Worried about colon cancer risk

[Coderuler8]

Hi everyone, I'll get to the chase

My dad found some polyps on a colonoscopy at around age 55, they were benign but I can't remember what type.

Anyways, I hear that because of this I am now at higher risk and should probably get scanned around 40? For some reason this worries me cause I see a lot online on how people my age (27) are finding things when it's supposedly rare. So now I just feel like I should be getting colonoscopy's all the time cause I'm scared of missing something even though I have no real reason right now to get one.

[WiseMonkey]

Hi there, bowel cancer grows slowly so people don't need checks all the time. Your Dad was older when he was found to have polyps and they were benign. You may be at a higher risk of getting polyps (ask your Dr) and maybe have a colonoscopy when you turn 40.
When does your Dad get his next one? I remember a specialist saying that it can take ten years for a polyp to grow and turn cancerous! Ask your Dr and get some more info from a reliable source, Take care.

[Coderuler8]

He actually already had another one a year after, at 56 and nothing was found. So I believe they put him on a 5-10 year interval from here on.

I had always thought this came from his lifestyle as a lifetime smoker and alcoholic but didn't realize just even having the polyps already puts me at higher risk. I guess it's good that I only need to wait until I am 40 for this.