Testicles, balls, gonads, meat balls or whatever name you prefer to use, if you have them, then you better listen to Dr Aaron Mujajati. They might not get as much attention as other parts of the body, but these two little organs play a big role in your health, your hormones, and your manhood.
Every April, the world turns its focus on them for one important reason: Testicular Cancer Awareness.
In an exclusive interview with Diggers Life, Dr Mujajati shares that testicular cancer is one of the most common cancers in young men, yet it’s also one of the most curable if caught early.
The challenge, he says, is that most men would rather not talk about their genitals. Dr Mujajati emphasises that self-examination is the simplest way to check for testicular cancer and men should be checking their testicles ideally once a month, in the shower. He says it only takes two minutes, costs nothing, and could literally save so many lives.
“So, internationally, the month of April is generally recognised as the Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. So, in this month of April, internationally, to those who are aware, this is the month that we generally encourage men to, first of all, bring awareness to men about testicular cancer so that people can get more aware about it, and do something about it. So, we encourage more when it comes to prevention, we encourage more self-examination. So, we find very creative ways of getting men into doing self-examination, the way women do self-examination for breasts, we also want men to do self-examination for their testicles,” he says.
“One of the things you need to look at, first of all, are the risk factors. So, among the risk factors, you’re looking at age. So, you find that testicular cancer is a lot more common in men between the ages of 15 to about 45, in that range. So, from the age of 15 to 45, that’s when it occurs. In terms of the actual risk factors, it’s not well known. However, for example, people who are born with undescended testicles, for example, like you’re born and your testicles have not descended into the scrotum and they are still in the abdomen, especially for young children or young adults, those may have a very wider, a higher risk for testicular cancer”.
Dr Mujajati says lumps in the testicles is one of the indicators of testicular cancer.
“In self-examination, the reason we really talk about it is because, first of all, it’s inexpensive, you don’t have to go and see a doctor, you can do it on your own at home and also, for example, if there was someone who had testicular cancer in your family, you probably need to take more interest in examining yourself. But then you know how in our families, if somebody had testicular cancer, especially the elders, they may never tell the children that they had testicular cancer because it’s a very embarrassing topic to discuss in the family. Also, the other issue is that most diseases in our families, especially cancers, the commonest cause of diseases in Zambia is witchcraft,” he says.
“So, because all of us are bewitched, it’s very difficult to know your family history, because you don’t know your family history in general so we tell all the men to say look, just get tested and also now, when you are testing yourself, we’re always telling them, look when you’re having your shower, as often as you can. Do it once a month, that’s adequate but as often as you can, examine your testicles but then what are you looking for when you’re examining your testicles? What you are looking for when you’re examining your testicles are any lumps. One of the easiest tests you can do from home as a man, you can buy a pregnancy test kit and run the test the way a woman would run the test for pregnancy and if the pregnancy test comes out positive, then chances are very high you have testicular cancer. When we find you with this cancer, we’ll do confirmatory tests and a scan then will do a biopsy and remove a small piece of the lump”.
Dr Mujajati says this type of cancer is very curable once detected early.
“The beauty is that when you detect it early, we can actually cure it and the biggest problem is that men are shy, anything that involves genitals, with men, they are very shy to go to the hospital. The reason I talk about it on social media is to remove the fear and embarrassment and sense of shame that is attached to it. Men are difficult because they are scared. It’s the same as with prostate cancer. For the longest time, we were afraid to do prostate cancer screening. But on the prostate cancer side, we are seeing a lot of improvement in terms of uptake. Like, the uptake is very, very good now, men have understood but we also want them now to also do the same on the testicular cancer side. Maybe to be able to self-determine and if they find something unusual, they shouldn’t feel shy to come to us. I think that’s all,” he says.
Dr Mujajati says men should gently rub, massage and play with their testicles when examining themselves.
“When examining yourself, what you need to do is to physically touch them, play with them, massage them, but not squeeze them because if you squeeze them, they’re very painful and uncomfortable. Physically touch them and it shouldn’t take longer than two minutes to examine your testicles. I mean, you can’t sit there for 30 minutes touching your testicles, you’re not just being excessive but you’re doing way beyond what we’re asking you to do. From two minutes, maximum three minutes, you should be done. The symptoms of testicular cancer is there will be a growth on the testicle itself and because of that growth, usually, it’s not painful, it’s very easy to miss it until it’s too late and that’s why we are insisting that you have to examine them yourself,” said Dr Mujajati.
“If you don’t attend to it quickly, it may spread and just leave you for a while, it may even kill you if it’s not dealt with in time. It may actually affect your productivity as a man. It can create serious problems. It can even induce erectile dysfunction. Remember that for a good erection, you need testosterone, and testosterone comes from the testicles. If your testicles are affected or removed because of the same problem and because it was delayed in dealing with it, it does affect that significantly. That’s why early detection is critical and the easiest way and the cheapest way and less expensive is self-examination”.
