Is there any LYNer who has suffered from varicocele before? I have just been diagnosed after getting ultrasound done below there .

Doctor said the only way to solve this problem is to go under the knife. However, Wikipedia says that there are alternative methods.

Right now there is just the feeling of discomfort down there and I have had this symptom for nearly a month. Doctor said again that in the long run, this could cause infertility even though - sigh - Wikipedia says there is no real proof of varicocele patient ending up infertile.

Therefore, here I am trying to get some opinions from those LYNers who might have had varicocele before.

Yeah, this coming Monday I have to show the ultrasound to my company's in-house doctor so that I can claim for the cost of operation.

I have searched the Internet for some opinions and most of the solutions found would be to undergo the operation.

Anyway, would like to bring some awareness to other male LYNers to seek doctor's advice if you have the same symptom as mine.

The doctor, a urologist that I consulted claimed that this is something that some males are born with. Wikipedia says that 15% - 20% (nearly 1 out of 5) males are affected, which is pretty high in my opinion.

According to the urologist again, usually the symptom will show itself during teenage years. I don't know why I just got my symptom a month ago. In fact, the only event that I can recall ever happened a month ago would be me falling and landing myself on my butt during a basketball game.

Now I have to provide semen sample to get the sperm count as a measurement on how serious my varicocele is. Sigh... Chinese New Year period and I get this troublesome illness. Definitely a bad start of a new year.

Hmm... I doubt I would want to travel all the way to Selangor area just to get this treated. Penang has ample of hospitals to choose from. Anyway, thanks for the informaton.

Been getting quite a number of PMs recently so thought I should re-open the thread & include some useful information or FAQs.

I did undergo the surgery (laparoscopic varicocelectomy) back in March 2008 at Hospital Lam Wah Ee, a non-profit hospital in Penang. The urologist was Dr. Leong Wing Seng though I doubt he's still in service after his clinic was set on fire by one of his patients.

Can't remember the exact cost but my deposit of RM5,000 was sufficient for a night's stay.

Semen analysis post-surgery showed overall improvement & based on this result, the doctor concluded that the surgery was a success.

The pain did go away post-surgery but occasionally, like maybe once in a few years, I'll still experience some dull pain down there that could last for a week or two.

I'm currently still consulting another urologist from another hospital just to follow-up in case it develops into something bad like testicle cancer. According to the new urologist, the varicocele symptom is still there (dilated veins) but he can't be sure if it got any worse compared to back in 2008. There's definitely some difference in term of size between the 2 balls but it's one of the effect of varicocele.

I have been blessed with 2 kids so maybe it's safe to say that the procedure was indeed successful?