Lingam ‘won’t thwart cancer’

THAT lingam massage offers therapeutic benefits and can prevent prostate cancer is the most common argument its clients use in defending this service.

But trained medical professionals say otherwise.

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In random interviews yesterday, no Cebu City councilor committed to sponsor an ordinance banning or regulating lingam services. A draft will trigger another round of public hearings on the controversial service.

Speaking before the Cebu City Council yesterday, Dr. Jocelyn Abellana, a medical specialist from the Department of Health (DOH) 7, said lingam massage cannot prevent prostate cancer.

“Definitely, it has no role in the prevention of prostatic cancer. Massage like this certainly will not help at all,” she said.

According to Abellana, the only way to prevent prostate cancer is through early detection. She said men should submit themselves to a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test and do a digital rectal exam annually.

However, Abellana said lingam massage can be an “alternative modality” in the treatment of impotencies and erectile dysfunction, but she clarified it should not be for “the general population’s use.”

Dr. Lohindren Adorable, chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Cancer (VSMMC), also said they don’t prescribe lingam massage as a preventive measure for prostate cancer.

Adorable, who also appeared before the council yesterday, is the dean of the Department of Physical Therapy of Southwestern University (SWU). He said they can prescribe prostatic massage, instead of lingam massage, in addressing impotency.

“Prostatic massage is not done by massaging the shaft of the penis or the testes,” Adorable said.

Adorable also emphasized prostatic massage is done in a hospital setting, by physical therapists, and only on those with an indication of impotence or erectile dysfunction.

“We don’t prescribe medication without indication,” he said.

After the doctors discussed whether lingam massage has therapeutic effects or not, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said it will now be up to the city councilors if they will file an ordinance either banning or regulating the operation of lingam spas.

Young had earlier said that, subject to conditions City Hall will set, lingam massage parlors closed or shunned by other cities may operate in Cebu City.

If a draft ordinance is filed, more public hearings will be conducted and more sectors will be invited to hear the sentiments of the public.

The Cebu Provincial Board is already considering two proposals, one to regulate and one to ban the lingam massage service.