What does a urologist do surgically?
Surgical urology can be distinguished from conservative urology. Surgical urology includes those therapies for which a surgical intervention is necessary. Probably the most common surgical urological intervention is the operation of urological tumours.
These include prostatectomy, in which the entire prostate is removed in the case of prostate tumours, or surgical procedures for bladder or kidney tumours. Surgical interventions for testicular tumours are also counted among surgical urology. In addition to surgical procedures, tumours of the prostate, testicles and bladder can also be treated by endoscopic procedures if necessary.
Endoscopic procedures usually have a faster healing time, but are not suitable for every urological procedure. In addition, stones in the bladder and ureter can block the respective urine drainage systems, which may also require surgical intervention. In most cases, endoscopic, minimally invasive procedures are used to break up the stones so that the drainage system is exposed again.
In the case of urinary incontinence, surgical therapy can be performed as an alternative to conservative therapy. Here, so-called transobturatoric ligaments are inserted into the urinary bladder, whereby urinary incontinence can be restored. Minor surgical procedures can also be carried out on an outpatient basis in urology.
These include circumcision, also known as “circumcision”, or vasectomy, i.e. sterilisation of the man by cutting the spermatic duct. A vasectomy means, translated into German, “the removal of vessels“. In medicine, however, vasectomy usually means the removal or cutting of very specific vessels, namely the vas deferens.
By cutting through the male spermatic ducts, the man can no longer pass his sperm into the penis, which is equivalent to sterilisation. Vasectomy is not an absolute guarantee of contraception, but it is one of the safest and most permanent methods of contraception. A refertilisation operation, i.e. a reverse operation, also has a relatively high success rate. If the vasectomy was performed less than five years ago, a success rate of just under 95% is reported.
How do I find a good urologist?
Various online evaluation portals can help in the search for a good urologist. On the portals, patients who have already been treated can indicate their satisfaction with the treating urologist. Through many different evaluations, it is possible to try to draw conclusions about the competence and reliability of the doctor.
Can you believe the rating portals?
In general, one should always question the ratings on the rating portals. In order to gain a little more certainty about the honesty and correctness of the ratings, special attention should be paid to the number of ratings and their content. The more reviews there are on the portal, the more likely it is that the majority of the reviews can be attributed to really honest patients and thus reflect the satisfaction with the corresponding doctor well. There is no control over whether the reviews were actually written by a treated patient, so any non-patient can also write a good or even negative review to artificially improve or worsen the overall rating.
