What our Houston urologists want you to know about urgent urologic conditions

What are urgent urologic conditions? How do you know when you need care right away? Most of the time, you have time to make an appointment with our Houston urologists to get an accurate diagnosis and care plan for your bladder, kidney, urinary tract or male reproductive issues. However, some urgent urologic symptoms require immediate attention. Our team offers same-day appointments for patients with urgent needs.

What are urgent urologic symptoms?

If you wait too long, urgent urologic conditions can cause serious, long-lasting problems and damage to your bladder, kidneys, parts of your urinary tract or male reproductive organs.

Are your symptoms serious? The following signs are your body’s way of telling you to seek medical care as soon as possible.

• You see blood in your semen, urine or at the tip of the penis.
• You can’t urinate.
• You have an erection that lasts longer than four hours and causes pain.
• You have sudden, severe pain in your abdomen or genitals.
• Your abdominal area or genital area swells or becomes discolored.
• You are running a high fever, feeling nauseous or vomiting.

What causes urgent urologic problems?

There are a variety of urgent urologic conditions that cause serious problems. They range from common urologic conditions to issues that occur much less frequently. From infections or obstructions to trauma and rare conditions, our team can help.

• Kidney stones and urinary tract infections can cause hematuria, or blood in the urine. These two conditions can also cause pain in the upper back or side.
• Blockages in the urinary tract often cause you to retain urine or to lose the ability to urinate at all.
• Priapism, or a prolonged, painful erection, can be caused by blood disorders, such as leukemia or sickle cell disease; medications; and pelvic injuries. Left untreated, this complication can cause permanent damage to the penis.

Often, our Houston urologists can diagnose and treat urgent conditions in our office. If not, we will advise you to seek emergency care at a hospital.

There are rare, serious conditions that require care as soon as possible

• Urotrauma in men or women, or fractured penises caused by injuries
• Twisted testicles, or testicular torsion, is a dire emergency. You need to seek care within six hours, if possible, after you notice symptoms such as a swelling or lump in the testicles, blood in the semen, or severe pain and redness in your lower abdomen or scrotum.
• Uncircumcised men can develop painful inflammation, known as paraphimosis, that causes a painful retraction of the foreskin.
• Severe pain in your penis, scrotum or perineum, plus a fever and chills, may mean that you have Fournier’s gangrene. Your risk for this condition is higher if you have an infection, immunosuppression issue or diabetes.

Our team treats common urgent urologic conditions, as well as rarer urologic problems

Most of the time, common urgent urologic conditions cause urologic emergencies, but if you are one of the people who have a less-common emergency, you want experienced physicians on your side. If you suffer from urgent urologic symptoms, do not hesitate to call our Houston Metro Urology team right away. Contact us for an appointment.