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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffA retractile testicle is likely to descend on its own before or during puberty. If your son has a retractile testicle, your son's doctor will monitor any changes in the testicle's position in annual evaluations to determine if it stays in the scrotum, remains retractile or has become an ascending testicle.
If the testicle has ascended — no longer moveable by hand — or if it's still retractile by age 14, your son's doctor will recommend treatments. The goal of treatment is to have the testicle permanently descend, thereby lessening the risk of complications. Treatments include:
- Surgery. A surgical procedure called orchiopexy is the most common treatment. Through one incision in the groin and another in the scrotum, the surgeon guides the testicle to its proper position and stitches it into place. Annual follow-up exams are usually recommended.
- Hormone therapy. Because descent of the testicle is partially regulated by hormones, descent can sometimes be induced with hormone therapy using human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). HCG is administered by injection, generally twice weekly for four weeks.
It is important to understand that even with successful treatment of an ascending or retractile testicle, the increased risk of cancer remains. But, if a testicle is permanently in the scrotum rather than in the groin, it's more easily monitored. Therefore, abnormal cancerous growths would be detected and treated sooner.
Adolescent boys and men who have had treatments to correct an ascending or retractile testicle should regularly monitor the position of the testicle to ensure it doesn't ascend at a later time.
