Phimosis in the baby

| Phimosis is a normal situation in newborns and in children up to two years of age, that is, the skin cannot be removed and the outermost part of the penis, the glans, is visible.

Phimosis is a situation of the male genital tract, in which the foreskin cannot retract normally over the glans.

Causes

Despite the fact that 95% of newborns present phimosis at birth (physiological phimosis) only the 10% of them at three years will have difficulties to lower the skin of the foreskin. Therefore, at three years the fact that the. Phimosis at this age does not require immediate intervention, since it is very likely that with the passage of a few more years the situation will normalize.

From the seven or eight years the glans should be fully exposed to facilitate your hygiene and, later, to be able to have an erection without problems and satisfactory sexual relations.

There is another situation different from phimosis which is called balano-preputial adhesions. They can cover the entire surface of the glans or just a portion. It is not a complete phimosis and can be easily dislodged without surgery. It is very common for adhesions to accumulate smegma cysts, made up of whitish and fatty secretions from the glans penis. In most cases smegma cysts do not cause problems, in others they can become infected.

Treatment of phimosis

The treatment is surgery, but we can try to avoid it, through daily exercises that consist of lower the skin of the foreskin taking advantage of the daily bath. Always the removal of the skin should be done gently so that there is no bleeding or scars that will close the foreskin even more. From the age of 3-5 years, a corticosteroid cream can be added to give more flexibility to the skin of the foreskin and thus avoid the operation. The pediatrician always has to assess this treatment.

The age of surgical intervention for phimosis is usually performed around seven years old. It can be done earlier if the child has obstruction or difficulty passing urine with recurrent urinary infections. The intervention can also be performed before the age of seven if the pediatric surgeon deems it necessary.

The operation is very simple, the child stays only a few hours in the hospital. Very superficial general sedation and local anesthesia are applied.

After the operation, it is normal for the child to have discomfort when peeing for a couple of days. In some cultures, circumcision, is done routinely to all newborns.