How does bladder exstrophy affect the body?

How does bladder exstrophy affect the body?

Bladder exstrophy affects a baby’s urinary system. Typically, when your bladder fills with urine, nerve signals tell your brain that your bladder is full. To urinate (pee), your bladder contracts (squeezes) and forces urine through your urethra and out of your body.

With bladder exstrophy, the cloaca (clo-AY-ka) doesn’t develop as it should. The cloaca is the area where the reproductive, digestive and urinary organs come together. Babies with bladder exstrophy empty urine through the opening in the abdomen instead of through the urethra.