DEAR MAYO CLINIC: Recently, I was diagnosed with BPH. This is all new to me, and I hope you can help me better understand the condition and how it’s treated.

ANSWER: Now that you’ve been diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) — noncancerous tissue growth within the prostate — it’s time for you and your health care team to talk about treatment options.

These options depend on the severity of your symptoms, which can range from having a weak urine stream to not being able to urinate at all. Most treatments are done in the outpatient setting, including your clinician’s office, while others may require a hospital stay. Wherever you are on the range of symptoms, there are treatment options that can relieve them, including:

Behavior modifications

If you’re experiencing bothersome, but not severe, symptoms, such as having a weak urine stream or frequently getting up at night to urinate, your treatment may start with:

Medications

If these behavior modifications are no longer effective, your clinician may prescribe a medication, which you’ll need to take every day. These include:

Surgical procedures

You and your health care team may decide that in-office therapies or surgery to shrink or remove overgrown prostate tissue would be the best treatment option for you. Some treatments work better than others, depending on your symptoms, treatment goals and the size of your prostate. Most preserve sexual function and have little or no effect on erectile or ejaculatory function.

These treatments include:

—Ross Avant, M.D., Urology, Mayo Clinic Health System, Austin and Red Wing, Minnesota; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

(Mayo Clinic Q & A is an educational resource and doesn’t replace regular medical care. This Mayo Clinic Q&A represents inquiries this healthcare expert has received from patients. For more information, visit www.mayoclinic.org.)

©2026 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.