Hypospadias (hi-Poe-SPAY-dee-us) is a birth defect (congenital condition) in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis instead of at the tip. The urethra is the tube through which urine drains from your bladder and exits your body. Hypospadias is common and doesn't cause difficulty in caring for your infant. Surgery usually restores the normal appearance of your child's penis. With successful treatment of hypospadias, most males can have normal urination and reproduction.
Symptoms
In hypospadias, the opening of the urethra is located on the underside of the penis instead of at the tip. In most cases, the opening of the urethra is within the head of the penis. Less often, the opening is at the middle or the base of the penis. Rarely, the opening is in or beneath the scrotum.
Signs and symptoms of hypospadias may include:
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Opening of the urethra at a location other than the tip of the penis
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The downward curve of the penis (chordee)
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The hooded appearance of the penis because only the top half of the penis is covered by the foreskin
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Abnormal spraying during urination
Causes
The key steps in forming the penis take place between weeks 9 and 12 of pregnancy. During this time, male hormones tell the body to form the urethra and foreskin. Hypospadias may be caused by problems with hormones.
Diagnosis
Hypospadias is most often noticed at birth. Not only is the meatus in the wrong place, but the foreskin is often not completely formed on its underside. This results in a "dorsal hood" that leaves the tip of the penis exposed. It's often the way the foreskin looks that calls attention to the problem. Still, some newborns have an abnormal foreskin with the meatus in the normal place. And in others a complete foreskin may hide an abnormal meatus. About 8 in 100 of boys with hypospadias also have a testicle that hasn't fully dropped into the scrotum.
Treatment
Hypospadias is fixed with surgery. Surgeons have been correcting hypospadias since the late 1800s. More than 200 types of operations have been described. But since the modern era of hypospadias reconstruction began in the 1980s, only a handful of techniques have been used by pediatric urologists
