Symptom

Failure of one or both testes to rest in the scrotum at birth

Home care

Check periodically to see if the testis has descended. If it does not, consult the doctor.

Precautions

-    An undescended testis that is not treated may become twisted, injured, or possibly cancerous.

-    If an undescended testis is not corrected before age seven, body heat may cause it to become damaged and unable to produce sperm.

-    An undescended testis should not be confused with a migratory or retractile testis which needs no correction.

-    An undescended testis may be mistaken for a hernia or a swollen lymph gland. Have the doctor make the diagnosis.

-    An undescended testis should be treated between the ages of four and seven.

-    Do not worry the child by discussing the condition.

In the male unborn baby the two testes, the sex glands, lie just beneath the kidneys. Before birth, they travel down into the groin and come to rest in each side of the scrotum. In 1 to 2 percent of full-term male infants and 20 to 30 percent of premature male infants one or both testes have not completed their descent by the time the baby is born. The testis or testes are then referred to as “undescended.”

An undescended testis may lie within the abdomen or the groin. In a boy’s first months or years of life an undescended testis may successfully complete its migration to the scrotum. However, this does not always happen.

A testis that remains undescended is at risk of becoming twisted, injured, or cancerous (malignant). If the condition is not corrected by the time a boy reaches age seven, an undescended testis may be damaged by the heat of the body; it may shrivel (atrophy) and lose its ability to produce sperm.

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