BPH can cause lower urinary tract symptoms (pee symptoms). Common symptoms include:

• A weak urine stream

• Trouble starting to pee

• Stopping and starting while peeing

• Feeling like your bladder does not empty all the way

• Needing to pee often (especially at night)

• Sudden urges to pee (urgency)

• Leaking urine when you can’t hold it (urgency incontinence)

Some people have only a few mild symptoms. Others feel very bothered and want treatment.

Your healthcare provider will usually start with simple steps to make sure your symptoms are from BPH and not something else.

Tests most people need (basic check)

• Health history (your symptoms, medicines you take, past health problems)

• Physical exam, including a digital rectal exam (DRE) (a gloved finger exam to check the prostate)

• Urine test (urinalysis) to look for infection or blood

Tests that are often recommended

• A symptom questionnaire (such as the IPSS score). This helps measure how strong your symptoms are and how much they bother you.

• A PSA blood test may be offered for some people. PSA can help check for prostate cancer risk (when it would change care). PSA can also give clues about prostate size and the chance that BPH could worsen over time.

Other tests that may be used sometimes

If your provider is not sure what is causing your symptoms, they may order tests like:

• A blood test to check kidney function (creatinine)

• A bladder scan after you pee (post-void residual)

• A urine flow test (uroflowmetry)

• A pee diary (especially for frequent night-time peeing)

• Screening for sleep apnea (for people over 50 with night-time peeing)

• Questions about sexual function

Treatment depends on:

• How strong your symptoms are

• How much they bother you

• Your goals and preferences

If symptoms are mild

Many people do well with watchful waiting (monitoring) plus lifestyle changes.

If symptoms are moderate or severe (and bothersome)

Options can include:

• Lifestyle changes and watchful waiting

• Medicines

• Minimally invasive procedures

• Surgery

Your provider may also talk with you about your risk of symptoms getting worse over time. Risk can be higher with older age, worse symptoms, and a larger prostate.

These changes may improve symptoms for some people, especially if symptoms are mild or not very bothersome:

• Drink less fluid in the evening (especially before bedtime)

• Cut back on caffeine and alcohol

• Notice if spicy foods make symptoms worse

• Review medicines with your provider (some can worsen peeing, like certain decongestants or antihistamines)

• Try “timed voiding” (peeing on a schedule)

• Treat constipation

• Work toward a healthy weight

• Consider pelvic floor physical therapy if advised (can help some bladder symptoms)

Medicines can help many people. Your provider will help choose what fits your symptoms and health needs.

1) Alpha-blockers (often first choice)

These medicines relax muscles around the prostate and bladder neck to help urine flow.

• Often help fairly quickly

• Do not shrink the prostate and do not strongly change long-term growth risk

Possible side effects: dizziness (more common with some types), and changes with ejaculation (more common with some types). Tell your eye doctor if you take these and you may have cataract surgery.

2) 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs)

These medicines can shrink the prostate and can lower the risk of:

• Sudden inability to pee (urine retention)

• Needing prostate surgery later

They work best when the prostate is larger

Possible side effects: lower sex drive, erection problems, ejaculation changes, and breast tenderness or swelling (rare).

3) Combination therapy (alpha-blocker + 5-ARI)

For people with a larger prostate and bothersome symptoms, using both medicines can:

• Improve symptoms more than either one alone

• Lower the risk of urine retention and surgery

After you have been doing well for a while (often 6–9 months), your provider may discuss stopping the alpha-blocker and continuing the 5-ARI. If symptoms come back, the alpha-blocker can be restarted.

4) Medicines for “storage” symptoms (urgency, frequency, night peeing)

If your main problem is bladder “overactivity” symptoms (like urgency or going often), your provider may consider:

• Antimuscarinic (anticholinergic) medicines, or

• Beta-3 agonist medicines

These can help urgency and frequency. They must be used carefully in some people, especially if the bladder is not emptying well.

5) Combination: alpha-blocker + bladder medicine

If you have both “flow” symptoms and “urgency/frequency” symptoms, and an alpha-blocker alone is not enough, your provider may add a bladder medicine. Studies show this can improve storage symptoms without clearly raising the risk of retention in carefully selected patients.

6) Tadalafil (a PDE5 inhibitor)

This medicine can help:

• Urinary symptoms from BPH

• Erectile dysfunction (ED)

It may be a good option when someone has both BPH symptoms and ED.

What about herbal products like saw palmetto?

Plant-based products are popular, but many studies show they do not work better than placebo for BPH symptoms. They can also interact with other medicines. They are not recommended as standard treatment.

You may want a procedure or surgery if:

• Symptoms keep getting worse even with lifestyle changes and medicines

• You strongly prefer a procedure instead of long-term medicines

• You have problems like:

  • Repeated urine retention (can’t pee)

  • Repeat urine infections

  • Bladder stones

  • Repeat bleeding in the urine

  • Kidney problems linked to BPH

Tests before surgery

If surgery is being considered, your urologist may do tests to measure prostate size and shape (including whether there is a “middle/median lobe”). A camera exam of the bladder (cystoscopy) and an ultrasound are often used to help pick the best procedure.

There are many options. The best one depends on:

• Prostate size

• Your overall health and anesthesia risk

• Whether you take blood thinners

• How important it is for you to preserve ejaculation/sexual function

Standard surgery options

• TURP (transurethral resection): a common surgery used for many people with moderate to severe symptoms, often when prostate size is in a middle range.

• Laser procedures like GreenLight vaporization can offer similar symptom improvement

• Enucleation procedures remove the blocking prostate tissue and can be used for many prostate sizes including very large ones

• Simple prostatectomy (open or robotic/laparoscopic): usually for very large prostates when other options may not work.

• Rezum: uses water vapor heat to shrink tissue; a minimally invasive option