Women have prostates too?

June 17, 2:25 AMSF Health ExaminerRonitte Libedinsky

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The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that sits right below a man’s bladder and produces a slightly basic, milky white fluid that gets mixed in with semen before ejaculation. The basicity of this fluid helps protect sperm from the acidic environment of a woman’s vaginal tract so that the sperm can survive for a longer time.

So what is a prostate doing in a woman’s body?

In women, the prostate, also called ‘Skene’s gland’, is located a few centimeters into the vagina, in a place better known as the G-spot. As in men, the female prostate produces a fluid that can be ‘ejaculated’ during arousal. 

The size of female prostates are highly variable, some women have ones that are even too small to spot, leading to much debate over the existence of the G-spot and the possibility of female ejaculation.

In both men and women, prostate glands release a protein called prostate specific antigen (PSA), and raised PSA levels can be sign of cancer in both sexes, but this relationship has been studied much more in men than in women.

In general, though, men have more to worry about than women when it comes to the prostate.

Prostate cancer in men is the second most common cancer in the US (skin cancer is the most common), and it affects 1 in 6 men. The American Urological Association now suggests that men do not necessarily need to get a PSA test done every year, but it does recommend getting a baseline PSA test at 40 years old.

In addition, because the prostate continues to grow as men get older, enlargement of the prostate is common in men over 50 years old, and it affects about 50% of men in their sixties. Inflammation of the prostate is another common issue for men over 50 years old.

In women, Skene’s glands can get blocked, infected, enlarged or present with cysts, but these conditions aren’t very common. Symptoms include excess discharge, painful urination and/or intercourse. Blockages and cysts can be removed by simple surgery and infections can be treated with antibiotics. Note that birth control pills can cause the gland to overproduce its fluid, which would result in excess discharge.

For more about men's health: Three things every man should discuss with his doctor