Hypospadia
Parent Q&A
Archived Q&A and Reviews
March 2002
My son has hypospadia and hypocordia (minor genital birth defect). We opted to not pursue surgery when he was an infant, as the hypospadia is mild and the extent of the hypocordia could not be determined until he got an erection. Also, we were not given any compelling reasons why surgery in infancy was better than waiting until he was old enough to decide for himself (and waitng for suregery techniques to improve even more). Well he's now 7 and I think we need to start developing a relationship with a urologist before he hits adolescence. I was thinking we would work with Sumner Marshall but I hear that he is about to retire. I am worried that most urologists will be one trick ponies who advocate ''cutting'' without much discussion of anything else. I am wondering what other families have done and who they have worked with. Thanks!
Hi, My son was born with hypospadia and we are going ahead with the procedure to correct it once he is one year old. We have met with Dr. Chi Lee who is in the same practice as the Dr. you mentioned (I believe he has actually already retired). We decided to go ahead with the surgery because at least in our son's case, it is off enough that as he gets older he would most likely end up urinating on his shoes and later in adulthood the Dr. said that he could have trouble with sperm placement if he wanted to have children. I think it might be worth you meeting with Dr. Lee (he came highly recommended to us and other parents in the ''network'' have responded to me about him as well). mom
My son does not have the problem that you are facing, but a few months ago we had to see a urologist for another minor problem. The first doctor we saw was in Marshal's practice, and he very quickly recommended cutting, which seemed extreme to me. He offered few other alternatives, and none that were non-invasive. We sought a second opinion with Hiep Nguen at UCSF pediatric urology department. I can't recommend him highly enough. He was kind and caring, took time to explain to us the situation, gave us a stack of papers to read about the problem and current medical options (many from Europe, where circumcision is not the norm), and solved our son's problem with a simple topical cream. He was also available via email during the treatment period for any questions we had (we had to apply the cream for three weeks). I felt there was a world of differences between practices--UCSF seemed to be much more current on new proceedures and treatments. Good luck to you and your son! Anonymous
Is it the type of hypospadias where the urethral meatus is located just down the shaft a little bit? Glandular or Subcoronal? If you want a second opinion, Kaiser will pay for you to get one from UCSF, where you can see Dr. Larry Baskin (leading pediatric urologist in the Bay Area) or Dr. Hillary Copp. They are primarily at Mission Bay but may also see patients at Benioff Children's Oakland (both UCSF now). They will give you the low-down re: need for surgery and optimal timing. I believe Dr. Anand Krishnan did his Pediatric Urology fellowship at UCSF, so he would have trained w/ Dr. Baskin. Best of luck!
Hi!
My son went through hypospadias repair surgery at 1 year at kaiser Oakland with Dr. Krishnan. My little one had a mild case and surgery went well (Dr. Krishnan was great). Overall surgery only took about 2 hours and we were home the same day. The next week was really challenging though—caring for a hurting infant with a catheter is no joke. But he was back to normal within a week. I’m guessing if they only recently discovered your son’s hypospadias he must have a very mild case (my son was diagnosed at birth). Happy to answer any questions (I definitely wrestled with the decision on whether surgery was the right thing to do).
Our now 6 year old was born with sub-glanular hypospadia, a hooded foreskin, and a mild chordee. I state the specifics right away, since the term hypospadia covers a very broad range, and the severeness and effect on "functionality", can be quite different. Even with the urethra exit being located juster under the glans, we see it as a mild form.
We spent a lot of time in 2014 on medical research, and talking to grown up man with this condition, via facebook groups. At that time, we decided to not have it corrected. For several reasons, but the main one being, that we felt it is a purely cosmetic surgery in our case. A surgery, which is executed on the most sensitive organ, and who's long term effects (beyond 15+ years) is not researched. And a surgery, which — at our time — still had a high risk of follow up surgeries.
Today, our six year old is healthy, and has no limitations in his daily life.
I just wanted to share this perspective. Again, every case is different, and has to be assessed differently.