“Should we correct hypospadias during childhood?” A ques9on of facts and values Morgan Carpenter, Cynthia Kraus and Brian D. Earp To the Editor, Wirmer et al.[1] report on 81 pa@ents (15-43 y/o, Mage = 19.7) who underwent hypospadias surgery before age 2, sta@ng 90% “were sa@sfied with early hypospadias surgery,” with decisional regret (DR) in 21% (14.8% mild; 6.2% moderate). Dismissing DR classifica@ons as misleading, 1 they conclude their findings “support the current prac@ce of opera@ng hypospadias in early childhood.” We commend the authors for inves@ga@ng pa@ent, not only parent, aYtudes. But it is premature to answer “Yes” to their broader ques@on: “Should we correct hypospadias during childhood?” “Should” implies an ethical evalua@on involving facts and values. 1 Wirmer et al. object that “[if the] second highest APPROVAL op?on” is chosen (“agree” vs. “totally agree”), this is classed as nonzero regret. But if one had no regret whatsoever, one could choose “totally agree.” Failure to do so suggests nonzero regret. This is the authors’ copy of a forthcoming ar@cle. Please cite as: Carpenter, M., Kraus, C., Earp, B. D. (2024). “Should we correct hypospadias during childhood?” A ques@on of facts and values. Journal of Pediatric Urology, in press.