Urethral dilation is a procedure to stretch the sides of the urethra. The urethra is the tube that carries urine from your bladder to outside your body. Sometimes scar tissue narrows the urethra. This is called urethral stricture.
What causes stretched urethra?
- The most common medical reason for men having the urethra surgically stretched is a urethral stricture. A urethral stricture occurs when the urethra, a tube responsible for carrying urine from the bladder out of the body, is abnormally narrowed.
Contents
- 1 What does stretching the urethra do?
- 2 How do they stretch the urethra?
- 3 Is it safe to stretch your urethra?
- 4 Does urethra stretching hurt?
- 5 How far can a male urethra stretch?
- 6 How can I widen my male urethra?
- 7 How do you open your urethra?
- 8 How do you tell if your urethra is damaged?
- 9 Can sounding cause erectile dysfunction?
- 10 How successful is urethral dilation?
What does stretching the urethra do?
What is a urethral dilation? During a urethral dilation, the doctor will slowly stretch the inside the urethra, the tube that exits the bladder. This may be performed to help with repeated urinary tract infections, pain in the urethra, or other conditions. This procedure may need to be repeated at times.
How do they stretch the urethra?
Local anesthesia is required with dilation, during which a doctor often uses rubber or metal instruments to stretch and widen the urethra. At NYU Langone, however, doctors perform this procedure using a balloon catheter, which is inserted into the urethra and slowly inflated in order to widen the stricture.
Is it safe to stretch your urethra?
The urethra gets bigger and bigger the longer catheters in place. Eventually the urethral opening is so dilated, that urine leaks out without warning. The worst known danger of female urethra stretching is that it delays getting the care you deserve! Urethral dilation does not truly help most female urology issues.
Does urethra stretching hurt?
After dilation, your urethra may be sore at first. It may burn when you urinate. You may feel the need to urinate more often, and you may have some blood in your urine.
How far can a male urethra stretch?
According to him, the adult male external urethral meatal size on an average is 0.35 inches. as a vertical slit, if converted into the French scale, becomes 29.6 Fr. In our study, the maximum stretchable male external urethral meatus size on an average is 28.49 Fr.
How can I widen my male urethra?
Dilation. Your doctor inserts a tiny wire through the urethra and into the bladder. Progressively larger dilators pass over the wire to gradually increase the size of the urethral opening. This outpatient procedure may be an option for recurrent urethral strictures.
How do you open your urethra?
Urethral dilation It is typically performed under local or general anesthesia. Thin rods of increasing diameters are gently inserted into the urethra in order to open the urethral narrowing without causing further injury. This procedure may need to be repeated from time to time, as strictures recur.
How do you tell if your urethra is damaged?
Some common symptoms are:
- Lower abdominal pain.
- Abdominal tenderness.
- Bruising at the site of injury.
- Blood in the urine.
- Bloody urethral discharge.
- Difficulty beginning to urinate or inability to empty the bladder.
- Leakage of urine.
- Painful urination.
Can sounding cause erectile dysfunction?
Men who had engaged in sounding had a slight but statistically significant increase in LUTS but no significant difference in prevalence of ED.
How successful is urethral dilation?
Data show that there is no difference between urethral dilation and internal urethrotomy in terms of long-term outcomes; success rates range widely from 8–80%, with long-term success rates of 20–30%.