The Men's Center

The Men's Center A men's health center the way it should be done. Integrative sexual, hormonal & prostate health.

Testosterone
Erectile & Sexual Dysfunction
Prostate issues & cancer
Medical weight management
Functional strength
Men’s health & longevity
Vasectomies

03/20/2026

THIS IS A CONCEPT THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T THINK ABOUT. BUT IT'S ACTUALLY CRITICAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF YOUR LAB VALUES.

On a lab sheet you will see a column for reference range. But there are actually two different ways to derive a reference range and they are fundamentally different.

The first is a doctor recommended range. A good example of this is LDL cholesterol, where the recommended range is less than 100 mg/dl. Generally when you see recommended ranges they are nice round numbers because they are basically just a line in the sand to trigger conversation. For example, the reference range for LDL cholesterol is 100, for total cholesterol it is 200, and for triglycerides it is 150. When the lab value falls outside recommended range such as an LDL cholesterol of 105, the number turns from black to red on the lab sheet to get everyone's attention..

Because a recommended range does not change, the number of people who fall outside the range depends upon how unhealthy the population is. If you test a population of very healthy men you will have fewer red numbers than in an obese population, for instance. So the reference range is fixed and the percentage of red numbers is variable depending on the health of the population tested.

But the exact opposite applies to labs like testosterone.
We don't actually have a recommended value for free testosterone. So we derive the reference range by doing a population sample. These cutoffs are frequently fractions rather than whole numbers. These ranges are mathematically guaranteed to always encompass approximately 95% of men because by convention the range is 2 standard deviations from the mean in either direction. Every few years a new sample is taken and a new bell curve is generated. So as the population gets sicker the reference range will reset and the bell curve will move to the left. So unlike with recommended ranges, the reference range moves with the health of the population while the number of red results stays stable at approximately 5%. This means that a guy who falls within the reference range in 2026 may have fallen below the reference range in 1980!

π˜›π˜©π˜ͺ𝘴 is why I do what I do. Just a dude trying to help other dudes. Come see me at The Men's Center in Mt. Pleasant. ➑️ ...
03/19/2026

π˜›π˜©π˜ͺ𝘴 is why I do what I do. Just a dude trying to help other dudes. Come see me at The Men's Center in Mt. Pleasant. ➑️ 843-625-4273

03/19/2026

Yes it is true that patients with healthy HDL-cholesterol between 60 and 80 are less likely to have a heart attack than patients with low HDL-cholesterol, particularly less than 40. But as you will see in this video the relationship is not that simple and does not appear to be causal, unlike the relationship between LDL-cholesterol and heart disease.

in contrast, there is a clear causal relationship between triglyceride level and your risk of heart attack and stroke. The good news is you can take a major dent out of your triglyceride level with lifestyle modifications.

This finishes up a three part series on the lipid profile.
Next we are going to tackle one of my favorite topics, which is how to interpret the hormone panel including testosterone, estradiol, free testosterone, luteinizing hormone and s*x hormone binding globulin.

Stay tuned.





When two psychologists, Dr. David Dunning and Dr. Justin Kruger, described the Dunning-Kruger effect in 1999, it was as ...
03/18/2026

When two psychologists, Dr. David Dunning and Dr. Justin Kruger, described the Dunning-Kruger effect in 1999, it was as if they could see the future. It was as if they could see the rise of health and wellness influencers, and more specifically the runaway world of peptides.

The Dunning-Kruger effect describes why some of the people who are the most vocal and the most confident in their opinions are very often amongst the least qualified to take cues from.

No doubt, a lot of influencers truly believe in what they are saying and feel like they have "done their research". Many of them have your best interest at heart. Of course there's a handful that have pure financial incentive (see discount codes).

Many health influencers lie on the first peak of the Dunning-Kruger curve - confident in their opinions, convincing (that's why they are called influencers), but unfortunately often lack the fundamental knowledge base that allows them to realize how much is not known.

Whereas many people with backgrounds in science, physiology, pharmacology, pathology, correlation versus causation, the weakness of anecdotal evidence, the difficulty controlling for confounding factors, the strength of placebo effect, the effects of biases including confirmation bias and financial bias, social media algorithms, etc have the competence to know how little we actually do know about many peptides without double-blinded, placebo controlled trials in humans. These are the gold standard for "knowing", and still aren't perfect.

Clearly, the concept of peptides is really intriguing. I am especially interested in the idea of restoring hormonal pathways and physiologic processes to youthful levels - without affecting feedback loops or circadian rhythms and without achieving unsafe supraphysiologic levels. On the surface peptides appear to be a safer approach than some others that have been utilized. If you had to pin me down and make me guess (what we have to do) I would say that it's likely that some peptides are going to be both safe and effective, others one, the other, or neither.

But I know enough to know what I don't know. Right now, nobody knows. There are no experts. Not yet.

Testosterone therapy can be an absolute LIFE changer if managed safely & effectively. I'm a believer. Thank you for the...
03/18/2026

Testosterone therapy can be an absolute LIFE changer if managed safely & effectively. I'm a believer. Thank you for the chance to talk about it! Men, come see us at The Men's Center in Mt. Pleasant. We are quite literally the experts. ➑️843-625-4273

THEY EITHER DON'T KNOW OR DON'T CARE. WHICH IS WORSE?The data for radial acoustic wave therapy is abysmal. It's clear th...
03/16/2026

THEY EITHER DON'T KNOW OR DON'T CARE. WHICH IS WORSE?

