 Hi, my name is Dr. Radhakrishnan. I am a paediatric surgeon and a paediatric urologist and I work at the Manipal Hospital in Bangalore. Normally the urethra through which urine is passed out of the body is present at the tip of the penis. Hypospedias is a male birth defect where the end of the urethra is actually present not at the tip but on the underside of the penis. It could be just below the normal location of the tip or as far down as the scrotum and therefore the location of this abnormal position of the urethra can vary widely in hypospedias. Over the last two to three decades the incidence of hypospedias has increased dramatically. While the exact cause of this is not known it is thought that increased vegetarianism especially in the western world or increase in the amount of hormones in the food we eat is thought to be the cause for this increased incidence of hypospedias.