The prostate gland goes through two main stages of growth during a man's life. The first sees fairly rapid growth during the early years of puberty with the prostate roughly doubling in size. The second stage of growth starts in a man's mid-twenties and this is a much slower phase of growth which then continues throughout life.

For the vast majority of men this second phase of growth does not cause any problems at all until they are well into their sixties or seventies when the symptoms caused by the now enlarged prostate will begin to appear and a visit to the doctor will reveal the presence of nothing more than a simple enlarged prostate. In medical terms, your doctor will say that you are suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia, benign prostatic hypertrophy or BPH.

The prostate sits just below the bladder and partially surrounds the urethra