Hi, It's been great reading everyone's experiences of hypospadias. Thank you for sharing. It's amazing to know its one of the most common birth defects.
Does anyone know who the top surgeons are in the UK for treatment? Any advice of that nature? Recommendations of level headed teams not too knife happy offering balanced advice?
My story:
DS1 has Subcoronal Hypospadias, he is 7. This sounds strange but between birth and potty training I'd forgotten he had it and didn't do anything about treatment. When I realised/remembered during potty training we got as far as booking the op for correction but then a few alarm bells rang (I did not like the surgeon - very dismissive of my questions) and we cancelled the surgery. We decided it wasn't necessary. Now we know that was the right decision. He is a very private boy with private parts. His self confidence is good. He knows all about his 'condition' and is glad we didn't do the surgery. I tell him he can have it if he feels necessary in the future/have a 'tidy up' of the foreskin and he's cool with that. So I'd say the decision was right for his level of Hypospadias and his personality.
However, DS2's Hypospadias originally looked exactly like DS1 until recently. He's 4.5. We've always treated it just like DS1, deciding it was mild and not worth risking surgery for. But recently, I've noticed his penis not growing quite how I thought it would, and I think he has Distal Hypospadias. I think as his penis has grown the urethral opening is more obviously on the shaft. So I will definitely get him looked at by a surgeon to assess our options and go through the process, even if the outcome is that we (me, dad, him) decline surgery. He is a more emotional, less rational child and I think he'd have a different psychological reaction to living with the condition to DS1.
DS3 is 20 months and has a perfectly straight, regular, GIANT penis! LOL!!
Thanks ladies
Jo xx (Essex)
p.s. with three kids and a job....I'm often slow to reply but I will do so. Please don't be offended if I'm slow - I would love to hear from you! X