Surgery is usually the definitive fix. If it's related to a hernia that has to be fixed too. If the cause is a blockage of the spermatic cord or infection surgery may not be needed. Go see your doc.

A hyrdrocele is caused by something. It's that "something" that needs to be treated as the underlying cause in most cases in adults.

I had the hydrocelectomy surgery 4 1/2 years ago. It kind of sucked. Not going to lie. But it was the right way to go. My fluid buildup was the result of hernia surgery and it just didn’t go down to anywhere near normal. Started to really bother me riding a bike and running. Recovery was about two months before it felt normal to sit on a bike seat or run.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I had a pretty good one going in 2009 that was diagnosed a month or so before I lost my health coverage for four years. I never did anything about it once getting coverage again because the discomfort had basically subsided. I absolutely cannot say that was the right thing to do though.

Will do! Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks to a rather unfortunate softball injury I got to have that surgery many years ago. My doctor really didn't want to do the surgery; he said there was a high infection rate?? I never googled that but if it meant avoiding a scalpel to the nether regions I was ok with that. But after waiting and watching for quite some time and trying to work around it, the problem just didn't get any better and I had the surgery. Got along great, had to take about three weeks off work because my doctor wanted me to take it easy but I really didn't have much trouble at all. Unfortunately several months later the same problem came back! But this time they drained it (which I don't think ever works???) and that helped some, but over time it went away and now I am totally fine and would never know anything ever happened. I am not sure how any of that information will help you but that's my story!

I had a Hydrocele when I was in my late teens, and ended up having the surgery to fix it.

Squeamish people should skip to the next paragraph. My right testicle was about the size of a large tangerine, so I went into have it surgically fixed. The surgery involved draining the hydrocele, cutting the scrotum open, pulling the testicle out of the scrotum, trimming the excess sack around the testicle, stitching everything up, putting everything back in place and stitching the scrotum shut. The whole thing was done under a local anesthetic, and took maybe 30 minutes. Recovery took a while. It was painful to walk for several days, but I'd say I was back to full functionality in about 2 weeks. I did end up with some adhesion, where my testicle is attached to the scrotum a bit, and the sack did fill up a little, probably 2x the size of the other testicle, but neither thing bothers me enough to have them fixed.

For squeamish people, I had the surgery, and it mostly fixed things. As to alternatives, I assume you could just get it drained every so often, but I think the success rate for that is lower than the surgery.

As an MD, you will generally need surgery for this.
As much as it sucks, with the lack of racing at the moment there has never been a better time to get things like this sorted out. The sooner you get it done, the sooner you can recover and start building again. I have had a few friends get procedures done that they had been putting off for some time because of the down time. What I generally advise is just get it done, bite the bullet ASAP because the sooner you are sorted the sooner you can be back to training properly. The more you put it off the more you just delay the inevitable and likely interrupt a proper training build.
Good luck!

Does it still "dangle", dangle?

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
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I had the surgery 9 years ago. Minimal pain (I was out for the surgery). I think I had the surgery on Friday and was back to work on Monday. I don't recall the details of the surgery, but something with a "flap sown in" to prevent reoccurence. Check previous posts. This is more common than you would imagine. I just searched to refresh my memory of what happened. The following is a thread I started in 2008 and was resurrected a few years ago.

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...g=hydrocele#p2072164

The non surgical solution is a 19ga needle, a latex hose, and a cup. I drain out 3oz of fluid every 3 months or so. Easy.

In most of the world they do something called sclerotherapy, where the fluid is drained and a chemical injected to keep it from recurring. This has a slightly lower success rate than surgery (which does not always work!) but it's way simpler and cheaper, and you can repeat it if the first time fails.

Thank you all so very much ! I appreciate the feedback.
Tom