Family from Oman thanks hypospadias foundation for care with compassion

Hypospadias Foundation starts Clinic for Hypospadias Treatment & Surgery in Bahrain

It is amazing how far the parents go for ensuring the best care and results for their children when they are having a medical condition requiring treatment. At Hypospadias Foundation, Navi Mumbai, India, we are indeed blessed to be caring for more than 50 such families every year who come from all over the globe for surgery and care for their children. Combined with another 150 families from across India, we are proud and happy to be a part of the lives of almost 200 such families every year. Our dedication to compassionate care extends across borders, providing support and expertise to families worldwide. And when these children heal well, parents send thank you notes which makes it all worthwhile. Join us at the Hypospadias Foundation for care with compassion.

Here is one such letter sent by a family from Oman. Their son was diagnosed to have distal hypospadias in Oman. Family searched for best surgeon and hospital for hypospadias surgery in the world and finally landed up in Navi Mumbai for care under Dr A.K.Singal, top Hypospadias Surgeon and Pediatric Urologist.

Email follows:

Dr. Singal,

I hope you are fine and you family as well. 

My son is fine now with grace of Allah. As you know he was having simple distal hypospadias. I searched many times and places regards treating my son professionally for his case. After watching your videos which are posted in YouTube (Hypospadias Foundation Youtube Channel) I decided to do the hypospadias operation for my son with you. 

I would recommend any person who is looking for a doctor dealing with hypospadias to go for you for some reasons which are: 

1. I am fully satisfied with your approach to the patient and his family. 

2. Fully satisfied and comfortable with your high experience similar to my son’s case. 

3. Administration at MITR hospital is fine and dealing with international patients professionally especially Dr. Ajit. Very respected person.

4. Price for hypospadias surgery was reasonable, and I paid as agreed. 

If any patient would like to ask me, I am happy to answer their questions. 

Many thanks Dr. Singal 

Mr A, Oman.

We would like many more families to benefit from our expertise, love, and compassion while we treat the little ones for hypospadias. We have also now started a center at Ibn Al Nafees Hospital in Bahrain for children from the GCC region to help them with good results of hypospadias. Children from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Jordan, and Africa will now find it easy to get treated with Dr. Singal and his team in Bahrain. Dr. Singal visits Bahrain every 3-4 months and holds clinics and performs surgeries with Dr. Mahmood Asghar, a renowned Pediatric Surgeon himself in Bahrain. The team has delivered excellent results for more than 40 surgeries done in the last 5 visits of Dr. Singal (as of April 2019). Join us at the Hypospadias Foundation for care with compassion, dedicated to improving the lives of children and families affected by hypospadias.

For setting up an appointment in Bahrain, please write to us at hypospadias.bh@gmail.com or whatsapp at +973-39467333

For coming to India: Pls Fill up this form here:

http://www.hypospadiasfoundation.com/contact-form-for-patients/

Else pls drop an email to hypospadiasfoundationindia@gmail.com or

WhatsApp Dr Rajkumar (Coordinator for Hypospadias Foundation) at +919821261448

hypospadias foundation for care with compassion

Dr A.K.Singal performing surgery

Watch Video of Distal Penile Hypospadias Surgery by Dr A.K.Singal, Best Hypospadias Surgeon In India.

Excellent results of Hypospadias repair surgery – TIP urethroplasty (Snodgrass Repair) for distal penile hypospadias

Hypospadias is one of the most common malformations in boys and affects more than 1 lakh kids in India. At Hypospadias foundation and MITR Hospital, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India – we see and manage more than 200 kids every year who have hypospadias and need surgery. These cases are either primary (75%) or those have failed surgery elsewhere (25%)- some of them have failed multiple surgeries elsewhere.

We strongly believe that hypospadias surgical correction should not be taken lightly or casually by any surgeons as first hypospadias surgery is the best chance which the child has. Once the first hypospadias surgery has a complication, more surgeries are needed and still the result may not be optimal. Hence, the surgeon needs to be well trained for hypospadias repair procedure and should have a very keen and passionate interest before he takes up any child up for surgery for hypospadias.

Amongst the various techniques for hypospadias surgery, one of the most popular one is Tubularised Incised Plate (TIP) urethroplasty. TIP repair was first described by Prof Warren Snodgrass and it currently constitutes 70% of all distal and midpenile hypospadias repairs across the world. Due to its universal adoption and remarkable results, it is also known as Snodgrass repair. I had the good fortune of assisting Dr Warren Snodgrass during his multiple visits to India when I was a resident in pediatric surgery at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. I keep bumping him into now and then at pediatric urology conferences, the last one of which was European Society of Pediatric urology Congress in Genoa Italy. We received the best paper award at the conference and it was nice to see Dr Warren Snodgrass applauding us.

While TIP repair or Snodgrass urethroplasty has excellent results, case selection before surgery is very important. The criteria are:

  1. Distal or midpenile hypospadias
  2. Mild to moderate chordee which is correctable
  3. Wide pink elastic urethral plate.

