A friend of mine in his mid-forties recently asked me whether he should worry about a new mole on his arm. It was not large, but the first thing I said was, “When was the last time you saw your doctor?” It had been over two years. I told him to make an appointment for a full physical, and to be sure to bring up the mole. Compared to women, only half as many men visit their primary care doctor every year. Men are more likely to consider the emergency room or an urgent care center their usual place of health care or they never go to the doctor at all. These are expensive and potentially deadly habits. Some men are breaking these habits and getting routine physicals. Often this is because someone in their life urged them to do so, like me telling my friend to go/Dr. Alisha Hideg, SR. More here.

• Cutline: Dr. Thomas Sansone, a urologist at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, holds up a model of a prostate and bladder. Prostate cancer is rare in young men, with the risk increasing after the age of fifty. (PH) AP PL KD 1998 (Horiz)

Question (for men): When did you last have a physical?