The board has also informed one patient, who appealed to it directly, that he can continue being treated for pelvic pain by Dr. Hibner — the same doctor in Phoenix whom Dr. Davidson had hoped to see. In an email, which the patient shared with The New York Times, a board official said the intent of its policy was “not to have doctors abandon their current patients like you.”

But Mr. Margulies said the permission for that patient’s treatment did not mean that the overall policy had changed. He said, “A one-time exception was made for one individual.”

A specialty group, the International Pelvic Pain Society, wrote to the gynecology board, requesting that gynecologists be permitted to continue treating men for pelvic pain. The board declined.

The pain society has 300 to 400 members; about half are physical therapists, and 40 percent are obstetrician-gynecologists, said Dr. Richard Marvel, a former president and an obstetrician-gynecologist in Annapolis, Md., who has treated men for pelvic pain.

In an email, the pain society said, “Gynecologists with the appropriate skills, experience and knowledge who choose to participate in the care of men with chronic pelvic pain should not be at risk of losing their board certification, solely because they participate in the care of patients who have a real need, suffer tremendously and have limited options for treatment.”

Stephanie Prendergast, president of the pain society and a physical therapist at the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco, said in an email, “I can assure you these gynecologists are better equipped to treat male patients with pelvic pain than most urologists, neurologists, orthopedists, etc.”

Pelvic pain is poorly understood and in men is frequently misdiagnosed as prostate trouble. Major nerves and muscles involved are the same in men and women, so some gynecologists began accepting male patients.