Hydrocele- my experience

I feel compelled to doc my experience here for others to potentially learn from as this forum was very enlightening for me during some very dark times. 

I had about 500ml drained, in a pretty smooth procedure. The procedure is the easy part. 

I had just day procedure so was home by late afternoon feeling very groggy. 

My peen & balls were wrapped up pretty tight in bandaging & the stitches had a dressing over them. During surgery they shaved all my pubes- I guess this was good to save itch whilst it was wrapped. 

I was told to not shower for 48hrs so everything held together for that period. I took the bandage off after about 36hrs as the swelling was killing. Swelling pushed into my peen so it was looking quite deformed- don’t stress this is going to be the least of your worries. 

Ice yourself as much as physically possible for the first few days. 

The dressing came off after my first shower which revealed about 15 desovable stitches some of which had already let go & it was generally looking like a massacre had taken place. 

The information pack I was given post surgery said this was all fine & to wear 2 pairs of jocks to support the balls. This is key as you end up with a lot of pain from a pulling feeling between the top of the ball & your body. Obviously everything is readjusting & stretching. 

What the information pack didn’t say is to redress the wound. It made sense at the time to let it dry, scab up & heal. 

In reality it was torture. 

The cut will weep a lot. That weeping is your body forming a scab so it can heal below. When you don’t dress the wound this will fuse to your underwear. Every step, every change of temperature you will feel the scab tear off the most sensitive part of skin on the male body. Removing jocks was excruciating.

I put up with this for 4 days & then changed tacks as it didn’t appear to be getting me anywhere. 

Daily I disinfected & dressed the wound with an absorbent silicone dressing. So much better. 

But it was a little late as about 7 days post surgery the wound got infected. 

I was put on a course of antibiotics & had to take the second week off work. Luckily the puss drained & didn’t get locked in. I had about 10 days of antibiotics & by that time it was looking a lot better, the stitches had all released & I was able to gently pluck them out. 

A word of warning to watch your posture. Movement is pain so I tended not to move much. A chiropractor told me that my hips were twisted due sitting & sitting incorrectly a lot more than usual. 

I was lucky enough to get the trifecta mid the second week. The triple treat- I could sing, dance & act. Infected balls, chronic back pain &  the bonus- gastro. It was undoubtedly the low point of my life.

At time of writing, it’s a month post surgery. I still have not had sex- my amazing girlfriend who is a nurse was so good at dressing the wound & helping me although that meant all barriers were broken & she is a bit cautious of reinjury.

My wound is still a little open & where the infection was is still yet to heal over. It looks like a small belly button. There is still some extra swelling & bumps around my testicle it’s slowly going down.  

If you are going through this I’d recommend dressing the wound, taking antibiotics as a precaution early on, keeping a healthy posture, sleeping pills to get your rest & having a girlfriend who is a nurse or better yet a doctor. All in all it was worth it. 

Good luck! 

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