Last updated on August 15, 2020
Question
When I was about 13, I had a testicular torsion of my left testicle. Luckily, the doctor operated in time and fixed it. He also did something to help prevent it from twisting in the future. I am now 17. For about six months or more, I have had these sharp pains on my left testicle. They are so brief that I didn’t pay much attention to them. Today, I felt the pain again, but it lasted a little longer. The pain is on the top forward section of my left testicle. The pain feels the same as the testicular torsion did but there is no redness or swollen area. Before I only felt it for a brief five seconds or so, but now I can touch the area whenever and I feel it. I do not feel any lumps on the testicles, but the pain when I touch it reminds me of the testicular torsion. No other pain has occurred in my abdomen or anything like that. The pain is strictly in my left testicle. Do you think that it may be cancer or just that the surgeon did not operate well?. Could it also be something else? Please help me I am really getting worried.
Answer
Testicular torsion is when one of your testicles twist on the cord that holds it suspended in the scrotum. The twist causes the blood supply to the testicle to be cut off. What the doctor did was made a small slit in the scrotum, untwisted the testicle, and added a few stitches to keep the testicle from twisting again.
When boys first start to develop, the testicles can float a bit freely in the scrotum. As you mature, fibers link the sides to the testicle to the scrotum and help prevent twisting. But until that happens, young men are prone to twisting problems. One of the reasons coaches want you to wear a jockstrap in sports is because the strap presses your testicles against your body and keeps them from twisting.
There are several possibilities that could be happening and you need to see a doctor about it so he can figure out what is going on. No, I very much doubt it is cancer because that will show up as a hard lump. But what can happen is that scar tissue can form around the stitches your doctor made earlier. Now that your testicles are bigger, it can be pulling against the stitches or the scar tissue is pulling against the stitches. There is also a possibility that something is pressing against the blood supply to the testicle and causing pain.
What is likely to happen is that the doctor will order an ultrasound exam of your scrotum so they can see what might be happening and then based on the finding make whatever correction needs to be made.
Let me know what the doctor finds. Meanwhile I’ll be praying for your quick recovery.