Varicocele

Category

Varicocele

A varicocele is when veins become enlarged inside your scrotum. These veins are called the pampiniform plexus. Out of one hundred males, ten to fifteen have varicocele. It is like getting a varicose vein in your leg.

Causes

In general, the one-way valves in the veins of the scrotum move the deoxygenated blood from the testicles back to the heart. For a few people, this blood flow is hampered due to which blood tends to pool in the veins thus leading to excessive swelling. This is how a varicocele develops slowly over a period of time.

Varicoceles in teenage boys usually form due to their quick growth during puberty.

A varicocele often doesn't need to be treated. For a man experiencing infertility, surgery to correct the varicocele may be a part of the fertility treatment plan.

Symptoms

Some patients do not have any prominent symptoms of varicoceles. For most other patients, varicoceles cause pain and discomfort and can lead to shrinkage of the testicles.

In most cases, varicocele patients develop a lump in one of the testicles or swelling in the scrotum. They also develop visibly enlarged and twisted in the scrotum.