More than 10 years of experience with reconstructed scrotums

Relatively few cases of genital injuries are reported in Japan except during times of war. One of the problems in severe genital avulsion may be the plastic surgical repair of the injured structures. In Western countries the Howard technique is considered the most practical method of scrotoplasty. Two patients with extensive scrotal avulsions were treated, one in 1959 and the other in 1960, by a method of plastic repair that retained the intact testes hanging between the thighs. By coincidence, both injuries were caused when the patients' clothing was caught in the revolving cylinder of a windlass on a ship. Both patients have been followed for more than 10 years after scrotal reconstruction. The method used for scrotal reconstruction and the long-term results are discussed.