“Balloon expansion method for pediatric prepuce” is a non-surgical treatment method invented by pediatric experts, which has been increasingly used in the treatment of pediatric prepuce and has achieved very satisfactory treatment results. However, there are still many people who are not familiar with this method, so that many questions arise; in the process of balloon expansion method for the treatment of pediatric prepuce, some problems have also arisen. For this reason, it is necessary to make an introduction to the balloon expansion method for pediatric prepuce and answer some common questions in the treatment process.
1.What is pediatric prepuce?
We can often see some little boys in the clinic, complaining of pain and effort when urinating, and sometimes yellowish-white stuff coming out of the urethra, and after examination, we find that the child’s “penis” mouth is red and swollen, and the foreskin cannot be turned up, which is a typical case of pediatric prepuce with acute inflammation. Under normal circumstances, the foreskin of a small boy is relatively loose, the foreskin can be turned up, and can be turned up to reveal the coronal groove. However, if the foreskin is too tight or the foreskin mouth is too small, it cannot be turned up to reveal the coronal groove and cause a series of problems, it is called prepuce.
2, pediatric prepuce and circumcision is the same thing?
Many parents bring their children to see the prepuce, but after examination, they find that it is not a prepuce, but a circumcision.
Most infants and children have a long foreskin, but it does not affect the upturning of the foreskin, which is also a normal phenomenon. If the foreskin is too long, covering all the head of the penis and the urethral opening, even if the foreskin can be turned up, the glans is not easy to reveal, not to mention revealing the coronal groove, this situation is circumcision. Most young boys have mild prepuce, a normal situation, after puberty the foreskin will gradually recede, the head of the penis with the development of exposure, prepuce gradually disappeared.
The foreskin can protect the head of the penis, but it is not conducive to the discharge of secretions within the foreskin, which can easily lead to local redness, pain, erosion, etc. In serious cases, it can also affect urination and cause dysfunction of the entire urinary system.
3.Is paediatric prepuce and foreskin adhesion the same thing?
Some children come to see the prepuce, but it turns out that although his foreskin opening is larger, he still can’t turn it up, why? Because the foreskin and glans are stuck together and cannot be separated, so that the foreskin cannot be turned up, which is called foreskin adhesion.
Why is there foreskin adhesion? It’s because you don’t pay attention to the cleanliness of the foreskin, and the repeated stimulation and inflammation of the foreskin scale inside the foreskin makes it easy to form adhesions after a long time. Most children have varying degrees of foreskin adhesions, and in mild cases the adhesions are mostly located at the root of the foreskin, and there are usually no uncomfortable symptoms. In severe cases, the foreskin cannot be turned up at all, sometimes as if it were circumcised. Although the degree of foreskin adhesion is lighter than circumcision, but because of the foreskin adhesion, so that the secretions in the foreskin can not come out, over time also prone to some of the same symptoms and complications and circumcision, so also need to be treated.
4.How should pediatric prepuce be treated? Is there a treatment method that does not involve surgery?
Pediatric prepuce should be treated as early as possible, usually before school age. Otherwise, not only will there be various complications that will affect the child’s growth and development, but also increase the difficulty of treatment.
In the past, surgery was the only treatment for pediatric prepuce. Surgical treatment can theoretically treat all types of children with prepuce, but surgical treatment has some shortcomings, such as the need for anesthesia, the risk and safety of open surgery, economic problems, relatively painful surgery and greater damage, in addition to the need for the child to rest for a period of time after surgery, affecting life and learning. The main thing is the will of the parents of the child. Nowadays, most of them are only children, and the first reaction of the parents is to refuse to operate on their children. Therefore, surgical treatment is generally only suitable for children with severe prepuce whose non-surgical treatment is not effective.
According to the anatomical characteristics of pediatric foreskin, such as the richness of stretching, the experts of the pediatric department of the hospital invented the balloon dilation catheterization to treat pediatric prepuce non-operatively and achieved satisfactory results. The experts identified that this method provides a simple, safe and effective non-surgical treatment for pediatric prepuce, which reduces the burden of surgical treatment for the majority of children with prepuce and is welcomed by the majority of children and parents.
5.How does the balloon expansion method treat pediatric prepuce? What is the efficacy?
The balloon catheter dilation method is a relatively simple method, which is to use a special plastic catheter with an airbag placed inside the foreskin opening, and slowly and evenly inflate and pressurize the airbag so as to evenly dilate the foreskin opening. Because of the elasticity of the pediatric foreskin opening, the opening can be opened after expansion, thus achieving the goal of treating pediatric prepuce. The time of balloon dilation treatment for prepuce is very short, only ten minutes. For most children with mild or moderate prepuce, the foreskin opening can be dilated after one balloon dilation treatment; if the prepuce is more serious, the treatment can be dilated 2-3 times according to the situation.
The balloon catheter expansion method for pediatric prepuce is performed in an outpatient clinic, and the method is simple, convenient, short and effective. No knife, no scissors, no bleeding, little pain, the child can move normally after the treatment, does not affect normal learning and life. More importantly, the safety is very high and the complications are few. We have applied this method to treat more than hundreds of thousands of cases of pediatric prepuce, with a cure rate of more than 99.5%, and achieved satisfactory results, which is welcomed by the majority of children and parents, and the method also won the International Invention Award, the Fourth Prize of National Invention and the First Prize of Shanghai Excellent Invention.
