Non-descending Testicle

I lived in Eugene for 10 years from 1971 to 1981. It is a nice place to live.

One of my sons went through the surgery. It was a same day (in and outprocedure. It is not very invasive. Recovery was quick and simple.

About myself, I am a fifty-eight year old mother with four special needs adopted children at home. ages, 13-girl, 12-boy, 10-boy and 7-girl. I also have two grown girls and a son in heaven. I gave birth to one and adopted the other six. I live in Chico, CA

Hi T.,
My son is 18 months, and had the first part of his procedure done in September, when he was 14 months. He has the 2nd part done in May. He has to have two procedures done, because his undecended testi was still in his abdomen, and showed no signs of coming down. The procedure is called Fowler-Stephens procedure. There are several different procedures, there are different variables of the testi location that will determine which one takes place. Most procedures only have to be done once. And you may find, that your sons' is on it's way down, and you may not even require a procedure. They made 2 small incisions in my my sons abdomen and went in through his belly button. They severed everything holding the testi in place via lazer. The second part, they will pull it down. We checked in at 6:30am, and were on our way home at 11:00am. The roughest part was when he was coming out of the anesthesia. Just make sure to have a favorite blankie, or toy there, and some apple juice. He was running around like a mad man the next day. It, by far, hurt us more then him. Hope this helps!
J.

Hi T. - My son Jason (now 4 years old) was born with a undecended testicle and he too had to have surgery to have it lowered. he had the surgery when he was about 11 months old and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We were referred to a urologist by my pediatrician and the surgery was scheduled for a month or so later. the day of the surgery, was pretty normal pre-op and then after the surgery I was able to go right into the recovery room. It was a little hard to see my first born baby laying in the little hospital bed and his arm was taped to a little board so they could put the IV in and keep it stable. He was REALLY groggy at first (like anyone straight out of surgery) I believe we were given a prescription for pain medicine and we were able to go within an our or so. I was even able to hold Jason while he was waking up. As far as the surgery site, his testicle only had 1 or 2 stitches (may have even just been taped. I can't remember) and it actually looked less painfull then his circumsision. He had a post-op appt a month later and got a clean bill of health. now, 3 years later, you can see a VER small scar on his testicle but other then that, it looks the same as the other one. He may have a smal scar on his lower tummy too..I'll have to check tonight when I go home. Either way, they scars are hardly noticible.

I'm not sure if I can offer any help but I figured I would offer what I know. I had a boyfriend when I was younger who had one that never descended. He was I believe 18 when he had it removed because they were fearful it was going to get cancerous or that a tumour would form. I barely remember now because I think there were a lot of white lies surrounding it to cover up the embarrassment.

My daughter had surgery on her tear ducts when she was 13 months old. It was hard but we did it and now she's better than ever. Surgery may be hard but if it it's the right answer for you, it may be better to do it now so he will forget about it and have a healthy life ahead of him.

I am fortunate to say that I have not had this concern with my boys but do know that it is important to follow up on. I was a health teacher in my "past life" and know that it is a risk factor for testicular cancer later in life. My only advice is to see the urologist and ask questions regarding the exact risk just so that you and your son as he gets older, know that it is a possibility and to do his checks. I hope that this has not freaked you out in any way; it is a rare cancer overall but also believe knowledge is power!

My 19 month old son had to have surgery in September for this and everything went ok. He was born with one undescended testicle but every now and then the other one would dissappear also. The pediatrician said we would keep an eye on it for about a year and see if it descended and if not we would have to see urologist. It did not descend so we went to urologist and I did not like the Dr one bit and was scared to death of putting my baby through surgery but was told it had to be done before he turned 18 months old because development problems could arise. So I went with my gut feeling and sought out a secondary opinion and went to Children's Hospital. The Dr. there told us same thing but I liked him and he also was a child urologist who did the surgery like 10 times a day.

When surgery day came the Dr. looked once again at him and said he did not think they were true undescended testes but he could still go in and tack them in place it was up to us wether to go ahead or not. We decided to since we were there and what was supposed to be a thirty minute surgery ended up being 3 hrs. He had gone in to tack teste down and saw air bubble so he knew my son had a hernia. Turns out that he had to fix a hernia on each side and each testicle was eptopic meaning the cord was hanging on side instead of on top, so he had to make a sac within the sac for each teste.

Im sorry this was so long but I just wanted to let you know we thought it was something so minor and unimportant but ended up to be a major medical problem that would have never been found out until too late if we hadnt gone through with it. I was scared the whole time but in the end he was fine and he woke up groggy wanting to nurse and within an hours time was walking all over the place and had no recoop pain at all in the days to follow.

Just find a good surgeon you like and go with it. I hope all goes well for you in the end.

My son also had this problem and had the surgery about 1 yr and a half ago at 7 yrs old.
His Dr's said to wait until he was at least 7 yrs old because the testicle could descend on it's own. If it didn't by 7 we should have the surgery. He also did not want to risk putting such a young child under anestesia (sp?) unless it was absolutely neccesary.
The surgery was successfull and they were able to take the testicle down from the tubes to the scrotum.
He was fine the next day.

