For whatever its worth my Surgeon said mine were not Fully decended and that the ligiment that anchors them to the base of the scrotum was missing. How or if that was part of the equation for my Orchialgia? I dunno... Perhapes it helped influence my surgeons decision to remove them?

I thought undecended testicles had a higher risk of cancer? Or is that a old wives/internet snake oil tale?

And somehow this is not terrible? Not being able to palpitate the testicle to check for cancer is a big deal. Surviving cancer is 99% about early detection. Testicular cancer is the one of the survivable cancers, BECAUSE of this ability. If and empty sack is your desire, just get em removed, and go on HRT. The health risk have lower potential dire consequences (and by NO means do I say this lightly!!!!!)

From what I have read the risk of testicular cancer drops dramatically after age 40 tho there still remains some risk. So having a testicle that has reascended and thus not able to be fully palpated does not present as big an issue as if you are younger than 40.

GregoryOne (imported) wrote: Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:56 am From what I have read the risk of testicular cancer drops dramatically after age 40 tho there still remains some risk. So having a testicle that has reascended and thus not able to be fully palpated does not present as big an issue as if you are younger than 40.

Just because the risk of TC drops with age, doesn't mean that if we do things like permanently displacing the testicle to where not intended we necessarily reduce our risk, whether for cancer or some other thing. I've had friends go through all the issues of TC (one currently) and it is not fun - it can be heart-wrenching even for those on the sideline. My attitude is that if you can't feel them they'd better be gone; anything else is foolish.

Obviously there are always risks in whatever we do and each of us needs to assess the risks in ways that are appropriate for each of us. I'm not sure that the absolute approach you profess is best in all situations or for all people. What is important is that we share information, continue to seek more information, encourage others to do likewise so that each of us can be as informed as possible as we make decisions about our future.

Greg

I'm not a doctor and, since this is potentially a life and death matter, you should take your doctor's advice on this, not miine.

That said, it is my understanding that testicles are supposed to be in the scrotum because, as I also understand it, spermatazoa can't survive when stored at a constant temperature of 98.6 or higher (why do you think they're in such a hurry to nail the egg and be done with it?). When the testicles are permanently (emphasis on "permanently") in the lower abdomen and are, as a result, warmer than they are when hanging in your bag, they are more likely to become malignant than if they were hanging freely in the sac that eons of evolution prepared for them. My understanding is that the likelihood of their becoming malignant in the lower abdomen is still quite low, but that it is also materially higher than if they are where they "belong."

The problem is that, as a very eminent endocrinologist once told me, if they do become malignant, by the time the cancer can be dectected symptomatically (pain) or in blood tests, "School's out," as he so delicately put it.

So, if you have testicles that aren't where they're supposed to be, my advice is to get the adivice of a specialist. Soon.