Is it common for men to not receive rectal exams?

I received my first rectal exam in my mid 20's due to a suspected prostate infection. Little did I know that it would be my first and my last rectal exam. In my case that is a relief as I always dreaded what I expected would be a normal part of getting a physical exam as I aged. I am in my early 70's and I have had a number of different doctors over the years. When I was younger I did not have a yearly exam, but as I got older I typically saw my GP annually. Even after turning 40, not even one single Dr has ever asked to perform a routine rectal exam on me. All of my doctors have been male, and all have been in practice for a number of years so they were not young and inexperienced. After the PSA test became available my doctor always orders a PSA along with my yearly bloodwork prior to my exam. but since it is always very low that is all that is done. I don't know how common my experience is since it does not come up in conversation very often, LOL

Looking back i think I got a DRE at the initial visit with a new PCP or urologist. I’m guessing to document a baseline. Afterwards, just an annual PSA check. My doc said I could forego the PSA tests now due to age. More likely to die with prostate cancer than from it!

I haven't received a rectal exam at an annual physical in years. In fact the physicals are so perfunctory that I no longer schedule them. My local clinic hires NP's and Pa's to provide primary care. My current provider told me that DRE's are no longer routine, and that they are not qualified to interpret results. They do offer PSA tests.

I suspect this depends a lot on the country and healthcare system. A private insurance driven one might well include certain checks automatically.

In the UK's state/free NHS system, things are rather more 'event-driven', as they politely say. If you have a bowel/prostate problem, then yes, when you eventually get seen someone will do a rectal exam if appropriate. But in terms of preventative checks, despite being well into middle age, I have never been invited for any form of 'well man' screening, whether blood pressure/tests, diabetes, PSA, cholesterol etc. Diddly-squat. With most family doctors here now working from home several days a week, I'm not sure their arms are long enough for a DRE.

Our state system can no longer cope with what it has to do, never mind what can wait.

I haven’t had a DRE in years. My enlarged prostate is old news at this point so a DRE wouldn’t tell my doctors anything they didn’t already know. I get the PSA blood test every 6 months, though.

I have come to understand, largely from here, that a DRE may not be routinely done. My experience has not been that and I do appreciate that my physical shall include a DRE as well as a genital exam. It seems strange to avoid that since a doctor's touch can be as important as a scan or blood test. I hope that doesn't become the future. Besides, we would have no stories to share if everything was simply reduced to a lab test. Goodness, no teen will be able to have had an embarrassing encounter. There goes Zity!

My last two male doctors haven't done one. One said he had never found prostate cancer with a DRE during his entire career. Going back ten years my female doctor always did one, probably more concerned with checking for occult blood.

I have a book for doctors that advises a prostate exam and/or PSA test between the ages of 50 and 70, but only after an individual discussion. I would therefore advise talking to your doctor if you are over 50.

I don't even get undressed at my annual physical anymore.

I'm 44 and have had only one PCP do a DRE and that was ten years ago. Now about the most exciting thing that happens at annual physicals is I lift up my shirt to listen to lungs / heart there.

I gotten DREs from the gastroenterologist a few times but even with those it has been 5+ years.

Many primary care doctors these days ask a few wellness questions, maybe take a few vital signs, and then send you on the way to LabCorp for a blood test to detect things. It’s really ridiculous and a waste of the patients time.

52 years old here. The one and only rectal exam that I ever received was at the age of 25, when I went to the hospital for appendicitis. I even had a procedure called a prostatic urethral lift done in July, and have yet to have a digital rectal exam done (other than the one that was done when I was 25). My GP has actually said that most doctors that she knows rely solely on the PSA test.

So I'm a retired physician who was trained in the time of very thorough annual exams, and that's how I did them. And I know that's how those of us with a medfet orientation prefer it. Now, like all of you, I just go for my annual exam, don't even remove my shirt for heart/lung auscultation (would have resulted in a failing grade in my Physical Diagnosis class) and wonder what the point is. But I know that they're just following the science. It's important to check vital signs, to examine any organ systems about which the patient has complaints and then obtain certain lab. 98% of what there is to find will be picked up. We didn't use to have the sophisticated imaging and lab. Now we do. So while today's modern scaled back physical seems useless, truth is it's gonna pick up nearly all problems.

I’ve been going to my current gp for close to 20 years, and have never had any rectal exams. I also have not been asked to strip down to my underwear. I prefer that, over my former doctor, who did the exact opposite. Why would you want to humiliate someone?

It's important to check vital signs, to examine any organ systems about which the patient has complaints and then obtain certain lab. 98% of what there is to find will be picked up. We didn't use to have the sophisticated imaging and lab. Now we do. So while today's modern scaled back physical seems useless, truth is it's gonna pick up nearly all problems.

@Pollux - so what about all the doctors who don't do physical exams or Lab tests, and who post Covid-19 now prefer to mostly work from home? I haven't given a blood sample nor had any routine/preventative physical exam in over a decade, and that's pretty typical over here.

I cannot imagine a doctor visit where blood pressure isn't checked. That single number has more to do with health and longevity than anything else you're gonna check in a routine visit. If you're diabetic the most important thing to control is blood pressure! That said, if you're in your 20s or 30s, not having anything done on a routine visit might not make much of a difference. If you're older you're not being well served.

I also have not been asked to strip down to my underwear. I prefer that, over my former doctor, who did the exact opposite. Why would you want to humiliate someone?

Doctors don't perform parts of an examination to humiliate patients. They do such things to access the necessary information needed to determine if there is a cause for further treatment or if something is out of the ordinary and if there is need for concern.

Too bad and tough cookies if those areas are located in what society has decided to be intimate areas.

This is actually a pretty good argument against Intelligent Design should this ever come up. Why would an intelligent design include the necessity of accessing intimate areas if access could have been designed in less intimate regions of the body? Surely a good team of bio-engineers should be able to design something like that, with access ports or outlets located elsewhere so as not to upset delicate sensibilities.

@agracier access ports or outlets located elsewhere so as not to upset delicate sensibilities.

Oh, yes! Worst design ever is location of prostate!

Oh, yes! Worst design ever is location of prostate!

You say worst location, I say it's a great location. Eye of the beholder...

Can count the rectal exams I've had on one hand; whereas my wife seemed to get them every time she for a doctor's visit in her younger years🤔🙄 .

@Enough where would you have put the prostate?

@Enough where would you have put the prostate?

Somewhere it could be accessed more easily; perhaps above my peckeroo, in the pubic mound... of course; then where would my balls be 🤪.

I only had a DRE once, many years ago. Since then, no other medical staffer even mentioned it.

Compared to nearly everyone else I know, and everyone else I've read about, my own lack of youthful medfet experiences and CFNM experiences in general is not only disappointing, but also rather strange.

When my time on this earth is finally done, I'd love to ask my maker just WTF happened.

I have never had one. I was always under the impression that eventually they would become somewhat regular. A little disappointed to find out that's not the case.

I had my first rectal exam at age 22 and have enjoyed each one since then. My last GP and the current one always do a rectal during the physical exam. Urologists seem to do the best ones but my current GP is really good at it as well - he has the perfect finger for it, rather long and thick and thankfully he takes his time.

I've received a DRE pretty much every year since I turned 41, about 13 years ago. I think I saw one doctor for an annual physical a few years back who didn't do a prostate exam.

I'll be seeing a new doctor for my annual physical next summer. If I don't get a DRE, I won't be returning.