Phimosis
Treatment for Phimosis
Circumcision is one of the most historically performed urological interventions but is not a trivial issue and therefore deserves the same level of planning and consideration given to all major surgeries.
The indications are very diverse: from the religious rite, the social habit, medical treatment for pathologies such as lichen sclerosus or paraphymosis, even for hygienic reasons, or relative risk reduction of urinary tract infections (UTI), or sexually transmitted infections (STDs).
There are a bunch of surgical techniques that will depend on the surgeon’s preference and the degree of phimosis and foreskin quality of each patient, conferring as the main objective the complete removal of the foreskin. So the glans is exposed resulting in a change in the microenvironment of that surface.
In older children and adolescents, performing under general anesthesia is generally preferable, although it can be carried out under conditions of local anesthesia successfully.
The procedure usually takes about 30 minutes. After completing the procedure, the penis will be coated with an ointment with antibiotic properties, and wrapped with a compressive bandage. In the next few days after surgery, you may feel pain in the region of your penis showing swelling or bruising.
The scarring of the penis usually takes between 7 and 10 days and the stitches will fall on their own in the next few weeks.
Complications after circumcision
Like any surgery, circumcision is not risk-free nor complications.
Common surgical complications associated with circumcision include bleeding or infection, although anesthesia-related side effects may also occur.
Other possible, but less common, complications include the persistence of a redundant foreskin, uretrocutaneous fistulas, urinary retention or development of a hidden or buried penis, by excess prepucial withdrawal, sometimes requiring a subsequent surgical repair which includes a bunch of possible techniques: the use of free skin grafts, scrotal or pediculaled flaps, abdominoplasty or pubic liposuction, in addition to elongation by section of the suspensory ligaments of the penis, and scrotoplasties.
