Do children with phimosis need surgery?

Generally speaking, phimosis in children already exists during infancy, but as they grow older, the symptoms of phimosis will become more obvious and be discovered by people. Therefore, when parents find that their children have phimosis, they must take timely measures to prevent the growth of dirt and bacteria in the patient's foreskin and cause infection. So, do children with phimosis need surgery? Let me explain it to you below.

In infants and young children, the inner layer of the foreskin is adhered and fused to the glans penis. As they grow older, the glans penis gradually becomes exposed. However, some children's glans penis cannot be exposed and phimosis occurs.

Phimosis is caused by the narrow foreskin opening of children, which tightly wraps around the glans penis, making it impossible to turn the foreskin back to expose the glans penis. Physiological or congenital phimosis is sometimes very serious. Only the foreskin opening can be seen, but not the urethral opening. The foreskin cannot be turned back at all, so that the glans penis is always retracted inside. There is another type called acquired phimosis, which is caused by inflammation or damage to the foreskin or glans penis, which causes scar formation at the foreskin opening and covers the glans penis. These two types of phimosis require surgery.

Phimosis is very common in children. As the child grows older, the foreskin opening will gradually expand, the foreskin adhesions will gradually separate, and the glans penis will slowly become visible. Generally speaking, when boys are between 3 and 5 years old, about 75% of their glans penis can be exposed, but at this time, many children still have partial adhesion of the foreskin even if the glans penis is exposed. For physiological phimosis, the foreskin can be repeatedly tried to be turned up to enlarge the foreskin opening. The technique should be gentle and gradual, and don't be too eager to completely retract the foreskin. When the glans penis is exposed, clean the smegma, apply antibiotic ointment to lubricate it, and then turn the foreskin down to restore it to avoid foreskin incarceration. Parents can often help them gently turn over the foreskin to remove the smegma. Clean the foreskin with warm water every day to prevent infection.

Phimosis in children is normal in childhood. If an infant has phimosis or a child has an excessively long foreskin, circumcision should not be performed if there are no complications. Since phimosis in children under 3 years old usually disappears on its own as they grow older; for other children, as long as the foreskin is repeatedly retracted upwards, the phimosis will expand the foreskin sac and expose the glans penis, and there is no need for surgical removal. This surgery should not be performed unless it is necessary, or at least harmless.

In fact, although phimosis symptoms in children can cause some inflammation, if the phimosis symptoms do not cause corresponding complications, or the existence of phimosis does not affect the health of children, generally speaking, phimosis in children does not require surgical treatment.