undescended testicle

lewis09

An embarrassing first post but I'm hoping someone can help, I am 22 and have an undescended (other one is fine) I always thought it was no big deal but after some browsing I see there is a huge increase in the risk of testicular cancer and also fertility risks. It looks as if this should have been sorted when I was a baby with an operation but it never was, don't know why and not going to ask my mam either.

I am going to see a doctor and get it checked, but I believe surgery will be the course of action. has anyone experienced this? can they suggest recovery time from surgery, and also costs, health insurance will not cover as its "pre-existing". I will pay whatever is needed obviously as its seems pretty importnat but would it be €1000, €10,000....etc
It looks like it could be done as a day patient procedure, so maybe it won't be so bad?
I'd really appreciate if anone has had any experience with this and also has it effected fertlity?
maybe you could pm me if you don't want to reply directly here,
Thanks

seanybiker

my girlfriend has a child and the father had the same "problem". So ya can have kids with one ball. The other one is still there its just not seen.

lewis09

thanks seanybiker, thats good to hear

g'em

moved from Fitness

Kenno90

seanybiker wrote: »

my girlfriend has a child and the father had the same "problem". So ya can have kids with one ball. The other one is still there its just not seen.

oh ye you can definitely have kids , one testicle can make millions of sperm cells a day and as you know it only takes on ,
it's the same with women and ovaries they can still have children with one ovary,

i think thats we have two testes instead of one , because if one failed then the other is there to back you up lol

and if i were you i wouldn't really be worried about the increase of cancer just because one of you testicles never dropped

LegacyUser

Firstly I wouldn't stress about testicular cancer, if you are. Incidence of cancer in the undescended testicle (if it's there) is increased many fold, but it's still small (estimated at anywhere between 1 in 1000 to 1 in several thousand if I remember correctly).
First thing I would recommend is you visit a Urologist and see if you have a true undescended testicle or a condition called orchitis, which means the testicle was never there, or is no longer there at any rate. A simple scan might locate it in the abdomen. At this stage it is unlikely to be capable of producing sperm, and is possibly/probably quite small. The urologist may recommend that it is removed rather than brought down. However at your age it may be viable. You should either have it removed (to eliminate the relatively small risk of cancer) or bring it down which will allow you check for cancer in the future. The latter may also have psychological benefits, alternatively you may wish to investigate prosthetics. The Urologist will be able to test your fertility if you are worried. But the fertility of the "good" testicle will not be affected by the undescended one, so unless there are external factors the other one should be just fine.

lewis09

thanks a million for the replies, have been very helful, I have been refferred to Urologist, but doc didn't seem overly concerned, but said the specialist will know if any further action is needed, Thanks

AmcD

You probably already know this, but if you see the urologist as a public patient in a public hospital, the operation is free- apart from the small inpatient fee, which everybody is charged if they stay in a hospital bed. There wouldn't be a huge urgency about needing to see a urologist privately. The only downside is that their outpatient waiting lists tend to be long.
You could ask your GP to refer you publicly or privately

Balmed Out

If you only have one it works twice as hard anyhow so doesnt really matter except your lacking a spare.