Seeking Information on Hydrocele

My 7 year son has a hydrocele (has had it for a couple of years now) but his testicles go between being descended to undescended (I think this makes a difference...if they are undescended all the time, they usually recommend surgery but if they go back and forth, like in my son's case, they say they will just watch). We were told this condition can cause a hernia but not always. There is also an increase of testicular cancer but the increase is minimial and that is a problem that would occur in a man's 20's. We opted not to do the surgery as my son is not having any discomfort and the surgeon advised us to not doing anything at this time. My opinion is if he is not uncomfortable at this time, his testicles are at least descended part of the time, and there is no hernia, I would wait on the surgery or at least get a second opinion. Yes, this surgery is relatively routine but if he isn't having any discomfort right now, I would try to weigh the risks vs. the reasons the dr. wants you to have this done. There are always risks for any type of surgery. I tend to be more conservative in this area as did my son's surgeon we consulted with.

ii agree...see dr schaffer at cent bab. my son had to see him because mof circumsision issue. he specializez in pediatric urology & also reconstructive surgery

Hey there my son had a hydrocele and the surgery was a breeze they just put him under and he was in there for about 1.5 hours, when he came out they told me to give him baby motrin and he seemed to be fine. The only hard part was keeping him down for the next couple of days we just got movies and played games with him he did fine. I know it's scary but really it's pretty simple and common don't worry to much

Good luck
E.

One of my sons had a hydrocele at birth. The doctors told us that it would go away as he grew. HA! It did not! It got bigger, and my 3 year old (at the time) eventually ended up herniating over the hydrocele. Surgery was our only option. They ended up exploring the other side of the scrotum and found another small hydrocele that we didn't even know was there! My son was up and moving only hours after the surgery! Of course, he was 3 at the time, so it was very hard to keep him still. He never complained of any pain and was back at preschool within 5 days! You can hardly even tell he had the surgery at all. The scars healed suprisingly well! Good luck and I hope your son recovers quickly and fully!!

One of my sons had a hydrocele, when he was 3.
The surgery was pretty simple.
I stayed with him the entire time until they took him into surgery and I stayed with him in the room until he recovered enough to go home, which was that afternoon/early evening. Well, the recoup period for him was like a couple days. He was to be kept quiet for then. After that he was back to normal. running around like he never had anything done.
I am sure your lil man will do better than Mom. Mine did, :)
Good luck, I am sure all will be good

Hi-I really don't have a personal experience with this but do have a Dr. recommendation. Dr. Cameron Schaffer at Central Baptist Hospital in LExington, KY is wonderful. He does surgies like this all the time. I'm a nurse aide there and have nothing but good things to say about him. People come from other states to see him.
Good luck!

I have not had experience with my son having a hydrocele; however my husband had a hydrocele 5 years ago. He waited over a year to have the surgery. By the time he finally had the surgery his scrotum was the size of a softball and he was miserably uncomfortable. They said there was a chance it could come back, but so far the surgery has been a success. It took about a week to a week and a half to recover. He wasn't in as much pain or discomfort after the surgery as we expected, but it was sore and tender for a couple of weeks. It was in a very short time that he reasumed normal activity and you would now not know he ever had it.