Author: Paul Turek, MD

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

How about an April Fools riddle: What 100-year old garment accessory lives less than an inch from your privates and is a leading cause of penile injury? Nope, not your stylish skivvies! It’s your pant zipper. Zipper History An American invention from 1913, the “hookless fastener” was first used on rubber boots and tobacco pouches. […]

Biology Always Wins

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

The case of the month is an actual patient of The Turek Clinic. “I thought for sure that I never wanted kids. They broke the mold when they made me,” he told me. But then, he met the woman he never thought he would meet. “She changed everything. Nothing was the same after her,” he […]

A Good Citizen

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

What makes you feel like a good citizen? Is it giving blood? Coaching your kid’s team? Volunteering at a school or shelter? Church work? Voting? Recycling? What is it that makes you feel part and parcel of the wide, wide world around us? I asked this question of myself recently. As a doctor, quite naturally […]

Pins and Needles

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

This week’s post is written by noted Bay Area acupuncturist Anca Sira, founder of Ama Wellness Center in San Rafael, California, She has a special interest in Eastern medicine treatments for infertility. The man sitting in my waiting room for his acupuncture appointment looked about as excited as he would getting a root canal. I think […]

Better Baby Batter

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

I’m impressed. Have to admit, I’ve been following the tabloids recently and I like what I see: real men are letting it all hang out. Hugh Jackman, crooner Michael Buble, the Brit Anthony McPartlin, and writer David Vienna are all talking about it. Their true-to-life, down-to-earth, lay-it-on-the-line feelings about the troubled path they’ve taken to become […]

Sex Drive: A Planetary View

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

The Case of the Month is an actual patient from The Turek Clinic. He is 32 years old and very concerned: “My sex drive in the tank, Doc.” He continues: “I am happily married, love my wife, work is busy and I just don’t understand what’s going on. I think that my testosterone is low.” […]

Basic Stem Cell Math

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

Guess how many human diseases are curable with stem cell therapy. Let’s make it easier. First, eliminate the unvalidated claims made by unlicensed stem cell treatments around the world that purport to cure everything under the sun. Then, remove bone marrow transplantation used for years to treat cancer. And the answer is….none. All that hype and […]

Meet Mr. Varicocele

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

How can something so soft and warm and blue, and no wider than a pencil, have such a devastating effect on your ability father children? Meet the varicocele (veri-ko-seal), the unicorn of male fertility. The Inimitable Varicocele As posted previously, the varicocele is unique to humans and is a consequence of our upright posture. It […]

Life in the Keyhole

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

They say that having a vasectomy means you never have to say you’re sorry. I recently realized that this has been true for 20 years now in my practice! That’s how long I have been doing the no-scalpel vasectomy procedure. One dry sack on the rocks please, bartender! Vasectomy Origins Nary a surgical procedure has […]

Men Are People Too

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

Did you know that only about 1 in 4 infertile men in the U.S. actually receive the medical attention that they deserve?  We’ve already discussed the value of the semen analysis in the infertility evaluation. Now let’s discuss the idea of care. Real care. That means a history and physical examination along with some medical […]