Page 28 - Urological Health

Special note: Infants normally have phimosis; by 3 years old, children usually are fine. Most (90%) of
the phimosis is easily retracted; by adolescence most phimosis is gone.
Symptoms:

• Inability to urinate;
• Red and swollen foreskin with little to no visible opening; or
• In children, there may be blood in their urine or they may have a hard time
urinating.

Tests:
• It may be hard to pull back the tender foreskin. The doctor may have to gently pull
it back to examine you.
• Forced retraction may cause future adhesions and narrowing of the passages in
the penis (or strictures).

• There are no diagnostic tests.
Treatment:
• When you cannot go to the bathroom, you must go to the ER and see a urologist.

• If your urine is not drained, the doctor may have to cut along the top of your
foreskin.
• You will be followed up by a urologist; in some cases, you may need a
circumcision.

B. Paraphimosis is the opposite of phimosis; this happens when the
foreskin cannot be pulled over the head of the penis (Figure 6). If the
retraction stays for a long time, you may not be able to drain your
penis and it will swell.

Causes:
• Infection;
• Trauma;

• Masturbation; or
• Not returning the foreskin to its normal position
during an medical exam.
Symptoms: Figure 6. Paraphimosis: non-
reducible (return to normal
• Painful swollen and trapped foreskin. position) foreskin.
• Symptoms can develop within hours.

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