Open Urological surgery is a traditional surgery where an incision is made to access the area of the body that requires treatment. A Urologic condition is any disease or disorder that affects the male reproductive organs or the male and female urinary tract (kidneys, bladder, ureters and urethra).
An orchiectomy is surgery done to remove one or both of your testicles. It’s commonly performed to treat or prevent prostate cancer from spreading. An orchiectomy can treat or prevent testicular cancer and breast cancer in men, too. It’s also often done before sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) if you’re a transgender woman making the transition from male to female.
One or both testicles is removed through a small cut in your scrotum. This may be done to treat breast cancer or prostate cancer if your doctor wants to limit the amount of testosterone that your body makes.
One or both testicles is removed through a small cut in the lower part of your abdominal area instead of your scrotum. This may be done if you’ve found a lump in your testicle and your doctor wants to test your testicular tissue for cancer. Doctors may prefer to test for cancer using this surgery because a regular tissue sample, or biopsy, can make cancer cells more likely to spread.
The tissues around the testicles are removed from the scrotum. This allows you to keep your scrotum intact so that there’s no outward sign that anything has been removed.
Both testicles are removed. This may be done if you have prostate cancer, breast cancer, or are transitioning from male to female
An orchiectomy is an outpatient surgery that doesn’t take long to fully recover from. It’s much less risky than hormone therapy for the treatment of prostate or testicular cancer.
Be open with your doctor if you’re getting this surgery as part of your transition from male to female. Your doctor may be able to work with you to reduce scar tissue in the area so that future SRS may be more successful.