Verified by Psychology Today. As You Like It. Hypospadias is one of the most common birth anomalies there is. It occurs in 1 out of every to boys, although mild forms of hypospadias may be even more common than this. The urethra is the tube inside the penis that urine and semen pass through.
Hypospadias, the shockingly common birth defect thousands of men have
Hypospadias—A Very Common Male Birth Defect | Psychology Today
What do you need to see me about? I sat there, a year-old with cornfield written all over my face. I was scared, but I came here for advice and I was not going to leave without it. The Doctor apologized for pretending to be short with me. He went on to explain that I had anywhere between 5 and 10 previous surgeries, depending on stages and would place his bet on 7. This highly recommended Urologist from Oak Brook, Illinois went on to say that he was not qualified to operate on me but referred me to a Chicago surgeon who performed several corrections a week and learned from the pioneers of the present surgical techniques. I am now 45 and still find it amazing what you can recall from a very early age.
Hypospadias is, in simple terms, an imperfect formation of the urethra and a misplaced opening on the penis for urine and semen. Wikipedia has a great article on Hypospadias. It's a clinical read, and gives the basics.
Hypospadias repair refers to a group of surgical approaches used to correct or reconstruct parts of the external genitalia and urinary tract related to a displaced meatus, or opening of the urethra. The urethra is the passageway that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. Hypospadias is the medical term for a birth defect in which the urethra opens on the underside of the penis in boys or into the vagina in girls. The word hypospadias comes from two Greek words that mean underneath and rip or tear, because severe forms of hypospadias in boys look like large tears in the skin of the penis.