Are Wraparound Testicle Implants Right For Me?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I met with another doctor in FL and he talked about side by side testicle implant procedure, but my testicles are 2x3cm currently and he recommended 4x5cm and I am concerned I don’t have enough skin to accommodate both without forcing my current testicles into my abdomen or possible ending up with a very uncomfortable situation.

You lay out the risks, but go into wrap arounds so I thought it might be a viable option for me as a 61 year old (not as active as a young man may be; more aesthetic for me)

Let me know your thoughts, just trying to be practical and not end up with an uncomfortable situation

A:Thank you for sending your pictures to which I can say the following:

1) For a side to side testicle implants approach to be effective they would need to be larger and the 4 x 5 cm implants recommended to you.

2) While I can appreciate your small and tight scrotal skin envelope the complications of pushing the testicles into the abdomen or causing chronic discomfort due to compression our testicle implant problems that I have never seen,

3) that being said I would agree that if you were to do anything the wraparound implant approach would be preferred over the side-by-side technique.

4) The wraparound testicle implant approach is a very clever concept for testicular enhancement and, although I am the one that has developed it, I remain very cautious about its use. It is associated with a not insignificant rate of postoperative separation of one or both of implants from the natural testicle. That problem seems to have been improved by making implants based on an ultrasound assessment of the exact natural testicle implant size so the inner chamber of the implant matches closely to that of the natural testicles size. Well this appears to have lowered the risk of that problem it does not make it zero. Thus any patient considering this approach must be accepting of this risk. In addition even though implant can be placed back over the testicles in a secondary surgery the rate of re-separation remains high and I do not view that as a viable solution. Therefore the operation either works or it doesn’t.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon