Patient's question:
My child is now 2 and a half years old and is diagnosed with concealed penis. Should this require surgery? How many times is it usually done? Also, which hospital in Sichuan Province performs this surgery well? How major is this surgery, how much trauma does it cause, and how many days does it take to recover? Will it have any impact on the child? This matter has been very unsettling for me, and I'm thinking about the fact that such a young child needs surgery, as well as the uncertainty of whether it will have any future impact on his fertility. I sincerely ask for help from all the experts to solve this difficult problem. Thank you!Doctor's answer:
Hello, concealed penis is a common congenital developmental anomaly and deformity, and it is different from phimosis or paraphimosis in children. As everyone knows, after a male infant is born, the foreskin always covers the glans penis. By the age of 3-4, most children's foreskin can retract spontaneously, exposing the glans. If the foreskin still cannot retract or the foreskin opening is very small at this time, it is then called phimosis or paraphimosis. In the case of concealed penis, the penile body is hidden within the body, and only a small pointed foreskin protrudes outside. If the skin of the penis is pushed inward by hand, the penile body will be exposed, but it retracts back into the body as soon as the hand is released. Therefore, some people call it buried penis. Although concealed penis resembles phimosis in appearance, they are two completely different conditions. This is because the outer skin of concealed penis is not too long but too short, and the penile body is not small but normal. There are three causes of concealed penis: first, poor development or excessive shortness of the penile skin; second, a too small preputial cavity; third, the penile skin does not cover the corpus cavernosum, leading to the corpus cavernosum lacking support and retracting into the body. If concealed penis is not surgically corrected and allowed to remain hidden and unable to extend outward, the development of the penile body will be restricted. Therefore, concealed penis must be corrected within a certain age range (3-5 years). For your child's condition, it is recommended to seek medical attention as soon as possible.