Surgery of scrotal contents.

Almost every scrotal operation may be done with local anesthesia. Occasionally general anesthesia may be elected, but the basic orientation to scrotal surgery should be with local anesthesia as long as the operation can be completed within 3 hours. The only scrotal operation for which I routinely elect general anesthesia is bilateral vasoepididymostomy because this is the only scrotal procedure that takes over 3 hours. Very rarely a scrotal hernia or a huge hydrocele obscures the cord, preventing administration of local anesthesia. Aside from these rare exceptions, I perform all scrotal surgery with local anesthesia. The use of preoperative sedation makes it possible for all patients to tolerate the small amount of discomfort associated with injection of a local anesthesic. Once the anesthetic is injected, scrotal surgery is painless. Regardless of the choice of local or general anesthesia, virtually all patients are discharged to home on the day of surgery. All scrotal surgery should be considered to be ambulatory surgery.