In certain selected proximal hypospadias, Snodgrass repair can be used but on a personal level- a long Snodgrass repair may not be the best option in most cases. We have started using Onlay Island flap repair in most of our proximal hypospadias and all distal/ mid penile hypospadias which are unsuitable for TIP Urethroplasty.

Steps of surgery:

  1. Degloving the penis and chordee correction – straightening of the curvature of the penis
  2. Midline urethral plate incision
  3. Neo-urethra formation on a catheter
  4. Second layer coverage with either a dartos flap or spongiosum
  5. Penile skin cover with Byars flap which helps in creating a midline closure on underside of penis. After the healing is finished, penis looks like just a circumcised penis. In some selected cases Prepucial reconstruction can be offered.

You can watch the video of a Snodgrass Urethroplasty for a distal penile hypospadias here.

In my experience as an expert hypospadias surgeon, while doing TIP urethroplasty everything has to be done meticulously to prevent complications. If I have to narrow down on two things which have really lessened the complications of hypospadias repair with Snodgrass urethroplasty at our centre are:

  • Fashioning a wide caliber neo-meatus- so that there is no narrowing later on
  • Providing a second layer cover on new urethra with either spongiosum or a dartos flap.

Master Soham’s parents stay in Latur, Maharashtra and their son was diagnosed to have a distal penile hypospadias at birth. Worried about multiple surgeries and poor outcomes for hypospadias repair- They searched for the best hypospadias surgeon on the internet and landed up in our pediatric urology clinic at MITR Hospital in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. We did the surgery using a Snodgrass repair technique in First week of May 2014. The surgery went well and child was discharged the evening of surgery. The dressing and catheter were removed 5 days after surgery and now one month after followup the child has an excellent outcome after hypospadias repair surgery. The cosmetic appearance is excellent with a meatus at the tip of penis, straight penis and just a circumcised appearance.

Good cosmetic outcome after single stage hypospadias repair surgery

Parents are also happy and overjoyed.

Happy parents – after successful hypospadias repair surgery

If you wish to consult Dr Singal you can fill up this contact form here:

http://hypospadiasfoundation.com/contact-patient.htm

Or call up Dr Rajkumar at +91-9821261448 to discuss anything

Contact Form for Hypospadias Foundation

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    Cost of Hypospadias Surgery in India

    Hypospadias is a very common birth defect affecting up to 1/150 newborn baby boys. In the current era most of the couples choose to have one or maximum two children and that too with a lot of planning. The moment the newborn baby boy is diagnosed to have hypospadias – besides distress and worry for the baby’s health and future parents also start worrying about other things. These are:

    • When should the surgery be done
    • Where and by whom should the surgery be done
    • What will be the long term outcome after surgery
    • How much is the hypospadias repair surgery going to cost

    While the first three questions have been answered elsewhere, the last question forms the substance of this blog. Parents always worry ” Is hypospadias repair surgery going to be very expensive?, Would my insurance policy pay for hypospadias surgery since hypospadias is a birth defect”

    The cost of hypospadias repair surgery varies according to the type & severity of the hypospadias, type of surgical technique, time taken by the hypospadias surgeon, assistant used or not and finally type of room taken- general ward or shared room or a single deluxe room.

    • Elaborating further – for a mild variety of hypospadias like glanular/ distal penile hypospadias with mild chordee, an expert hypospadias surgeon will take under one hour for surgery, work without assistant surgeon and the charges may start from 1000 US Dollars (60,000 Indian rupees) while for a severe hypospadias such as scrotal/ perineal hypospadias the charges may go upto 3500 US dollars (2,00,000 Indian rupees) for a single stage urethroplasty.
    • Some of the hospitals in Mumbai may be more expensive than say for example Hypospadias Foundation at MITR Hospital in Navi Mumbai.
    • For some of the severe hypospadias a staged urethroplasty repair may be needed and then the budget may extend further but this happens in less than 5% of the cases. Though at Hypospadias Foundation located at MITR Hospital in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, majority of our hypospadias repair surgeries are single stage urethroplasty surgeries, still in 4-5% of the children referred to us, the hypospadias may have a very severe chordee necessitating a two stage approach for better long term outcomes.

    Hence, the actual charges of hypospadias repair can only be decided after a full hypospadias examination and discussion with the parents face to face.

    Similar hypospadias surgery in USA carries upto ten times the charges and maybe 5-6 times of Indian charges in Europe. When looked at in context of India, though most of the families are able to afford these expenses, for some indian families these may still be high. Some of these families get support from Hypospadias Foundation either as medical consumables support or by way of some discounts in surgeries at Hypospadias Foundation. We have tried to ensure a policy of NEVER Saying NO to a child with hypospadias for economic reasons. If the intent is right, money comes in as Donations etc.

    Coverage of Hypospadias by Insurance Companies:

    Hypospadias being a birth defect is generally not covered by most of the insurance companies in India atleast while in USA, UK it is covered under insurance benefits. Some of the corporate insurance group covers do include all pre-existing as well as birth defects for their employees and hence hypospadias repair procedure may be covered by the insurance company by some of these companies.

