Nope. Im guessing its fairly quick, since the testosterone depression seen with varicocele is probably caused by bad circulation to the testes. Fix the circulation, and the leydig cells should be well nourished quickly. Anyway, Im just guessing. Why is it important?
[quote]Mikael LS wrote:
Intermezzo, what do you mean by “In most men with a varicocele, testosterone production is fine”, when i have just showed you that men with varicocele have low testosterone that is reversible with sugery. I know it is on infertile men, but that doesnt change the conclusion. You can have a look at
Improvement in serum testosterone levels after varicocelectomy. C. Tanrikut, J. M. Choi, J. S. Rosoff,
C. J. Nelson, J. P. Mulhall, M. Goldstein. Fertility and Sterility Volume 88, Supplement 1, September 2007, Page S386
for a study on healty men. Low testosterone was prevalent in untreated individuals and there was an substantial increase in T after surgery in most cases.[/quote]
I mean exactly as I have written. I’m sorry, but the correlation you have made does by no means equate to causation. Varicocele can cause infertility and low testosterone, as evidenced by infertile men with low testosterone being relieved of their ailment post varicocele surgery. THis doesn’t mean that all males with a varicocele have low testosterone, to the extent of infertility or otherwise. It is an absurd conclusion make.
I don’t doubt the potential for this varcocele to be lowering endogenous production of testosterone, but you must respect the body’s ability to adjust to the decrease in production. Sex hormone binding globulin, albumin and the other, less affected testicle are more than capable of altering their levels to maintain his testosterone where the desires it to be. After the many many many mechanisms in place to maintain homeostasis have reached their functional reserve, his available T could drop, but this is a far stretch to make the assumption that he will have enormous increases in T post varicocelectomy. Or that “Men with varicoceles have low testosterone .” as you are purposing.
This surgery will help his testicles maintain healthy T levels. I highly doubt, however, that this will have any tangible effect on his mood, ability to gain and maintain lean muscle mass, nor the amount of hair on his body, or anything else men who read this site commonly equate to testosterone levels alone.
I see you have not looked at the reference i just gave you. In the same collection of meeting abstracts you can see another study by the same group called “Varicocele is a risk factor for androgen deficiency.”, comparing varicocele patients with vasectomy reversal patients without varicoceles and concluding “Men with varicoceles have significantly lower testosterone levels than controls”. It may not mean that everyone with a varicocele has low testosterone, but i am so far convinced that there is a pretty good correlation.
Intermezzo,
Do you think guys who have had their T levels checked and come back to be very low should look into fixing their Varicocele?
Alright guys, I’ll be getting my varicocele embolization done this Friday! I’ll be sure to post my experiences after.
[quote]xiiman wrote:
Alright guys, I’ll be getting my varicocele embolization done this Friday! I’ll be sure to post my experiences after.[/quote]
Pics or it didn’t happen. I kid…
Good luck.
I too have a varicocele on the left side. I will be talking with my primary care physician here soon to see what he has to say. I will be sure to let you know what his two cents are. In all honesty I wouldn’t mind having mine taken care of…usually for me it is a dull pain on both sides of my groin right where my legs meet my hips. Always the worst after a rough leg day.
good luck with everything xiiman !
Hey Guys,
Just giving my input as I feel it may be of interest to anyone information gathering about the whole varicocele, testosterone subject.
I’m a 26 yr old medical student. I’ve had a varicocele in my left nut since my early teens. I always thought it was normal and that my right nut was the abnormal one. Anyway i realise i have one now, but have yet to be diagnosed by a ‘professional’. It’s usually not palpable in the morning but is after a hot shower, weights or at the end of the day. When it’s there it’s pretty obvious and you can also see the lump without touching. Its never painful. I think i may get some mild discomfort but years of it has probably desensitized me to it.
