This article and my subsequent research has raised some interesting questions about
my own condition. When I was thirteen (13) years old my physician/surgeon diagnosed and performed surgery on me for condition the he described as a 'hydrocele'. He said, if I recall, that is was on
opening left when the testes descended after birth. An incision was made in the testicle sack and apparently the
opening was closed.
I noticed as I became an adult that I had lumpy testicles with one teste smaller than the other and one that hung much lower than the other. In addition I have always felt that they were easily able to feel pain. I assumed the doctor of my youth had not done a good job on the surgery. I had no basis to compare with other men, so I guessed that my testes were sort of normal. No physician ever remarked that it was abnormal. I even had an ultrsound of the testicles once to check an infection. No abnormality was noted. I went on to father two wonderful children. After the birth of my children, I had a vasectomy performed and no comment was made. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer I asked my urologist if my 'lumpy' testes were unusual and never got an answer.
Now I read that I might have and still do have a condition called 'varicocele. I appears to be close in nature to the 'hydrocele' that a was treated for as an adolescent. From the article, I can't figure if there is or is not a correlation between varicocele and prostate cancer. I hope I can get more information.