Hi T., When my son was born he only had one testicle and his Dr. assurres us that it was gone and he would be ok. Well at three months we found out that he had a hernia, and the dr. that we saw said that she felt his testicle and that when they did the hernia surgery that they could just pull it down into his sac. That is what they did, since he was already going to be under for surgery. It was pretty quick for us and he recovered quickly. He has a small scar not even noticable. Hope that i was a help. I would get a second opinion, that is what we did and they found it.

Hi T.,

My son too has an undescended testicle, but unlike the other moms, my husband and I decided not to go through with the surgery. I did lots of research and was convinced that there were more risk factors in having the surgery. He is now 4 and he is totally fine. Before you make any decisions make sure you get all the FACTS not just opinions - and most importantly follow your instincts - if it's the right decision you will have peace about it.

Sincerely,
Y.

My son, who just turned 25 was born the same way and we are so glad we did the surgery when he was 2 yrs old. I was 7 months pregnant with number 3, but we didn't want to wait any longer. Our son did fine. He had no problems; we slept over night with him. The hospital was especially good to us.
DO IT. Don't wait for another year to pass, really T..
Now that our son is close to marrying it would be awful if he had some testicular cancer because we never took care of it.
He has two little scars but of course once he hit 5 or 6 we never saw them again. DO IT!

My son just went threw that surgery last year he was 3 years old and the surgery is not that bad it's more scarey in thought but the Uroligist will do a sonogram if hasn't been done already and then go threugh the whole procedure with you. My son was back on his feet normal as usual by that evening of the surgery and he has been doing just fine since then. The whole thing took about an hour for them to do and then recovery was about an hour then we went home if he has any pain or discomfort Tylonol works great after all you have to do is keep stitches clean. My son is hyperactive so all I did was make sure he didn't hit his stitches while he was playing. Just have the doctors explain it and don't worry it is not as bad as it sounds just your motherly kickin in and making you worry for your baby. You'll be just fine and so will your son....

my cousin's son had the same problem. Her son had to have the surgery, and he was back to his old self 2 days later. And he was almost totally fine the day after the surgery.

T.,

My son also had a complication similar to your sons. He had a hydrocelectomy where the wall of the abdomen hadn't closed and his testicle wasn't fully dropped as well. The fluid kept going back and forth. He was 3yrs old when he had his surgery. Like you I was very frightened by the thought of my baby undergoing surgery! The Dr. went in and closed the opening and put his testicle back in it's proper place. the surgery was about 3 hrs long and I of course was a basket case the whole time. They kept him a day to observe him and I brought him home. He fared much better than I did as it hardly affected him. He was up and running around as if nothing had happened, while I was still recuperating from the stress. He had a small incision in his abdomen that healed perfectly and has grown up without any complications what so ever. He is now 19 and a US Marine. Please talk to your Doctor and express your fears and concerns. They will be more than happy to explain everything to you and make sure you have all the information and understanding you need. I wish you the best and feel free to write and let me know how things are going. I do understand the overwhelming fears you have and hope my response is of some help.

HI T. F.
My son's had this surgery when he was 3 weeks old. They did this procedure while fixing a lingual hernia. It only took thirty minutes in the operating room. All they did was dropped the testy down and held it in place with a stitch. I don't want to scare you, but there is always the chance of him becoming sterile (1 out of 100 do go sterile)one of my son's just had a baby, they other one is not old enough to have a baby.
Please talk with your doctor and or get a second opinion.
I hope this helps
G.

My son had the surgery when he was a little over one. In fact, he had that plus a double hernia which was repaired at the same time. He had it done first thing in the morning and was running around the house that same night. I couldn't believe it! Don't worry about it, it is very common surgery and kids bounce back very quickly.

My son had a similar problem except that while his testicles had descended the tubes they descend through did not seal closed like they are supposed to leaving him with a hernia on both sides. He was about 18 months when he had surgery and while it was a stressful day for us he fared very well. I think the actual surgery in our case was about an hour to an hour and a half. In my son they repaired the hernia and sewed the opening closed I believe with your son they would help the testicle to descend and then close the same opening my son had. He was sore for a day or two but then back to business. He is now 8 and occasionally asks about the scars on his lower abdomen as if he just wants to hear the story again. The scars are about 1 1/2 inches each just above his pubic bone and have healed very well. Good luck and hang in there. He will be fine - it us parents that are terrified!

Hi T.,

My son who is 6, had this surgery when he was 13 months old. He only had to go in once(thank goodness), and it was just a few hours that we spent at the hospital. I agree with the response before me-the worst part was when he came out of recovery, and he was disoriented. He cried and cried. I just nursed him and layed with him on his bed. After about 2 hours he was good. We brought him home, and he went right into his bedroom and started playing with his toys. The actual incision the doc made was only about an inch in length, and it is almost invisible today. The one thing I do have problems with is this: the doc told me that I need to feel my son's testicle once monthly to see if it feels "normal", but my son laughs so hysterically when I attempt to do this, that it literally becomes impossible. It's pretty funny. Not to mention that I feel kind of akward doing this now that he's older. But other than that, this has worked out fine. I wish you luck, and try not to worry-your son will do just fine.

K.