6.Can all children with prepuce be treated with balloon dilation?
Balloon dilatation is suitable for most children with prepuce. Some children’s foreskin opening looks particularly small, even like a “needle hole”, other hospitals think that only open surgery can be used for treatment, but by our balloon expansion treatment, the effect is very satisfactory.
If there is local inflammation of the foreskin and penile hair, the inflammation should be treated first before treating the prepuce. If the child has other systemic acute and chronic diseases, these diseases should also be treated first before circumcision treatment.
However, if the long-term repeated penile prepuce inflammation, so that the edge of the foreskin mouth formed scar contracture or fibrous narrow ring, loss of elasticity and expansion ability, or the formation of adhesions that are not easy to peel off, is not suitable for balloon expansion, should be surgical treatment. In addition, a small number of children with particularly thick foreskin mouth, such as heavy tubular mouth prepuce, are also not suitable for balloon expansion.
7.What is the best age for children to be treated with balloon catheter dilation? Can adult circumcision be used as well?
Generally speaking, children between the ages of 3 and 13 can be treated with balloon dilation for pediatric prepuce, with the best treatment before school age onwards. Children younger than 3 years old should also be treated if the prepuce opening is small, has no chance of healing on its own, and is frequently inflamed. For the few that are older than 13 years old, as long as their foreskin opening is still elastic, it can still be tried, only the number of possible dilatations has to be increased. Generally, the method cannot be used for adult circumcision because the foreskin mouth of adults is thick and inelastic and cannot be dilated, so surgical treatment can only be used.
8.What is the best season to treat pediatric prepuce with balloon catheter dilation? Does it have any effect in cold or hot weather?
Some parents are afraid that the wound will be easily infected due to the hot weather, and some parents are afraid that the cold weather will affect the treatment. Since the damage caused by balloon catheter dilation for pediatric prepuce is minimal, it does not matter if the weather is cold or hot. Of course, relatively speaking, when the weather is hot than when the weather is cold wear less, treatment and care is also more convenient.
9.Do I need anesthesia for balloon catheter dilation for pediatric prepuce treatment?
Balloon catheter dilation for pediatric prepuce treatment requires anesthesia, but not intramuscular injection, but a few drops of local anesthetic can be applied locally, so parents do not have to worry about the pain of anesthesia.
10.Is it painful to treat pediatric prepuce with balloon catheter dilation? Can the child tolerate it?
The damage of balloon catheter dilation for pediatric prepuce is very small, so the child’s pain is also very small, just a “swelling” feeling. Generally speaking, most children can tolerate it. In addition, we try to attract the child’s attention or encourage him/her during the treatment, which also reduces the child’s psychological fear. Of course, each child has a different level of tolerance. Some children will scream when they lie in bed, but this is actually due to psychological fear, not the pain of the treatment. We often see that some children who are screaming and screaming during treatment and feel painful, will be alive and well as soon as the treatment is over and they get out of bed, not feeling any pain at all.
11.Does the balloon catheter dilatation treatment of pediatric prepuce require rest? Will it affect my child’s classes?
The damage of balloon catheter dilation treatment for pediatric prepuce is small, and the child can move normally immediately after the treatment, so there is no need to rest, and the child’s classes will not be affected. In fact, not only do you not need to rest after balloon dilation treatment for prepuce, but you can also exercise and take a bath without affecting your child’s life, so parents do not need to worry.
12.Will there be complications when treating pediatric prepuce with balloon catheter dilation? Will the “penis” be broken?
Since the damage of balloon catheter dilation for pediatric prepuce is small, there are few complications. There is usually no bleeding, but some patients may experience localized swelling after treatment, and may have slight pain when urinating, but not when urinating. Very few children are afraid to urinate because they are afraid of painful urination. Some parents worry about whether the “penis” will be broken, in fact, this is more than worry, because the method is only the expansion of the foreskin, there is no knife, cut, it will not be “penis” to break.
13.What else do parents need to do after the balloon dilation treatment?
The foreskin will be edematous to varying degrees 1-2 days after balloon dilatation, and there may be slight pain when urinating, which is a normal reaction and does not need to be treated. Individual patients are reluctant to urinate for the first time after surgery because they are afraid of pain. Parents should encourage the child to urinate, or let the child listen to the sound of running water to stimulate the reflex, or use hot towels on the small abdomen, and the urine can be discharged. If the foreskin can be turned up after treatment, under the guidance of the doctor, parents should turn up the foreskin every day and rinse with water to remove the foreskin scale in order to prevent foreskin adhesion until it is cured.
14.Is it true that balloon dilatation is easy to “relapse” after treatment of prepuce?
It is true that some children with prepuce have good results after balloon expansion, but after a period of time, it seems that the foreskin cannot be turned up again. In fact, this is not a relapse, nor is it a bad result. Rather, after the treatment of the foreskin, parents do not pay attention to the child often turn up the foreskin to clean it, so that the foreskin scale accumulates in the foreskin, and after a long time, the foreskin and the glans become adherent again. If parents can wash the foreskin often, this will not happen. Of course, if it happens, do not be nervous, just slowly separate the foreskin, the foreskin mouth can be turned up.