Hypospadias is a congenital condition that some boys are born with. Their penis does not function nor look normal. Look at the signs and intervene!
First of all, let’s analyze how a normal penis is like. A normal penis has testicles and urethra. The urethra is the tiny tube connecting the bladder and the pee-hole, from where the urine flows. This urethra starts from the bladder and passes through the penis, finishing in the pee-hole (meatus). The pee-hole should be at tip of the penis normally.
Then what’s hypospadias?
Hypospadias is when the urethra, therefore the pee-hole opens on another place different from the tip of the penis. It can open at the base of the scrotum or underside of the penis. Disturbing, right?
It can also include hooded appearance of the penis foreskin. Or, it can include tissue tightening on the underside of the penis. Both of these symptoms make the penis look weird and downwards; a condition called chordee. This condition prevents it from fully straightening and getting a proper erection.
Which problems do hypospadias cause?
This condition should get proper treatment. If left untreated, it will cause:
- Difficulty peeing – By ‘difficulty’ it means that the boy cannot pee normally, like every other can. This is perfectly logical because the pee-hole is in a different place. The urine flow is not directed forward in a normal urinal, so boys with this condition way need to sit on a toilet
- Psychological issues – In addition, when a boy is forced to sit on a toilet, he realizes that he’s different from the other boys, and some mean boys may even start calling him names. Being different at that age is not something easy to control. The feelings of being different may develop into lifelong traumas and complexes.
- Weird penis – The chordee, as we said, gives the penis a weird, downwards looks. The penis cannot function properly, and this is most obvious during sexual intercourse. When the penis is erect, it can be noticed that it is bent and this causes difficulties in the sexual intercourse process.
Can hypospadias be treated and how?
There are different types of this condition. As we said, the pee-hole can be placed in different places along the penis. If it’s just a little down from the tip of the penis (glanural type), and there’s no noticeable bending of the penis, then, the penis can function normally and you should not treat it. However, if there’s an opening at the base of the scrotum (coronal type) or underside of the penis (penile shaft type), surgery is inevitable.
This is because this condition can cause long-term problems, such as problems with erection and ejaculation. Some men claim that they have ejaculation difficulty due to having this condition when they were little. Even after the surgery, they still face some problems.
The rule ‘the sooner, the better’ in this case does not apply when it comes to discovering the problem. This is a birth condition, so there’s no problem if you discover it when your baby is older. He will go through surgery anyways. So, what this surgery includes is:
- Altering the position of the urethra
- Correcting the bending, allowing the penis to straighten normally
- Removal of the foreskin
The success of the surgery depends on the severity of the condition. If the complications are mild, there will be just one surgery. But if there are more dangerous complications, there will be a second surgery.