Things of interest to me…
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I have little to no facial hair despite having two older bros who were hairy at my age
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I also have no body hair and armpit hair is scant (pubic hair seems ok)
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I can safely say that my balls and tackle are on the small side (poor me)
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Looking at my history of mood, libido etc i could say that they fitted with a picture of low T however there are so many variables i don’t want to jump to any conclusions here
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Because i knew varicocele was common and often harmless i decided to go for a ‘semen analysis’ and ‘testosterone’ privately
Results were a T within the lower half of the normal range (but normal) = 16 nmol/L
I’m not convinced this tells me that much. I reckon if you’re worried about testicular function you may be better off getting a semen analysis.Anyway my semen came back as low sperm count and an increased number of abnormal sperm. My sperm count was 15 million/ml. <20 million/ml is considered low sperm count. I’ve read that average is 60 million/ml.
Anyway i’d be really interested on your views on this? Is there anyone else who has experienced lack of facial hair with varicocele?
I’m getting a second semen analysis result tomorrow. I was scoffed at by my GP. She refused to refer me to a urologist. I don’t really fancy getting scoffed at all along the NHS journey. It’s a tricky one when you’ve got something non-lifethreatening and common. If you feel scoffed at too, don’t worry. I can assure you that the GP i saw knew absolutely nothing about varicoceles. She told me there were no treatments, didn’t even palpate my balls etc etc.
Good luck friends
MagB
I had a 400mL hydrocele (varicocele, but with water instead of blood) removed from the left side of my scrotum this summer and I was back to squatting in a week. I don’t know how much different recovery is for embolization of a varicocele, but if you’re young it shouldn’t be any longer than 2 weeks.
[quote]MagB wrote:
Anyway i’d be really interested on your views on this? Is there anyone else who has experienced lack of facial hair with varicocele?
MagB
[/quote]
Hey
I also have a variocele in my left nut since forever too, but I was capable of growing a full beard before I was 14. And I’m real hairy everywhere on my body.
Hope this helps a little
I think its important to check out FSH/LH levels before anyone decides to do surgery in regards of testosterone levels. If they are normal then there is no reason to proceed with surgery unless you have pain. If they are high on the other hand it means that the body is sending out signals to produce testosterone but your testicles will fail to do so due to atrophy/poor blood flow. The body knows whats best for it, it will not settle for anything but optimal unless forced to. Just my 2 cents
For anyone interested…
Had my varicocele embolized this morning. Went in via the neck and put in 4 coils. Started 9am and out of the hospital by 11.30am. Overall pretty painless and no sedation was used.
I’ve had a couple of urology appointments since my first post. I was asking about guys who’ve noticed lack of facial hair with varicocele. No urologists were aware of this link. There are quite a few studies showing improvement in testosterone levels after varicocelectomy.
Anyway, i’ve got my fingers crossed that the varicocele will be gone. I’ll update in about 6 months and say if there’s any change on the facial hair front. As well as semen results and testosterone if i can get them done.
Here are some additional findings i had…
Diagnosed with grade III varicocele on Left
2 abnormal semen assessments
Total testosterone 16 nmol/L then a repeat showed 19.8 nmol/L (normal range 9.9 - 27.8)
LH 2.1 iu/L (normal range 1 - 9)
FSH 3.2 iu/L (normal range 1 - 10)
Prolactin 92 mU/L (normal range 86 - 324)
Testicle size on right: 9.5cc (normal is very variable but supposedly 12 - 24cc)
Testicle size on left: 10.5 (doesn’t necessarily tie with a picture of varicocele-induced atrophy: L>R)
Can’t be sure if my varicocele was causing problems or not. Based on my lack of secondary sexual characterisics, abnormal semen, slightly small testicles and general fear i decided to get it done.
If you have one too, good luck with everything. Mine caused me a lot of anxiety. They’re common and don’t always cause damage. Can’t wait to get squatting again!
Mag
If anyone’s still reading this thread, anyone out there ever experience a varicocele without the testicular shrinking on the affected teste?
[quote]Robert Paulson wrote:
If anyone’s still reading this thread, anyone out there ever experience a varicocele without the testicular shrinking on the affected teste?
