Men avoiding the doctor -- my father is the same way. And no prizes for guessing why I'm mentioning that.
He's apparently been having vision problems (more than the usual being-blind-as-a-bat, anyway) for a while, but ignoring it. He "doesn't want to know that I'm going to die, if I'm going to die I'd rather it come as a surprise". (!!!)
So... my mother dragged him off to get an MRI scan. Turns out he has (had) a tumor sitting behind his (left) eye.
Fortunately it isn't cancerous. It is, apparently, benevolent.
I've always wondered, WTF is a "benevolent" tumor? "Excuse me, this benevolent tumor is going to benevolently try its utmost to kill you, mmmkay?"