Have Phimosis. Should I Opt For Surgery Or Steroid Creams?

Posted on Thu, 13 Sep 2012

Question: I am having phimosis conditions. My mother said that it wasn't there when I was small. But from the time I remember which is like from 14 years of my age I had phimosis. Should I opt for surgery or steroid creams. If surgery, which Indian city should I prefer. Any way to avoid pains.

Answered by Dr. Neelam Ashish Vanjari (31 minutes later)

Hi,

Thanks for writing in.
Phimosis is inability to retract the distal foreskin over the glans penis. It usually does not cause pain.
I would recommend you to consult physician to know reason for pain. May be you are forcefully trying to retract skin and it is causing pain. To relieve pain, for time being you can take pain killers like Brufen/ultracet tablet- 1 tab two times a day.

Surgery should be the last option for phimosis. You should try first topical steroid creams. It resolves problem in 80-90% of cases.

Betamethasone cream 0.05% should be applied to the exterior and interior of the tip of the foreskin 2-3 times daily. The treatment should be discontinued if ineffective after 3 months, if the foreskin has not become retractile during this time. You need to consult physician and then apply cream.

If steroid cream do not work out well, then manual stretching of the opening of the prepuce is done to widen it. Be careful, it needs medical training by your physician.

Then if above options fail; you need to go for conservative surgery- preputial plasty, this procedure has less morbidity than circumcision, and allows the prepuce to be retained.

Circumcision is last option to treat phimosis. It is irreversible, and has considerable complications.

I would recommend you to consult physician and have a word with him regarding 3 treatment options as - creams, manual stretching, prepucial plasty. Go step by step. If no relief then go for circumcision.

You can approach hospitals in west bengal itself. If not, you can get it done in Mumbai- Maharashtra or Bangalore- Karnataka.
I hope I have answered your query. In case of any doubt, feel free to revert back.
Best regards,
Dr. Neelam.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar