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Phimosis is a condition in which the male foreskin cannot be fully
retracted. Phimosis is not a disease. Phimosis is the normal developmental condition in young boys.
It is entirely normal for the prepuce to be adherent to the glans in babies, and for the prepuce to not fully retract in young
boys. Premature retraction, which is extremely painful, can cause permanent damage to the glans and ridged band, and is also the primary cause of infection in this area. As a boy grows to sexual maturity
the prepuce normally becomes retractable. About 44 percent of boys have a fully retractile foreskin by age 10.
Many studies show that phimosis may be inexpensively treated medically without surgery by the application of topical steroid
ointment to the narrow part of the foreskin.[1] Circumcision, which formerly was the treatment of choice, is rapidly becoming outmoded.
Teen-age boys may treat a non-retractile foreskin by the Beaugé method.[2] The Beaugé method provides tissue
expansion by stretching to permanently relieve the narrowness that prevents retraction.
Historical examples
- Marie and Louis. Marie Antoinette was 14 and
Louis, the future King, was only 15 when they married. Louis
had phimosis which was corrected by minor surgery, but only after 7 years of marriage. Marie Antoinette finally gave birth to
their first child the following year.
- President Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau in 1881. The autopsy report for Guiteau indicated that
he had phimosis. At the time, this led to the simplistic speculation that Guiteau's murderous behavior was due to
phimosis-induced insanity. Belief in such ideas may have contributed to an increased use of circumcision in the U.S.A.
See also:
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