Important information

When to seek urgent medical help
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Go to your nearest emergency department (A&E) immediately if you experience any of the following:

  • sudden onset of severe testicular or scrotal pain
  • hardening of the testis
  • swelling of the testis on one side 
  • abdominal pain
  • pain accompanied by nausea and/or vomiting
  • high-riding testis or a testis that is sitting at an unusual angle
  • fever
  • frequent urination.

Testicular pain can be caused by a number of things.  The most serious cause of sudden onset testicular pain is testicular torsion (twisting). 

About testicular torsion

Testicular torsion is a surgical emergency.  It occurs when the spermatic cord twists and cuts off the blood supply to the testicle.  If a testicle becomes twisted it can die within 6 hours without emergency surgery to restore blood flow.

Symptoms

The main symptom of testicular torsion is sudden onset testicular pain which does not go away within 1 hour.

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Go immediately to your nearest Emergency Department (A&E) if you experience sudden onset testicular pain which does not go away within 1 hour.

About intermittent torsion

Intermittent (non-continuous) torsion occurs when xxxx.

Symptoms

The main symptom is testicular pain which goes away within 1 hour or less.  Even if the pain goes away, we advise you to still seek medical help from your GP (see below). 

The patient does not show symptoms between episodes.

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Make a GP appointment if you experience pain that is severe or moderate (lasting less than 1 hour), on more than one occasion.   

Your GP can refer you to the urology team at Kingston hospital for an assessment and to diagnose whether you need surgery to prevent testicular torsion in the future.

Other causes of testicular pain

Other causes of testicular pain include:

  • infection 
  • trauma (injury to the scrotum)
  • inguinal (groin) hernia
  • cyst
  • collection of fluid in a sac next to the testicle (also called hydrocele)
  • swollen testicular veins (also called variocele).

Pain its own is not usually a sign of testicular cancer.  Cancer will usually present with other symptoms, such as a lump or swelling in one of your testicles.