Best age for treatment of hypospadias

  In general, proper penile development is more beneficial for reconstructing the urethra. In foreign countries, surgery is started when the child is about half a year old. Due to the limitations of the yellow race’s own development, as well as the conditions of care and post-operative family health support, Prof. Chen Shaoji generally recommends starting surgery around one and a half years of age. This will solve the problem before the child understands it and can avoid causing excessive psychological impact on the affected child. However, the timing of surgery is not an absolute thing, and is mainly based on the local condition of penile development. For children with good penile development, surgery can be performed around one year of age, and for patients with heavy hypospadias who need staged surgery it is also recommended to start the first surgery around one year of age, so that there is more adequate time for the second stage of surgery. Therefore, it is recommended that after the diagnosis of hypospadias is made clear after birth, it is not necessary to wait until the age initially stated by the doctor, but to see a specialist at around one year of age to evaluate the timing of surgery in relation to the child’s condition and the doctor’s situation. Premature surgical treatment increases the chances of surgical complications.  Penile development depends mainly on the patient’s own ability to develop, and there are differences in penis size in normal people. In the past 30 years of surgical treatment and follow-up, we have found that most children with hypospadias enter puberty with penile development similar to that of normal children, and the few children with combined penile dysplasia can benefit from earlier human intervention for later development. The main concern is the psychological impact on the child. The psychological impact of a child entering kindergarten or school and not being able to stand up to urinate is still relatively large, and most children will have low self-esteem and even be autistic. They may be reluctant to communicate with other children and may even resist going to school. Children usually start to become aware of this when they are about three years old, so we recommend that treatment be given no later than three years old.