Hypospadias hidden by a complete prepuce.

Nine boys were found to have hypospadias despite the presence of a complete prepuce. The urethral meatus was in the subcoronal position in six boys, the distal shaft position in one boy and on the corona glandis in two boys. Although it is generally thought that boys with hypospadias have a dorsal hooded prepuce resulting from incomplete development of the ventral phallus, we have found hypospadias in boys with complete preputial development. Thus, physicians who perform circumcision should fully retract the prepuce to detect occult hypospadias before completing the procedure. Parents of newborns with hypospadias and a complete prepuce should be told, before circumcision, that preputial tissues may be needed to repair the hypospadias.