Undescended testicle

[SAHMIL]

Hello,

I have a DS who has a testicle that is not compeletly descended. He will need surgery. Can anyone fill me in on the details of this? He is 6 months old now and we'll go see the urologist in January when he is 9 months old.

Thanks!

[julieakc]

My DS had one testicle brought down in Feb. along with a hernia repair. It was an outpatient procedure and DS did fine. He rested the first day, but was up running around the next day. I don't even think I can see the mark on his scrotum now; the hernia scar on his groin/abdomen is still visible but very faded now.

BTW, you may want to talk to the urologist about holding off on the surgery. If it is fully undescended (up in the abdomen) then you;ll have to do it, but if it's retractable (comes and goes) and/or is in lower in the tract it might come down on its own given some time. I am no doctor, just basing this on my own experience and research.

DS's left testicle had made "appearances" but quickly disappeared and often couldn't be found at all. When we finally decided to see the urologist at about 2 years 9 months he said we could hold off on the surgery to see if came/stayed down more (he was easily able to locate both of them and pull them into the scrotum). A couple months after the appointment I discovered the hernia so we went ahead and had the questionable one brought down and tied in place at the same time.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[niccig]

I friend's DS had this. 2 doctors said it was there but not descended and would need surgery. They didn't have an ultrasound, were told it wasn't necessary. As it turned out there was no 2nd testicle, but they only found this out during the surgery. They were very POed that their DS went through surgery w/o cause, and her advice is to have an ultrasound even if you're told you don't need one.

HTH

[kelly ann]

Ultrasounds are not 100% sure that the testicle is not there. If the ultrasound showed nothing, but it was wrong then the child could be dealing with a far worse situation down the road. We had an ultrasound that didn't show anything, but still had the surgery. Every situtation is different, but sometimes surgery is the only way to know for sure that the testicle is not there.

If you are still unsure, then always get a second opinion.

Oh, we were told to have it done before the child is 2 years old. I think DS had his at 15 months.

[jerigirl]

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboar...ng_type=search
Here is a past discussion on this.

My son (now 16 mo) had surgery this past August for his undescended testicle with a hernia repair. It was confirmed at birth by ultrasound that it was present. We saw the urologist for the first time in June. He said that ultrasounds are not always reliable but since he could feel the testicle he was able to confirm the presence. Our urologist's thoughts were that if the testicle hadn't descended by about 3 months of age (I think it was 3 mo) it probably wasn't going to descend on its own. At that time the baby has a hormone surge that can trigger the testicle to descend. If that surge doesn't do it, then it probably wouldn't happen.

The surgery was an outpatient procedure. Went smoothly. He was given a caudal block (like an epidural) after he was put to sleep to numb him from the waist down and help with pain management afterwards. It took right about an hour from the time they took him back to the OR until the time the DR came to talk to us in the waiting room. The only complication was vomiting after surgery due to the recovery room nurse letting him chug 2 bottles of juice right away.

The only real restriction after surgery was no ride on toys for 2 weeks. Our doctor figured it is hard to keep a 1 yr old down. We didn't have any stitches or anything to worry about, so we only went back for follow up 8 weeks after surgery. There was some bruising for several days to the scrotum, but the incision healed up quick (can't even find it now) and the incision on the abdomen is still slightly visible.

The hardest part was not letting him eat the morning of surgery. I would definitely do your best to get the earliest time possible. Talk to your anesthesia provider about the eating/drinking guidelines. My son could still have water as close as 2 hours before surgery. It will all depend on what type of anesthesia is planned. Sorry this is so long. I hope it was helpful. I would be glad to answer any other questions you have.

One other thing I wanted to add- At our follow up appt, our doctor stressed the importance of when DS reaches puberty to have him start doing self exams of his testicles. Previously undescended testicles have a higher chance of developing tumors than normal. So DS needs to be aware of that.

Jeri

[gatorruth]

DS had the surgery to bring down his undescended testicle at 12 mos. It was relatively 'painless' as other posters have mentioned. The research I did brought me to the conclusion that the longer you wait after 12 months, the greater the chance for the testicle to never be the same size as the other one. Now, at nearly 5, I see this is true. His undesceded side is smaller than the other one. I hope he doesn't worry about this in the future...

I also agree to book the earliest appt you can.

Good luck!

[gatorruth]

sorry...