THE SEMI-COMPLETE USER'S GUIDE TO...YOUR JUNK

At some point, it's gonna have trouble doing its jobs. These fixes bring the action back.

- KEVIN DUPZYK

“WHY IN THE world are some of the most important functional parts of your body described as ‘junk?’

Larry Lipshultz, MD, a urologist at Baylor College of Medicine and an MH advisor. After all, your penis—and the associated testicles, prostate, and bladder—has two main (very important) jobs: peeing and sexing. Each task uses different hardware and has different things that can malfunction. Fortunately, there are ways to fix stuff that goes awry.

THE FUNCTION:

TAKING A LEAK

URINE, YOU PROBABLY remember from Biology, is made in your kidneys, stored in your bladder, and released through a tube called the urethra. But aging can mess with all that. The things that go wrong are heavily skewed by age.

WHAT GOES WRONG

UNDER 40

YOU PEE AND (yikes) blood or (sorry) a snot-like discharge comes out. These are signs of infection. STDs are common causes, but blood usually means a bladder infection (or, possibly, bladder cancer); pain in the perineum (the skin from your scrotum to your anus) means a prostate infection. In any case, see a doc for a urinalysis to identify the culprit, which antibiotics can likely defeat.

FIX IT Drink plenty of water and pee when you need to, as urine that sits in the bladder can get infected. Wear a condom to protect against STDs, and be aware that more sex than usual can inflame your prostate or urethra.

WHAT GOES WRONG

OVER 40