MEN are leaving their health and well-being to chance, sometimes with devastating consequences, according to clinicians at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT).
Recent national research suggests many do not like to trouble a doctor unless they think they have a serious problem and are missing opportunities for tests, advice and support that would improve their well being and potentially save their life.
Cancers of the bowel, prostate, testicles and lungs are just some of the most common conditions which affect men in the UK today.
Most of the top ten illnesses are preventable though and could be treated if caught early enough and RCHT clinicians are stressing that good awareness and early diagnosis can be the difference between life and death.
The most common cancer in men aged between 15 and 35 is testicular cancer and on average there are between ten and twenty men diagnosed in Cornwall each year.
Debbie Victor, uro-oncology clinical nurse specialist, said: "Men in this age group should be encouraged to check themselves monthly.
"Lumps, changes in consistency and areas of hardening/ swelling within the body of the testicle should be checked by your doctor and if he feels it is necessary you may be referred for an ultrasound.
"Some men do not find a lump but describe a change of sensation or their jeans/trousers becoming more uncomfortable around the scrotum."
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer found in men and second leading type of cancer death in men after lung cancer.
The disease is treatable if found in its early stages, although there are unlikely to be symptoms at this point.
Ms Victor continued: "In Cornwall an average of 25 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each month, the youngest being in their early 40s and the oldest nearly 100."
Symptoms of prostate cancer include problems with urination such as changes to the rate flow, getting up at night to go, difficulty peeing or stopping and starting peeing, bone pain and blood in the semen.
Last year in Cornwall, 164 men were diagnosed with lung cancer with the majority looking at a life expectancy of just 12 months.
The key to survival with lung cancer is early diagnosis and gives the opportunity for surgery.
Symptoms of lung cancer include unexplained or a persistent cough (often ignored by smokers who may be used to having a regular cough), coughing up blood, chest or shoulder pain (unexplained or persistent), shortness of breath and weight loss.
In Cornwall more than 400 people were diagnosed with colorectal or bowel cancer in 2011 with more than 40 being found via the cowel screening programme.
The programme began in 2010 doing two yearly checks on those aged 60 to 75 and so far has diagnosed over 100 people, who may not have known they had the disease.
Symptoms include rectal bleeding (that persists with no anal symptoms), changes in bowel habit to looser, diarrhoea motions (for six weeks or more), abdominal swelling or persistent pain.