    In the other cases, the parents usually end up paying up these charges by themselves out of their own pocket. For new parents working in a job or middle class environment this may be stressful. What helps is that Hypospadias repair surgery is a planned procedure. It can be done anytime between 6 months-15 months of age giving parents enough time to rally around and arrange everything from money to other resources. Hence, it is best that they meet a hypospadias expert or a pediatric urologist early on in first 1-2 months and then learn everything about the charges, hospital stay, pre-hypospadias surgery tests and then get mentally prepared for the actual surgery.

    Please feel write to us for an opinion at hypospadiasfoundationindia@gmail.com or fill this contact form Contact Hypospadias Foundation

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      Living with Hypospadias- Adults with hypospadias

      The tale of hypospadias does not stop in first few years of life for everyone. This is especially true of adults and adolescents who underwent hypospadias surgery repair using older techniques and with lesser trained Hypospadias surgeons 15-20 years back. While a majority of these have done well, there is a sizable population of adults in India who have persistent issues secondary to hypospadias such as urethral fistulas, persistent penile chordee (bending of penis), urethral stricture or bad cosmetic outcome. As Pediatric urologist and a surgeon with deep interest in hypospadias (hypospadiologist), we keep seeing such patients on a regular basis now.

      There are atleast estimated 5 lakh adults/ adolescents in India with untreated, complicated or residual issues of hypospadias in India. Some of these people live an unsatisfied life thinking that no cure is possible because that is what they have been brought up to think. Individuals who have failed multiple surgeries are called Hypospadias cripples in medical community signifying the crippling effect which inadequately treated hypospadias can have in a person’s life.

      Fortunately, with newer techniques, better hypospadias surgery instruments, very good sutures like PDS, availability of dedicated hypospadias surgery teams and expert hypospadias surgeons good results are possible in any patient with previous failed hypospadias surgery even in hypospadias cripples.

      Here is story in point:

      Six months back I saw Mr RK, a 30 year old young man, who had been a case of failed hypospadias – operated for hypospadias twice in his childhood in a hospital in Delhi. Both the surgeries had met with partial success and his parents had left him like that and lost hope at a completely functional urethra. RK had been a good student and went on to do Engineering graduation from IIT and then a MBA from Pune. He had taken up a job in multinational company and now was planning to get married. Infact, he had delayed marriage inspite of a successful career because he was never satisfied with outcome of his hypospadias surgery. That’s why he looked up on internet and came to see us at Hypospadias Foundation in Navi Mumbai.

      At the first consultation itself and being in relatively the same age group, we hit it off really well and he was quite frank and objective about his condition and that kind of interaction helps a hypospadias specialist like me. When I examined him, he had a persistent mild chordee but the bigger issue was his urinary opening (meatus) was not on the tip of penis (glans penis) but way down in distal penile location. He had many skin bridges and scarred islands of skin and a large urethral fistula in proximal penile region. There was a bit of penoscrotal transposition as well. On questioning, he was passing 50% of the urine from the urethral fistula and 50% from the distal penile location without any straining and in good urinary stream. None of these problems were major by themselves and could have been cured easily but after two failed hypospadias repairs in childhood, I think parents just gave up hope.

      So we discussed with RK at length about the various things which needed to be done-

      • Distal urethroplasty using flap from nearby ventral penile skin,
      • Closure of urethral fistula (fistula repair) in multiple layers with tunica vaginalis flap
      • Correction of penoscrotal transposition
      • And chordee correction by dorsal plication.

      The surgery was done next week at MITR Hospital & Hypospadias Foundation. Dr Manish Dubey, Urologist and Co-founder of Hypospadias Foundation helped me with the surgery and management immediately post surgery. RK was sent home the day after surgery. A follow up visit for hypospadias dressing removal was planned on day 5 and catheter removal o day 10.

      Some of things especially in adults undergoing hypospadias surgery, which we took care of to ensure smooth recovery and are different from children:

      • Postoperative pain and erections
      • Choosing the right urethral catheter and drainage bag

      We were also worried about higher chances of wound infection and bleeding after redo-hypospadias repair. For pain and prevention of erections we gave benzodiazepine derivative tablets and phenobarbitone along with diclofenac and that helped pretty well for two weeks. For the catheter, we used a Foleys silicon catheter for 10 days and left it to drain in a urine bag which RK could carry with him and walk around within his home.

      Fortunately, everything went well and now after 3 months of hypospadias surgery, the hypospadias surgery site is healing well and there is no more pain during erections. The urine stream is good and RK is passing from the tip of his penis for the first time in his life standing like a normal man. He is not shy to use the public toilets anymore- He just stands up and delivers.

      We have asked him to wait for three more months before planning marriage and these three months he is actually going to spend in finding the right girl for himself. For him, we hope the chapter of HYPOSPADIAS is closed now.

      The only question remains whether as a Hypospadiologist I will get invited to his marriage- if yes, how will he introduce me? As the doctor who fixed his penis? I think that is too much and I will just skip attending his marriage and I wish him the best of luck always from our side and from everyone at MITR hospital and Hypospadias Foundation in Navi Mumbai, India.

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