Incontinence 

• About 15% of patients experience mild incontinence requiring a small precautionary pad or tissues. This is a nuisance rather than life-changing. This level of incontinence is also often seen in women who have given birth vaginally.
• Severe incontinence (one or more pads soaked through per day) is extremely rare with high-quality surgery, affecting only 1% of patients, but if it occurs, it is life-changing and needs an operation to correct it. This is more common in patients who’ve previously had radiotherapy.

On the upside: You’re less likely to develop urinary frequency, feeling like you need to pee all the time, a distressing condition that’s more common after radiotherapy.

Impotence

• Erectile dysfunction is a real risk even for men who could sustain very good erections prior to surgery.
• If your cancer is suitable for a specialist bilateral nerve-sparing, impotence rates are still at least 20% even in the best-case scenarios, and it can take over a year to recover sexual function.

On the upside: Many men do find that their erectile function recovers. However, there’s no semen for ejaculation (a dry orgasm) and occasionally a little urine is released.  

Fertility

• Your prostate makes the enzymes needed for fertility, so if it’s removed, you won’t be able to have children naturally.

On the upside: You can freeze your sperm for use in IVF before starting treatment.