Preputioplasty in the treatment of phimosis in pediatric age. Indications andresults

AIM: Phimosis is a common condition in the pediatric age. Circumcision has been the technique of choice for the surgical correction of this condition. As an alternative to circumcision different techniques of preputioplasty have been described in the last years. The aim of this paper was to report our experience with the preputioplasty technique in the treatment of phimosis in pediatric age. METHODS: A preputioplasty is performed for phimosis correction in 109 patients aged between 4 and 16 years. Patients with a sclerotic phimosis were not treated with preputioplasty. All the patients underwent frenulotomy with dorsal preputial plasty using a single dorsal incision. Only in 3 patients a double lateral incision was necessary. Patients were operated under general anesthesia with an average time of 8 min. RESULTS: Patients were followed-up at 8 days, 30 and 90 days postoperatively. The cosmetic result has been excellent in 90% of cases and good in 10%. The functional result has been excellent in all the patients. We observed 3 cases of infection and 8 cases of edema of the prepuce. These postoperative complications were all resolved with medical therapy. No recurrences have been observed. CONCLUSIONS: Preputioplasty is a safe and rapid technique that allows to obtain excellent cosmetic and functional results. In our opinion, preputioplasty should be the first choice technique for the treatment of phimosis in pediatric and adolescent age.