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The basics:

• Doctors say men are less likely to seek preventive healthcare
• Delayed screenings can lead to advanced cancer diagnoses
• Colon, prostate cancers are often treatable when caught early
• Telemedicine, outreach efforts aim to improve screening rates

A healthy-looking man in his 60s had been a physician in his home country in Europe. He understood medicine, knew the language of disease, and was familiar with how health systems work. And yet, because he felt fine, he simply skipped medical checkups.

Prompted by abdominal pain that had grown too persistent to ignore, he finally saw Dr. Hima Ghanta, a board-certified colorectal surgeon at Holy Name Medical Center. She discovered that her new patient had both colon cancer and kidney cancer; he is now facing a complex dual surgery that could have potentially been avoided.

“Both of these things could have been prevented by just going to a doctor,” said Ghanta. “He’s going to be fine, but unfortunately, he’s going to go through a lot more than he needed to if he had just been seen a few years ago.”

That patient’s story is far from unique. Research consistently shows that men are significantly less likely than women to seek routine medical care or preventative screenings — and the consequences, both personal and financial, can be enormous.

Ghanta says the pattern is deeply ingrained. “Men are conditioned to view seeking medical care as a sign of weakness or vulnerability,” she explained. “Preventative health is, in some people’s minds, silly — like, nothing’s wrong with me, so I don’t need to go.”

That avoidance can have a cultural dimension as well. In the case of her European patient, even his wife acknowledged that their upbringing discouraged seeking care. “She said, ‘Listen, we’re raised to not go to the doctor. If we don’t have problems, why should we go?’” Ghanta recalled.

At what cost

But the consequences extend well beyond individual health outcomes. Delayed diagnoses drive up costs dramatically — for patients, insurers, and the healthcare system overall.

“The hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars spent once a patient is sick – and sometimes, unfortunately, way too late to truly be helped – could potentially, literally be prevented,” Ghanta said.

Colorectal cancer, in particular, is one of the most preventable forms of cancer when caught early. High-profile casualties like James Van Der Beek and the late Chadwick Boseman have helped raise awareness, but Ghanta says the message still isn’t reaching everyone.

Holy Name and providers like Ghanta are working on multiple fronts to close the gap. Community health fairs, media outreach, and telemedicine options are all part of the strategy. Virtual appointments, she notes, lower the barrier significantly for busy men who might otherwise never make time. “At least it starts the discussion,” she said, though Ghanta’s careful to note that virtual visits have limits — a physical exam can’t be replaced.

‘Do not be afraid to talk’

Perhaps most powerfully, Ghanta uses every patient encounter as an opportunity to reach beyond the exam room. “I remind them that they also have family who may need to get these messages,” she said. “It could be a son in his 20s. It could be a grandfather in his 70s.”

The bottom line, she says, is straightforward: “Colorectal cancer is one of the few things we can actually prevent from happening. Do not be afraid to talk.”

Other healthcare professionals are also sounding the alarm. For example, one 62-year-old male was active, healthy, and by all appearances in great shape. His cholesterol was managed, he exercised regularly, and he felt fine. There was just one problem: he had never once had a colonoscopy.

By the time he finally crossed paths with Dr. Avi Galler, a colorectal surgeon at Virtua Health, it wasn’t because he had scheduled a routine screening. It was because his primary care physician noticed his blood levels were dangerously low. A colonoscopy revealed a mass in his right colon – roughly the size of a lemon – that had been silently growing and bleeding for years. Surgery followed, and then the pathology report delivered another blow: two positive lymph nodes, making it a Stage 3 cancer requiring chemotherapy.

“There was opportunity along the way,” said Galler. “If he had gotten a colonoscopy at 50, they would have found a polyp that ultimately grew into this. There’s a chance he could have just had that polyp removed and never had to have surgery at all.”

The patient is doing well. But the road was far harder than it needed to be.

Disturbing pattern

Galler is careful not to single out men entirely, noting that plenty of women avoid colonoscopies, too. But he acknowledges a familiar pattern: men tend to arrive later, sicker, and more surprised. “The thing I most often hear is, ‘I’m too young for this,'” he said. “We think we’re invincible.”

Part of the problem is that early colon cancer rarely announces itself with dramatic symptoms. There’s no sudden sharp pain, no alarming event that sends someone rushing to the emergency room. Instead, the warning signs are quiet — microscopic bleeding invisible to the eye, mild fatigue, gradual weight loss, subtle changes in bowel habits. “A lot of people don’t take that as a symptom,” Galler noted. “They expect something more obvious.”

