Hypospadias Surgery in Teens and Adults
Some men have never had surgery for their hypospadias. Other men have developed complications from hypospadias repair done in childhood. In this video, Dr Snodgrass and Dr Bush of PARC Urology discuss their options.
Older teens and adults with hypospadias may find it difficult to find a urologist to care for them. Most hypospadias surgery is done by pediatric urologists, who do not routinely treat adults. Adult reconstructive urologists specialize primarily in stricture operations, and are less familiar with hypospadias repair since it is most commonly repaired in infancy or childhood. PARC Hypospadias Center was established to care for hypospadias patients of all ages, and Dr Snodgrass and Dr Bush have one of the largest practices for older teens and adults with hypospadias in the United States.
Many teens and adults with hypospadias have been told by urologists that results of surgery in patients of their age are worse than similar repairs in children. Consequently, some have been advised to either have no surgery, or to accept a lesser repair leaving the urinary opening in an abnormal location – essentially saying they must live with their condition.
However, Dr Snodgrass and Dr Bush reviewed their results of both first-time hypospadias repair and redo operations for hypospadias complications in adults and directly compared them to hypospadias repairs in children, finding that there was no difference in urine channel complications. Theirs is the only scientific article that actually studied children and adults having similar hypospadias operations by the same surgeons – and the finding that results were the same means that adults wanting surgery to correct untreated hypospadias, and those bothered by the outcomes of earlier surgery, can have complete repairs to restore the penis.