Pediatric Undescended Testicle

Your child may have an undescended testicle if one or both testicles have not dropped into the scrotum before birth.

Usually, an undescended testicle will drop into the scrotum on its own a few months after birth. If it doesn’t, surgery during childhood can lower future risks of infertility and testicular cancer associated with this condition. At Children’s Hospital, our pediatric urology team offers minimally invasive outpatient surgery for children with undescended testicles.

Undescended Testicle Symptoms

Signs of an undescended testicle include:

Not being able to see or feel a testicle in the scrotum.
A scrotum that appears smaller, flat or empty on one or both sides.

Undescended testicles usually don’t cause pain.

When to Seek Care for an Undescended Testicle

If your child’s testicle has not dropped on its own by 6 months of age, talk to your pediatrician. Or you can reach out directly to our pediatric urology team.

We can usually diagnose undescended testicles through an examination. If your child has an undescended testicle, we may recommend surgery, depending on their age.

Types of Undescended Testicles

Babies can have different types of undescended testicles, including:

Palpable testicles, which can be felt in the groin.
Nonpalpable testicles, which cannot be felt in the groin.

Our experienced pediatric urologist is skilled in correcting both types of undescended testicles in children. We can use small incisions and minimally invasive surgical techniques. About 95% of palpable testicles and 75% of nonpalpable testicles function normally after surgery.

How We Treat an Undescended Testicle

Surgery to treat an undescended testicle is called an orchiopexy. At Children’s Hospital, our team routinely performs these outpatient surgeries in babies 6 months and older. We will work with your family’s pediatrician to determine the best time for treatment.

What to Expect Before Surgery

Do not feed your child for a few hours before surgery. Our team will provide specific guidelines, based on their age.
You should wash your child’s groin and abdomen on the day of surgery.

What to Expect During Surgery

Our pediatric anesthesiology team will give your child general anesthesia to put them to sleep before surgery.

For a palpable testicle, our team will make a small incision (cut) near the groin. Then, we will move the testicle through the incision into the scrotum. We will then use stiches to keep it in place.

For a nonpalpable testicle, we will perform laparoscopic surgery, which involves inserting a small camera through a tiny incision in your child’s belly button. Then, we’ll make two small incisions in the abdomen. Through these incisions, we’ll place surgical tools the size of drinking straws and use them to locate the testicle in the abdomen and move it down into the scrotum. Then we will stitch it into place.

Sometimes, a two-stage surgery is recommended to maintain blood supply to the testicle. In this case, your child will have two minimally invasive surgeries a few months apart. The operation usually takes less than an hour.

A pediatric nurse will monitor your child in our recovery room. After about two hours in recovery, you can take your child home.

What to Expect After Surgery

After your child’s surgery, they will need to rest for a few days. We’ll give them Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain management and provide you with detailed instructions on how to support their recovery. If your child is over the age of 12, they may also be prescribed tramadol to help with pain. Their stitches will dissolve on their own and do not need to be removed.

A few days after surgery, our nurse clinician will have a telehealth visit with you to check your child and answer questions. In about six weeks, we’ll check your child again in our pediatric urology clinic. Then in a year, we will check the development of your child’s testicle.