Undescended testicle - 6 months old baby

[gemloving]

We've just come back from the hospital and the ultrasound confirmed that my baby has an undescended testicle.

Has anyone had this and can tell me what happened next? I asked the consultant and she said it really depends on your GP & now I'm looking for parents who went through the same process who would kindly share their experience.

Did it eventually descend on its own? Did your baby have an operation and it so, at what age did they operate? How did your baby cope with the operation?

Xx

One of mine had this. Wasn’t picked up until 18mths. He had his op just after 2yo. From what I’ve read they’re supposed to have it done before 2. He was extremely upset in recovery, he seemed to have rolling episodes of something but we didn’t know what it was, he’d be screaming and arching and writhing every 10mins or so and couldn’t be comforted. That was a bit upsetting, the medics in recovery didn’t seem bothered.

We had this with DS.

It was a while ago now so I can’t exactly remember, but I’m sure we were told by the GP at his 6 week check that if it was going to descend on its own then it would likely do so before he was a year old, so they checked him again at that point.

As it still hadn’t, he was referred for an orchidopexy procedure to bring it down, but this was just as covid hit at the beginning of 2020 and we’d have still been waiting now (he’s almost 3). Ideally I think they like to do the procedure between around 18 months and 2 years, but it can be carried out slightly later too without much difference in terms of risk.

In the end, we decided to go private and DS had the first of a two part procedure just over a month ago. They did something to separate the blood supply to the second testicle first and now they leave it to establish itself before going back in to bring it down in the second procedure. Both are done under general anaesthetic.

Interestingly, a week after the operation we got a letter from the NHS paediatric urology department advising the wait would have been at least another 18 months so in hindsight I’m really glad we didn’t wait.

If you have any other questions then I’m happy to answer them, but I imagine similar to us it’ll be a case of watching and waiting for a little while.

@GiltEdges thank you so much! I can get it done privately as he is privately insured but will speak our normal GP first. He's been under the private paediatrician already due to his diagnosis of "failure to thrive", I wish they'd change the wording of the diagnosis because he's thriving and perfect (just had to get this off my chest).

I'm sorry that you had to wait for so long though, my older DS is almost 3 (born in January 2019) and I can't imagine having to wait for so long. My baby being almost as old as my first DS seems a lifetime away.

hope it all goes well for you all, whichever way you end up going.

FWIW, our experience at the private hospital and with our consultant was amazing, I really couldn’t fault it. DS was absolutely fine when he woke up from the procedure too and was happily eating away and watching cartoons in his room a couple of hours after he came round. Kids are remarkably resilient!

My son had this picked up at birth. We were advised that the majority descend on their own so to wait until 9 months. His didn’t so was referred to hospital where he had an operation to bring it down at 18 months, slight delay due to Covid. Unfortunately this didn’t work and now being referred to a different more specialist consultant at nearly 2, so it’s still on going. I have been advised that it’s not a disaster the delay as should be no long term harm but it’s stressful for me as I’d rather he had the op before he’s old enough to remember!

This happen to my oldest son but I can't remember when it was picked up. He had an op two months before his 2nd birthday and he was totally fine after. I was amazed at him being up and about the next day wanting to play as normal! I was expecting a delicate child who would be in a lot of pain but that wasn't the case for him, thankfully.
Good luck with your son, it'll be fine

@GiltEdges could you please share how you went about the private route?My son had his undescended testicle flagged at his 6 week checkup,and then at 6 months.we saw the consultant at the end of Nov 2021 and he told us we would have the date for the orchidopexy in the next few months (delays because of the covid backlog).It’s been 6 months and I haven’t heard anything.and my little one turns 2 in Nov.Really want to get it done asap.
When I call the consultants office,there is no way to know when my son could potentially have the surgery.I emailed the consultant a few times for his availability to do the procedure privately(as Bupa told me he consults privately as well and only need the code from him),but no reply.If I start from scratch and ask my GP to refer us privately,how long did it take you until your son had his surgery?Im just afraid starting from scratch will mean doing the scans again and having a consultant look at my son again when all these checks were already done.

Any advice is really appreciated.