Hypospadias is surprisingly common in the US. Roughly five in one thousand male infants in the country are born with this congenital condition. It is a birth defect in which a baby boy's urethra doesn't open on the centremost tip of the penis, like it normally should.
While medical experts are still unsure about what causes the urethral misplacement, they have identified some factors that may increase a child's likelihood of developing it. Most infants with hypospadias came from mothers who are either 35 and older or obese when they became pregnant, as per Bundoo.
Expectant mothers who take hormones during pregnancy and who have undergone fertility treatments also heighten their child's chance of developing hypospadias. Women should avoid doing such measures between weeks 8 and 14 of their pregnancy as this is the time when a baby's urethra is formed.
According to Web MD, male infants with hypospadias will have to undergo surgery to correct the placement of their urethral opening. There are various surgeries which can be done such as re-aligning the urethra to the tip of the penis or reconstructing the skin surrounding the urethral opening.
Urologists recommend that a male infant should be operated on before he turns 18 months old. During surgery, the foreskin is used as a skin graft to address the misplaced opening. This means a baby with hypospadias should not undergo circumcision.
Dr. Kristie Rivers mentioned that there are three types of hypospadias: Subcoronal, Midshaft and Penoscrotal. The first one is when the urethral opening is somewhere on the head of the penis but not on its centremost tip. The second is when the opening is somewhere along the shaft while the third is when the opening is located between the penis and scrotum.
She added that urethral misplacement isn't fatal. However, parents would have a much harder time potty training their toddler. Additionally, hypospadias hinders grown men from experiencing prolonged erections.
