Amputation of the glans due to sexual abuse in children: case report

Amputations of the glans in children are rare and have various etiologies. We report a case of glans amputation due to sexual abuse.

This is a case of a 4-year-old child who was admitted to the hospital with a cut glans following sexual abuse. The child presented with total amputation of the tip of the glans. We performed glans regularization and meatoplasty with a Foley probe. Postoperative management was straightforward.

Penile amputations are serious but rare urological emergencies. In the study by Diabaté et al. [4], amputations of the penis accounted for 0.6% of urological emergencies. The most common causes were circumcision performed by untrained personnel and animal bites [1, 3, 4, 6]. Amputation of the glans due to sexual abuse is a medico-legal problem. For investigation and prosecution purposes, the doctor or surgeon must inform the judicial authorities.

Glans amputations in children are a tragic reality. They pose psychological, emotional, and, above all, medico-legal challenges.