Bladder exstrophy is a serious birth defect although it's not serious enough to be life threatening.
Most kids with bladder exstrophy have a normal and average lifespan.
Bladder exstrophy can lead to complications like infertility, urinary incontinence, bladder cancer, sexual dysfunction, hernias, vesicoureteral reflux and kidney problems.
Without surgery and without treatment children with bladder exstrophy won't be able to hold urine and will need pull ups or diapers to help keep them dry.
Bladder exstrophy is a rare and complex disorder that occurs early on while a fetus is developing in the womb.
As the bladder is developing the abdominal wall does not fully form, leaving the pubic bones separated and the bladder exposed to the outside skin surface through an opening in the lower abdominal wall.
Bladder exstrophy affects 1 in 50,000 children that are born each year and it causes the bladder to form improperly during the gestation period.
Children born with bladder exstrophy are born with their bladder "inside out" and positioned on the abdomen.
Until the bladder exstrophy is fixed the child may need to wear pull ups or diapers to manage their urinary incontinence.
The primary goal when caring for a child with bladder exstrophy is to preserve normal kidney function, develop adequate bladder function and promote urinary continence as well as provide acceptable appearance and function of the external genitalia.
The chief complaints of bladder exstrophy are exposed bladder, incontinence or urine leakage, genital and pelvic bone defects, as well as intestine and reproductive organ defects.
The majority of people with bladder exstrophy have their bladder exstrophy repaired as infants.
If it is not addressed, as it was in this case, staged surgery will be required.