Phimosis in boys. When is treatment required?

Phimosis is the narrowing of the foreskin on the penis. According to statistics, about 10% of the male population of the planet is affected by this disease.

It should be noted that up to a certain agephimosis in boys is considered physiological. After all, only 4% of boys immediately after birth have such a mobile foreskin that they can completely expose the head of the penis. By the age of six months, about 20% of babies already have the opportunity to slightly open the head. And for most three-year-old boys the foreskin acquires the necessary mobility. Thus, in infancy, phimosis in boys is a purely physiological phenomenon aimed at protecting the sexual organ from infection. Most often, such a condition is committed does not require treatment and goes to about 7-12 years.

But even before the age of seven, phimosis in boyscan acquire a pathological course. It is necessary to treat a child if he has difficulty urinating or if there are signs of inflammation of the glans penis.

The cause of pathological phimosis inboys may become an injury, because of which scar tissue was formed on the foreskin. And also inflammatory diseases caused by inadequate hygiene, and genetic predisposition.

If pathological phimosis is detected inboys, treatment can not be postponed, since this disease can give serious complications. For example, paraphimosis, when the narrowed foreskin pinches the head of the penis, causing circulatory disorders up to gangrenous changes in the tissues. Balanoposthitis, urethritis and other inflammatory diseases can also develop.

Is the diagnosis of phimosis in boyssurgery is the only method of treatment? It is impossible to answer unequivocally here. For example, in the absence of pathological changes, that is, the appearance of scar tissue, it is often possible to avoid surgical intervention.

Conservative methods of treating a child's parentswill teach a children's andrologist or surgeon. When choosing this method of treatment, parents should, at the end of the bathing of the baby, move the flesh of the child very carefully to the level as far as possible at the moment. It is very important to act very carefully and carefully. As rough actions can lead to the appearance of tears and, as a result, the formation of scars, which will further exacerbate the situation.

Carry out such a gradual stretching of the skinExtreme flesh is needed exclusively in warm water, as the skin after bathing becomes more elastic. The slightly opened head should be carefully washed, and then it is necessary to return the foreskin to the original place.

Sometimes to increase the elasticity of the skinrecommend the use of steroid ointments, but this method of treatment is controversial. And you should not use it yourself, without doctor's instructions.

In case of scar tissue changes or witha pronounced inflammatory process has to resort to an operation that has the mysterious name of circumcision or, as people say, circumcision. Such an operation in young children is usually performed under general anesthesia. If the operation is assigned to a teenager or an adult male, then the intervention is performed with local anesthesia. The operation lasts no more than half an hour and consists in the circular excision of the tissues of the foreskin. After such an intervention, the main cause of the appearance of phimosis is eliminated, so that a relapse of the disease is impossible. However, it is not worthwhile to resort to circumcision without serious evidence (of course, if the desire to conduct an operation is not caused by religious motives). Because circumcision, like any surgical intervention, can lead to a variety of complications.