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Treatment of phimosis with topical steroids and foreskin anatomy
Tatiana C Marques1, Francisco J B Sampaio, Luciano A Favorito
1Urogenital Research Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Objectives:
To correlate topical steroidal treatment of stenosed foreskin with the different degrees of glans exposure and the length of time the ointment is applied.
Materials And Methods:
We studied 95 patients with phimosis, divided according to the degree of foreskin retraction. Group A presented no foreskin retraction, group B presented exposure of only the urethral meatus, group C presented exposure of half of the glans, and group D presented exposure of the glans, which was incomplete because of preputial adherences to the coronal sulcus. Patients were submitted to application of 0.05% betamethasone ointment on the distal aspect of the prepuce twice daily for a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 4 months.
Results:
Of 95 patients, 10 (10.52%) abandoned the treatment and 15 patients in groups C and D were excluded from the study. Among the remaining 70 patients, only 4 patients (5.7%) in group A did not obtain adequate glans exposure after treatment. In group A (38 patients), fully retractable foreskins were obtained in 19 patients (50%) after 1 month of treatment. In group B (28 patients), fully retractable foreskins were obtained in 18 patients (64.2%) after 1 month.
Conclusions:
Treatment was successful in 94.2% of patients, irrespective of the type of foreskin anatomy. The improvement may require several months of treatment. Patients with impossibility of urethral meatus exposure present around 10% treatment failure.
