Q: I gave birth to a baby boy last year. During his birth, his testes had not descended properly. The doctor told us to wait for three months and see if they go down on their own. But in the middle of one and half months, one of the testes got twisted and lost its blood circulation. So, it had to be removed. At the same time we had brought down the other testis to the scrotum. Now everything is fine. I wanted to know if he should go for testis implantation. Now he is eight months old. The doctor said that the first implantation should be done at the end of nine months, the second one at the age of five years and the third one at the age of 15 years. Is the gap proper for the growth of scrotum? Kindly advise. Also, is the fertility with one testis similar to that with two? Does he need to take any precautions in future? Lastly, I would like to know the advantages and disadvantages of implantation.

A:The chances of fertility with a single normal testis are similar to those males having two testes. The main concern should be whether or not the testis that has been brought down is normal. Many of the undescended testes are not completely normal. Protocol biopsy from the testis, done at the time of bringing the testis down, usually is able to tell whether the testis in question has a normal architecture. Functional normalcy of this testes, unfortunately, cannot be known until puberty. Testicular implants have only the cosmetic purpose. The implants have to be changed since the implants, unlike normal testes, cannot grow with age; and the implanted artificial testes look like silicone piece and should have a size close to its living and growing counterpart.