Telling Son He Has Hypospadias?

To preface this, my son is only 7 months old so it will be a long long time before I have to even worry about this.

I am not sure if many if any of you know what hypospadias it, but it is a condition that affects maybe 1 in every 2-300 men. Basically, it is where the penis hole is not in the correct spot, but may be anywhere down the bottom side, even down to the scrotum. Yes, this means if it is bad enough, you may have to pee sitting down and it causes fertility to be almost non existent for obvious reasons (if it isn’t coming straight out…).

Anyways, fortunately my son has an extremely rare case of this. The hole is still on the head of his penis, but it is a little lower down, and his hole is very big even for a little guy. I feel like he will eventually realize his isn’t exactly normal, but I’m wondering how or if this should even be approached and brought up to him. It is one thing to let your child know he or she had ear problems as a child or eye sight problems, but I could foresee telling him his penis is abnormal as being something that could lower his confidence or make him feel embarrassed that his parents know. Just curious how any of you would go about this subject. I just wanted opinions from other men on this. Thanks.

my $0.02

Once he starts to hit puberty, just have his doctor talk to him. I would be more comfortable asking questions to a doctor than my own dad about that sort of thing. If he has issues with peeing at urinals or anything else like that obviously the conversation will have to happen sooner.

I’d rather find out from my dad than in the locker room at school or something. Kids can be freakin brutal.

Can’t Hypospadias repair be done at a really young age?

[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
Can’t Hypospadias repair be done at a really young age?[/quote]

Yes, and we did go to get it done. However, when the doc looked at it, he said it wasn’t bad enough to require surgery, so they just finished the other half of his circumcision (at birth when they see a child may have hypospadias, they stop the circumcision because they may need to keep the rest of the skin to help patch it up). He basically just has a really large hole, but he pees straight with no spray. The doc okay’ed it as being fine and merely a slight cosmetic difference, but I feel he may still eventually find out. I feel it is worth it for him to know at least that he has it in case he wonders why it is that way, but just don’t know how to go about it.

Perhaps the doctor thing is the best way, but at what age?

[quote]Hoosier92 wrote:
my $0.02

Once he starts to hit puberty, just have his doctor talk to him. I would be more comfortable asking questions to a doctor than my own dad about that sort of thing. If he has issues with peeing at urinals or anything else like that obviously the conversation will have to happen sooner.[/quote]

I agree with this, however I would also have a back up plan incase he realizes before that conversation with his doctor occurs. You wouldn’t want to be caught off guard thinking ok next year I’ll have his doctor talk to him, then the next day he brings it up.

Doesn’t sound like a really big deal to me. We are all built a little differently in one way or another. Tell the kid that he has a little bigger pee hole than most guys. I doubt it will keep him from becoming an awesome kid.

[quote]lifter85 wrote:

[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
Can’t Hypospadias repair be done at a really young age?[/quote]

Yes, and we did go to get it done. However, when the doc looked at it, he said it wasn’t bad enough to require surgery, so they just finished the other half of his circumcision (at birth when they see a child may have hypospadias, they stop the circumcision because they may need to keep the rest of the skin to help patch it up). He basically just has a really large hole, but he pees straight with no spray. The doc okay’ed it as being fine and merely a slight cosmetic difference, but I feel he may still eventually find out. I feel it is worth it for him to know at least that he has it in case he wonders why it is that way, but just don’t know how to go about it.

Perhaps the doctor thing is the best way, but at what age? [/quote]

So your son is basically normal. His penis looks a little bit different than everyone else’s, just like everybody’s penis looks a little bit different from everybody’s. This must be your first child. Relax, your going to have plenty of bigger issues to worry about over the coming years.

[quote]lifter85 wrote:

[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
Can’t Hypospadias repair be done at a really young age?[/quote]

Yes, and we did go to get it done. However, when the doc looked at it, he said it wasn’t bad enough to require surgery, so they just finished the other half of his circumcision (at birth when they see a child may have hypospadias, they stop the circumcision because they may need to keep the rest of the skin to help patch it up). He basically just has a really large hole, but he pees straight with no spray. The doc okay’ed it as being fine and merely a slight cosmetic difference, but I feel he may still eventually find out. I feel it is worth it for him to know at least that he has it in case he wonders why it is that way, but just don’t know how to go about it.

Perhaps the doctor thing is the best way, but at what age? [/quote]

Sooooo…

Your son has the hole pretty much were it should be, just a little bit larger and further down and you removed the one thing that would have covered it nicely?

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]lifter85 wrote:

[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
Can’t Hypospadias repair be done at a really young age?[/quote]

Yes, and we did go to get it done. However, when the doc looked at it, he said it wasn’t bad enough to require surgery, so they just finished the other half of his circumcision (at birth when they see a child may have hypospadias, they stop the circumcision because they may need to keep the rest of the skin to help patch it up). He basically just has a really large hole, but he pees straight with no spray. The doc okay’ed it as being fine and merely a slight cosmetic difference, but I feel he may still eventually find out. I feel it is worth it for him to know at least that he has it in case he wonders why it is that way, but just don’t know how to go about it.

Perhaps the doctor thing is the best way, but at what age? [/quote]

So your son is basically normal. His penis looks a little bit different than everyone else’s, just like everybody’s penis looks a little bit different from everybody’s. This must be your first child. Relax, your going to have plenty of bigger issues to worry about over the coming years.[/quote]

Coming from a father of three, this nails it. There could be far worse things. You basically have a healthy baby boy with a little different looking penis that probably no one will ever notice. Like others have said, unless he has trouble using a urinal, I would just let it go. Pretty much all of us have something weird - a messed up toe, an odd birth mark, a miss shaped muscle…

Unless you have to teach him how to play the flute before you teach him how to use a urinal then I wouldn’t say anything, moving forwards if its causing him any problems medically then get him to see a doctor other than that I really don’t know what your concerned about.

I was born with it. Not such a rare thing, as you said. Like your little dude, mine was minor and did not require repair. In high school, I got self conscious and made the decision to have it repaired. It didn’t affect my life negatively at all, in any way, shape or form. I just felt like having it “look normal.”

You shouldn’t have anything to worry about, nor your son. There are many worse conditions out there to be born with.

[quote]VTPower wrote:
I was born with it. Not such a rare thing, as you said. Like your little dude, mine was minor and did not require repair. In high school, I got self conscious and made the decision to have it repaired. It didn’t affect my life negatively at all, in any way, shape or form. I just felt like having it “look normal.”

You shouldn’t have anything to worry about, nor your son. There are many worse conditions out there to be born with.[/quote]

FREAK!!!

[quote]on edge wrote:

[quote]VTPower wrote:
I was born with it. Not such a rare thing, as you said. Like your little dude, mine was minor and did not require repair. In high school, I got self conscious and made the decision to have it repaired. It didn’t affect my life negatively at all, in any way, shape or form. I just felt like having it “look normal.”

You shouldn’t have anything to worry about, nor your son. There are many worse conditions out there to be born with.[/quote]

FREAK!!![/quote]
Dude not cool.

But funny as hell.

Seems like a minor thing in the grand scheme of life.

My younger brother had it (hole too small) and it was a quick fix as I recall.