What is hypospadias repair?

Hypospadias repair is a surgery to fix the location of the opening in the penis when it is not in the right place at the end of the penis.

Hypospadias is a relatively common condition affecting around one in 250 males in Australia. It presents with varying degrees of severity, and a number of different procedures have been described to correct it – for these reasons it can be difficult for parents to find information relevant to their child on the internet.

Boys born with hypospadias should not be circumcised at birth. During surgery tissue from the foreskin may be required to repair the hypospadias. Hypospadias surgery is performed after six months of age.

Most boys under 18 months of age are unaware that their penis is ‘different’ to other parts of their body, it is recommended therefore that correction be complete by then while they are relatively unaware.

While most hypospadias repairs are intended to be successful in the first procedure, up to 15-25% of boys may require a further procedure to achieve the desired outcome.

Further review is undertaken six weeks later, and if progress is satisfactory then a final review is performed 3-4 months postoperatively, by which time most swelling has resolved.