[/quote]
I’ve got a varicocele on the left side without symptoms.
The testicular volume hasn’t decreased much, almost as big as the right one.
I haven’t found any decrease in energy (workout or daily life) or libido.
After I got the diagnosis I started taking extra omega 3-6-9, ZMA (zinc assists T-production).
A new concept in the understanding of varicocele-damage is that it may be caused by extra oxidative stress because of the higher temperature.
A logical consequence would be to supplement with extra anti-oxidants like vitamin C,… I really don’t know if it would help but I’m looking into the evidence or plausability.
[quote] i’ve got a varicocele on the left side without symptoms.
The testicular volume hasn’t decreased much, almost as big as the right one.
I haven’t found any decrease in energy (workout or daily life) or libido.
After I got the diagnosis I started taking extra omega 3-6-9, ZMA (zinc assists T-production).
A new concept in the understanding of varicocele-damage is that it may be caused by extra oxidative stress because of the higher temperature.
A logical consequence would be to supplement with extra anti-oxidants like vitamin C,… I really don’t know if it would help but I’m looking into the evidence or plausability.
Thanks for the reply Erasmus. When you say you lack symptoms does that mean your T levels are normal as well? (normal in the sense meaning optimal range for your age, rather than Dr’s idea of normal)
It’s weird I seem to have a varicocele (not yet diagnosed by Dr) on the left side as is common, but the left testicle is significantly larger than the right. However, there may be other factors at play as I came to this realization while researching TRT due to low T levels
lol another thread that makes me question life. haha.
so upon reading this i felt my left testicle and after reading google i suspect i have this, but i dont think i suffer from low t atleast it doesn’t seem like it, i dont have trouble gaining muscle atleast. Dull ache pains every now and again and very pronounced Veins deflating upon laying down is about it, either way in a week or two im going to the doctor to get it looked at just in case.
Got my nut smashed on a safety blitz my senior year of high school… swelled up the size of a tennis ball! now i’ve got a nice bit of extra “skin” from where the blood pooled surrounding my left testicle, and vas defrens “pump” to a noticeably larger circumference than on the right… love sex, bust my ass in the gym, no hair nowhere! haha, i’m not tripping about it, although i should probably get it checked out.
i’d have to say that the body does in fact do a good job of returning to homeostasis, my right testicle is probably a work horse. I’d venture to say this thread is a hypochondriacs nightmare.
[quote]Robert Paulson wrote:
Thanks for the reply Erasmus. When you say you lack symptoms does that mean your T levels are normal as well? (normal in the sense meaning optimal range for your age, rather than Dr’s idea of normal)
It’s weird I seem to have a varicocele (not yet diagnosed by Dr) on the left side as is common, but the left testicle is significantly larger than the right. However, there may be other factors at play as I came to this realization while researching TRT due to low T levels
[/quote]
I think that my lack of symptoms mean that my T levels are within my normal range for me.
I still get morning wood every morning and spontaneous erections during the day (I’m 21).
I would get your varicocele checked out at your family doc, just so he knows about it so you can maybe ask for a referral later on.
The weird thing is that instead of shrinking (even just a little), your left testicle has swollen, is that correct? Or is the volume in the left scrotum just larger because of the varicose veins + your testicle. Anyway if I was you I would to go to your doc and get it checked out, even if the result would be: “Jep, you’ve got one, come and see me again when there is any change.”
Hope it helps!
I had a varicocele on my left nut. Tested low on sperm count and had an unusual T cycle so I had it fixed, but my sperm count and T levels did not change after recovering from it.
Thanks for the feedback guys,
Erasmus > the lefty didn’t actually swell at any point, but has always been somewhat larger than the right - I think, as you guessed, largely due to the additional volume of the vessels. Will be getting this checked out along w/ other things when I see a decent Doc which I think I may have finally located.
qsar > I’ve heard that results on low T issues from varicocele removal can be a mixed bag. It’s unfortunate you saw no improvement - did you end up taking other measures to improve your T levels?