• Skin problems - rashes, skin infections, and sores can result from constantly wet skin.
  
  
• Urinary tract infections - incontinence can contribute to repeat urinary tract infections.
  
  
• Changes in your social life - urinary incontinence may keep you from activities of daily living. You may stop exercising, quit attending social gatherings or even refrain from laughing because you're afraid of an accident. You may even reach the point at which you stop traveling or venturing out of familiar areas where you know the locations of toilets.
  
  
• Changes in your work life - your urge to urinate may keep you away from your desk or cause you to have to get up often during meetings. The problem may be so distressing that it disrupts your concentration at work. Urinary incontinence may also keep you awake at night, so you're tired most of the time.
  
  
• Changes in your personal life - perhaps most distressing is the impact incontinence can have on your personal life. Your family may not understand changes in your behavior or may grow frustrated at your many trips to the bathroom. You may avoid sexual intimacy because of embarrassment caused by urine leakage.
  
  

Next: Treatment of Male Urinary Incontinence >