Hydrocele

[tjswan59]

Has anyone had a hydrocelectomy? I'm having the procedure in January and would like to know the results of your surgery i.e., any problems.

[xplore]

I'd like to know also as I'm considering having it done. I'm a bit "gun shy" as I lost my left testicle many years ago because of a sloppy surgeon cutting off the blood supply by accident during an epidytimus procedure. (Remember all those jokes about giving up your "left nut" for this or that)?
I wasn't going to do anything about this hydrcele but it is really starting to bother me so any info would be greatly appreciated......alternative treatments???
Thanks in advance

[tjswan59]

I had my hydrocelectomy/spermatocelectomy on 12/26/07 and this is the 4th day post-op. Lots of swelling and still feeling pain and taking vicodin. Have to be positive and just want to be pain free. Will keep this forum inform on the progress of my recovery.

[hound]

I am 51 and had a hydrocelectomy in late Jan. '08. Swelling of the right testicle had reached the size of a small avocado by late December '07. I've had large testicles since puberty, and the right had always been bigger, but when it started to interfere w/driving when my wrist would go past my crotch while parking, etc., I knew I wasn't imagining it. Wife had noticed it but hadn't commented until I mentioned I was worried. I self-diagnosed and was relieved, until I read that where there was no trauma to explain it, then cancer might be the problem, so I went to my regular doctor and was referred to a uro within a week. Uro presented surgery as the only permanent solution (draining wouldn't solve the problem, and posed its own risk of infection). Was scheduled for a ct scan to rule out cancer, which it did, thankfully. Surgery was done on a Friday afternoon; I worked a full day the following Monday. Incision along the bottom of the sac is 2.5" wide, stitch marks still visible 6 mos. later, big deal. I had a spinal block plus some other sort of cocktail to make me forget it all, which worked fine. I was given vicodin and took one the evening of surgery, but found that I could tolerate the level of discomfort without it as of the next day, so went cold turkey on the hard stuff and used advil. Used bags of frozen peas to reduce pain/swelling both Sat. and Sun.
The surgical technique, which I believe is standard, is to drain the 'cele, then remove all of the "free" tunica vaginalis covering, except that portion directly attached to the testicle. Enough of that is left to fold it back on itself, inside-out, so that any further production of fluid just inflates the general scrotal area. This extra fold is in the back of the testicle, so it's not like there's a lump in front if I'm showering at the gym. It causes no discomfort now regardless of briefs/boxers, etc. Post-surgical pain was sharpest, though infrequent, in the area of the vas/other tubes at the pubic pad level - I was worried that the surgeon had possibly left a second, smaller bulb of pent-up fluid further up, but that eventually resolved; it must have been swelling. The other post-surgical pain was general discomfort along the stitches, which would have a "crawling/biting ants" sort of sensation; jumbo band-aids helped even weeks later until the stitches all finally fell out. I also had to watch out for lapdogs using my groin as a launching pad.
Six months out, I've been totally pain/symptom free for at least three mos.; my uro had a follow-up apptmt set in mid-March in case I was having any problems and I dropped it.
In pre-surgery internet research, it appears that some Euro Uros are draining hydroceles and then injecting solutions to kill off the fluid-producing tissue. Unless a US doctor could competently do that, I'd choose surgery on my terms, and get rid of the problem, rather than let the hydrocele wreck a vacation or something else important.
I'd also add that this would have been hopeless w/o health insurance - the total cost of all procedures, etc., was easily more than $50K.