. You can get it started even without talking to your doctor. Yet it can give you much relief and buy you time until you find the right procedure.
It always wise to get second urologist opinions about BPH. I eventually saw 5 of them! I urge men who are avoiding seeing a urologist (due to the common negativity about them) to still see a urologist. Don't like one, go to another until you find a uro you can trust to get tested, have a clear diagnosis & get treatment to avoid or minimize retention.
This is what I've learned after 3 cystoscopys, a urodynamic test & consultations. There are several urology conditions which a Urolift & certain other less invasive procedures cannot help much. These include but are not limited to; A. Damage to the bladder due to retention. This may require catheters to allow the bladder muscles to recover. B. Blockage at the bladder neck due to an enlarged prostate. These conditions could cause urinary retention which the Urorlift has poor results in helping. Importantly, the people on these forums are not medical doctors (including me). Which goes back to my first recommendation. Find a urologist who is right for you.
After consulting 5 uros what did you decide?
Hi Lester; Short answer; My situation was partly described in my previous comment. Added to that I did the Urolift and eventually had a bi-polar TURP. I use an intermittent catheter at the end of the day at midnight to empty residue.
Very long answer; Every man's situation is different. Again find a urologist/treatment which is right for you.
I had avoided seeing a urologist in early 2018 for various reasons which I won't get into now. Result; I had severe retention last summer, went to the ER & had a permanent/Foley catheter put in.
First procedure; I found a urologist who was awarded by NeoTract for the Urolift. I wanted to see if this would work and keep my prostate intact. (I had two cystoscopys with him. This urologist was the local hospital department head but was not good at explaining things. He was usually too busy.) Unfortunately the Urolift did not work. I still had a Foley catheter.
Second urologist; I found a uro who did the urodynamic test. This showed I still had some bladder strength but his report said I could not completely empty my bladder even with no obstruction. He recommended a TURP to be done by urologist #3.
Third urologist; he did a cystoscopy and showed me the screen. He said the blockage was in the bladder neck where no minimal invasive procedure could reach. His report said the median lobe was not involved. He recommended a TURP.
Fourth urologist; This was a top expert. He reviewed reports from urologists 2 & 3. He said damage to the bladder could mean trouble urinating no matter what the surgical procedure. He said sometimes the Urolift didn't open up all of the urethra. He recommended the intermittent catheter to improve bladder strength. I had failed to learn this with two nurses. I used a Foley with a valve (no bag). He said that was OK but the intermittent catheter was better. For surgery, he recommended a TURP which he would do with a Greenlight laser. (With any TURP I would have retrograde ejaculation.)
In January I learned the intermittent catheter. I did it every 3 to 4 hours. It was painful, slow (40 minutes each time) & hard on my back standing and limited what I could do even compared with the Foley+valve. I decided on the TURP surgery to reduce my intermittent caths. What kind; laser or bi-polar, should I have? Driving distance was a problem as my wife can't drive more than 30 miles. Uro #4 is 60 miles away which ruled him out.
Fifth urologist; He was 30 miles away and was an expert with the greenlight laser. He preferred it. But after reviewing all my documents, he said a bi-polar TURP would be the best choice for me. He said it was precise in completely clearing a path for urine flow.
First urologist; I went back to him because he was 10 miles away & was also an expert with the greenlight laser TURP. He said if he did my TURP it would be the bi-polar. I had urologist #1 do the TURP procedure. Besides a short driving distance, he had one of the best nurses (a nurse practitioner) who did the follow up.
Outcome; my life is normal except for two things. I intermittent cath at midnight for 30 minutes. CIC is easier now but I wouldn't want to do it on a plane. Second retrograde ejaculation in some ways is uncomfortable. But I knew it would happen and before the TURP my sex life was almost zero since the summer. Final thoughts; I'm going to dinner tonight for the entire evening at a busy restaurant with friends. I can do that now since the TURP. I feel I have most of my life back.
Hello BB
I just have to say a few words. You had the Urolift and it did not work because your prostate was not the problem. You bladder neck was.
I am happy that you took the time to get a lot of opinions. By the way how big was your procedure. And being your prostate was not the problem. I wonder if a Bladder Neck Incision would have worked for you instead.
The Turp worked to a point but you still have to do CIC. So what was the point of doing the procedure. If it come to doing CIC or a Turp Why just do the CIC and forget the surgery if you still have to do CIC
Did your doctor tell you that before your surgery and why you still have to do CIC??
Just asking. I hope you improve and get better.....Ken