What does it mean to have had two anastomotic urethroplasties fail?

Age: 33

Sex: Male

**Height:**177cm

**Weight:**80kg

Race: White/Caucasion/Celtic etc.

Duration: Lifelong

Location (geo): Australia

Location (body): Urethra

Current Meds: Phenelzine

When I was 4, my parents had me undergo a urethral dilation to open up my urethral stricture. No post-op observation was done, the stricture recurred, perhaps almost immediately. I was too young to know what was going on. I realised the issue much later.

When I was 19, trying again, I underwent an anastomotic urethroplasty, followed by months of self-performed dilations.

The procedure failed, and the stricture recurred.

The urologist performed another anastomotic urethroplasty and, on account of the prior procedure failing, did so at no cost. More months of self-performed dilations followed.

Eventually I got tired of the pain of inserting the rods, and the extremely painful bleeding that sometimes occurred, and I stopped performing the dilations. I gave up and accepted the stricture.

Having said that, luckily, the stricture seems benign, apparently only affecting urine and semen flow. My main reason for wanting to fix it at the age of 19 was more to do with social anxiety (which I had plenty of) in public bathrooms than anything else.

What I want to ask is:

• What does it mean that my stricture recurs so strongly? Does this mean it's congenital?

• Is it worthwhile to even try to fix this, perhaps with a stent? I've read that such strictures can cause issues with the bladder, the prostate, and even sexual dysfunction down-the-line.

I do already have some sexual dysfunction that I've had for as long as I've been sexually active. Still trying to figure out the cause of that. I doubt this stricture stuff has much to do with it, but hey, it's in the vicinity?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help