56 GoodLifeFamilyMag.com JULY | AUGUST 2019 Therecomesatimeineveryyoungman’slifewhenhewalksintohis doctor’s office and looks around the waiting room…hears inconsol- able babies and sees snotty preschoolers…takes a seat on the brightly colored giraffe table…waits for his pediatrician…and asks himself, “What the heck am I doing here?” This isn’t the exact experience of every young man, but it is for many of the young men I care for, and it was mine when I was a 12-year-old boy still seeing my pediatrician. For me, I didn’t really believe that the office I was in was made FOR ME. Geez, I was nearly a teenager! I didn’t need a lollipop or a cute sticker. I didn’t need my mom to hold my hand during my shots. My voice was deeper, except when it wasn’t. I was growing hair in new places. There was nothing wrong with my pediatrician. The problem was, developmentally, I needed a different kind of place to receive health- care, a place that met my needs. Where I felt comfortable. Where I could ask questions about girls, sexual development, or masturba- tion. A place where someone understood the video games I was into or my up-and-down moods. What many parents don’t realize is that in a three-year training pro- gram, pediatric trainees these days are only asked to do ONE month of adolescent medicine, the specialty that I practice. One month out of 36. It’s not that they might not see other teenagers during training, it’s that one month of that three-year training might not be enough time to truly learn the intricacies of taking care of the adolescent pa- tient. What I want you, the reader, to understand is that adolescent males DESERVE special care. They’ve got similar, yet different, issues to their female counterparts. And for a long time, young men simply haven’t accessed healthcare, not because they didn’t have health problems, but for other reasons—access to care (insurance), false machismo (“boys don’t cry”), dissatisfaction with the office experi- ence, or even gender dynamics. (Pediatrics has a higher proportion of female doctors than any other specialty in medicine—57% of the workforce are women.) How many boys want to ask their female pediatrician about sexual development? Adolescents, specifically males, need specialized care. Having a doctor who understands and can help a young man navigate through stages of development is critical to his transition to adulthood. Let’s walk through these stages with a young man we’ll call “Jack.” He’s self-conscious … his cracking voice and (slowly) changing body is causing him more stress. “When am I gonna get taller?” he asks at the beginning of every visit to see me. He’s obsessed with his height... He wants to play professional basketball. He’s currently 4’10”. By Dr. Kwabena Blankson, MD | Contributor FOCUS ON YOUNG MEN’S HEALTH & WELLNESS FROM PEDIATRICS TO ADOLESCENT TRANSITIONING MEDICINE