The data for radial acoustic wave therapy is abysmal. It's clear that it doesn't work. Clinics who push it are trying to piggyback off the data for focused shockwave therapy, which is much more promising.

So why would a clinic even have radial acoustic wave therapy? Because the machine is a fraction of the price of a focused shockwave therapy machine.

The data for PRP is more mixed, but heavily leaning towards it being just an expensive placebo.

it probably would not surprise you to learn that both of these procedures generate high profit margins for these clinics.

The health and wellness/men's health industry is a billion-dollar+ industry. And although the elimination of the stale insurance-driven scope allows for refreshing outside the box strategies, cash-pay has also introduced ample new opportunities to prioritize profits over the right thing.

Just be careful out there. Or come and see us. We will give you the straight scoop and always put your best interest first.



Prostate cancer has been a huge part of my urology practice for 20+ years and remains near and dear to me. At The Men's ...
03/14/2026

Prostate cancer has been a huge part of my urology practice for 20+ years and remains near and dear to me. At The Men's Center I keep active in the field through our prostate cancer support group and prostate cancer coaching.

Strategies for diagnosis and management of prostate cancer are evolving very quickly and exciting advances are being made. It is so important to keep up with the latest developments or else get left in the dust.

I just finished attending the MUSC prostate cancer conference all day today. It was a great meeting.

I have so much admiration for the urology department at MUSC. Former chairman Dr Thom Keane, interim chairman Dr. Steve Savage, and now current chairman Dr Eric Wallen have put together a group of exceptionally well-trained and talented urologic surgeons and cancer doctors. I have been in the Charleston medical community for 20 years and this is the strongest urology department MUSC has ever had IMO.

If you or a loved one has prostate cancer, you cannot go wrong by staying in Charleston and putting your trust in the group of docs at MUSC.

Big props to Dr Wallen and the department he has assembled!



πŸŽ—

He said it. We really DO care. You're not just a number at The Men's Center. Come see us, guys. We're the experts. ➑️ TE...
03/14/2026

He said it. We really DO care. You're not just a number at The Men's Center. Come see us, guys. We're the experts. ➑️ TESTOSTERONE OPTIMIZATION β€’ ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION β€’ SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION β€’
VASECTOMIES β€’ PROSTATE ISSUES β€’ PROSTATE CANCER β€’ MEDICAL WEIGHT MANAGEMENT β€’ FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH β€’ MEN'S HEALTH & LONGEVITY ➑️ 843-625-4273

03/13/2026

I am not sure that there is any topic in healthcare with more misinformation, skepticism and distrust than lipid management! In truth it is a very nuanced topic, and the guidelines are always evolving to the point that they become outside the scope of many healthcare providers. Unquestionably the latest guidelines are not even in the same solar system as the scope of the knowledge of the "influencers" (I cannot stand that word and what it implies) that many people are putting their trust in.
The data regarding risk of elevated LDL cholesterol, for instance, includes over 200 individual studies, with over 2 million participants followed over 20 million person-years. That is a lot of data. It appears that the correlation between LDL cholesterol and ASCVD is not just correlative, it is causal.
To be clear there is no intervention with zero risk, statins included. But sometimes it's important to also consider the risk of not taking a medication for dyslipidemia - that risk being a potential heart attack, stroke or even sudden death. Your best strategy is to discuss this with a doctor who is familiar with the literature, and willing to have a discussion and make a shared decision based upon your own priorities and predilections.
Stay tuned for my next video where I'm going to talk a little bit more about interpretation of the labs on your lipid profile and how we can further risk stratify you if necessary.





03/12/2026

I really love what I do. I love being able to help guys live long, happy, productive lives. Oh and I also love helping guys be able to have more s*x. There's that.

I saw a patient today, a really nice guy who we have been following for s*xual dysfunction and hormonal health. He said something that really made me feel good, something we actually hear quite a bit. He said "I feel like a different person. I wish I would have known that there was a men's health clinic with a urologist three years ago when I started this journey", as he had bounced around the other area clinics and just never felt like he trusted what he was hearing.

Over three years ago, I started The Men's Center because I knew that there was a better way to help men stay healthy and achieve their goals, and there was clearly a need for a urologist - a men's health specialist - in the men's health space. I am so glad I made the move and I get reminded of this every day when I talk to dudes like this one.




*xualhealthawareness

03/10/2026

Parents?

OK consider yourself the pituitary gland of your household and your kids are the thyroid.

You want them to clean their room properly.

There are three scenarios.

The first one is that you ask them once and they respond appropriately and clean their room properly. This is like having a normal TSH.

The second one is that you have to actually ask them several times and at one point even raise your voice, your daughter cries and plays with Legos for a while, but they eventually clean their room properly. This would be like having an elevated TSH and a normal T4. It doesn't indicate that there needs to be immediate intervention., but there certainly needs to be close follow up.

The third one is when no matter how many times you tell them, they never clean their room. This would be like having a high TSH and a low T4, and intervention is necessary.

As an aside, I don't even pretend to be the pituitary of my household. That's my wife.




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29464

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