By the time those subtle signals add up to something undeniable, weeks, months, or even years may have passed. What was once a manageable polyp becomes a tumor. What could have been a single outpatient procedure becomes surgery, chemotherapy, and months of recovery.

Virtua Health has leaned into creative outreach to reach people before that point. Social media campaigns aim to make screening feel relevant and even a little fun. “If you had big hair in the 1980s, it’s time for a colonoscopy,” Galler offered as an example. “If you remember when Pearl Jam’s first album came out, it’s time to get a colonoscopy.”

The goal is simple: lower the psychological barrier enough to get people in the door.

If you remember when Pearl Jam’s first album came out, it’s time to get a colonoscopy.
– Dr. Avi Galler, colorectal surgeon, Virtua Health

Alternatives

For those who resist the idea of taking a full day off for a bowel prep and procedure, he points to alternatives — stool-based tests, blood tests, and at-home screening kits like Cologuard. “Any opportunity to have that discussion with a patient for screening and possible early detection is a win,” he said. Telemedicine, too, plays a growing role, particularly for reviewing lab results or initial consultations, even if it can’t replace a physical exam.

Advances in surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy mean that even patients presenting with advanced disease have meaningful options and real chances at quality of life, he added. “You don’t always have to die from cancer — you may be able to live with cancer today.”

Galler’s optimism about outcomes doesn’t diminish his message about prevention. The goal, he says, will always be to catch things before they become emergencies. “It’s never too late to get checked out,” Galler said. “But sooner is always better.”

Direct question

When Dr. Beth Greenwood, a primary care physician at Cooper Care Alliance, wanted a candid take on why young men avoid doctors, she went straight to the source — her 14-year-old son Mason. She asked him directly: if you’re not sick, would you go to the doctor?

His answer was immediate and matter-of-fact. “If I’m not sick, why would I?”

Mason did push back on the idea that it was about toughness or masculinity — he thought that framing might be a bit outdated, maybe even generational. But his core instinct was revealing; in the absence of symptoms, a doctor’s visit simply didn’t register as necessary. Greenwood thinks it may be structural.

“Women are introduced to preventative care early — typically beginning gynecological screenings in their late teens or early 20s,” she said. “That tends to build a habit of seeing providers regularly as a result.”

But men often have no equivalent on-ramp. “Add to that a persistent cultural stigma around men admitting to symptoms or seeking help, and the result is a population that shows up in the exam room only when something has already gone wrong,” she observed. “Interestingly enough, when I asked my 12-year-old daughter, Natalie, about this, she said, ‘Maybe men don’t care about their health as much as women.’”

Beware of ‘silent killers’

Greenwood has practiced primary care for more than 15 years, and one case in particular stays with her.

A male patient came in after not seeing a physician for at least a decade. He felt completely well. But because he was over 50, she ran a standard screening panel — including a PSA test to check for prostate cancer indicators. The results came back alarmingly elevated. Further workup confirmed metastatic prostate cancer. He died within a year.

“Completely preventable,” Greenwood lamented. “We could have saved his life. You need to know what’s going on under the hood.

“Silent killers can go years before symptoms appear,” Greenwood said. “If we pick up elevated blood sugar early, we might prevent diabetes from ever fully developing. If we catch something in the early stages, it is easier to treat with far less downstream consequence.”

Industry adapting

Greenwood has concluded that simply urging men to be more proactive isn’t enough. The healthcare system itself needs to adapt. She has moved toward a direct primary care model that includes extended office hours and early morning appointments specifically designed to work around demanding job schedules — removing the “I don’t have time” excuse before it can take root.

She also works through the people already in men’s lives. “I’ll ask about a husband, a brother, a significant other,” she said. “Family members and partners are often the most effective point of entry.”

Telemedicine, she adds, “has meaningfully lowered barriers. I’ve conducted appointments with patients still in their pajamas who simply would not have come in otherwise.”

But she is clear that it is a complement to in-person care, not a substitute. Vital signs, physical exams, the ability to listen to a heart and lungs, and the nonverbal cues a physician picks up in person simply cannot be replicated through a screen.

She also cautions against treating urgent care visits as a replacement for having a primary care physician. “Urgent care is not a substitute for a doctor who knows you and can connect your history,” Greenwood said. “There is so much beyond the medication. And they don’t do screenings.”

Her son, Mason, may have thought the old reasons for avoiding the doctor were outdated. Greenwood hopes he’s right — and that his generation will be the one to finally change the pattern.