My Son's Foreskin Is Too Tight. Does He Need Surgery?

Posting Date: 08/14/2000

Pat: My two-year-old son has a tight foreskin. The doctor has scheduled him for an operation in about a month. Does this sound right?

Dr. Dean: No, he doesn't need surgery. In fact, some professionals believe that a tight foreskin cannot even be accurately diagnosed in a prepubescent boy.

Just today, an article that came out from Harvard Medical School reports a 90 percent success rate in treating 135 boys with phimosis -- a constricted foreskin -- with topical steroids for six months.

It can be that simple -- rubbing a little cream on the penis.

You made a choice not to circumcise your boy for a good reason, and you want to keep it that way. Be very conservative here.

American doctors are much too aggressive with tight foreskins. Europeans have other tricks up their sleeves.

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