1.Q: Do children have to undergo surgery? Older people usually say that they will reveal themselves when they grow up.
A: Generally in the process of growth, the glans can be naturally exposed, but up to the age of four can be clinically determined whether it is too long. Especially in the case of prepuce, self-exposure is unlikely. And the current environmental pollution, outside conditions have been very different from the previous, such as water pollution, as children grow older, swimming and other contact with the water more and more opportunities, it is more and more likely to lead to children urinary tract infection, which leads to children’s schooling may be affected, and even serious may lead to reproductive system infection. As for surgery, doctors can only provide advice, the decision to operate or the power of the parents.
2.Q: Is it possible to solve the problem by expansion and other means?
A: Theoretically speaking, foreskin and prepuce can be solved by expanding the foreskin mouth to solve the problem of not being able to flip out, but expansion has pain, injury and other side effects, and after expansion because of stimulation, but may cause secondary adhesions, increasing the difficulty of surgery, so it is not recommended.
3.Q: Is the earlier you do it, the better?
A: It is not so. Generally speaking, combined with the growth and development characteristics of the country, we recommend that surgery be performed after the age of 4, preferably after the age of 6 years old before going to elementary school, and under the age of 4, unless the circumcision or prepuce is too long and has a history of recurrent infections, it is recommended that surgery be performed earlier.
4.Q: What kind of anesthesia is good for children? Isn’t general anesthesia bad?
A: Generally speaking, we recommend that children under 6 years of age choose inhalation anesthesia for surgery. The reason is that children under 6 years old have a greater sense of psychological fear and cannot cooperate well with the doctor’s surgery, and struggle and cry violently during the surgery, which may result in poor surgical results or even surgical failure, and once the surgery is poor or fails, it will be much more difficult to perform the second stage surgery later.
More importantly, the painful surgical procedure may cause psychological trauma to the child, leading to the shadow of fear of medicine and resentment towards parents; especially if the surgical result is not satisfactory, it may lead to long-term psychological trauma, which will definitely outweigh the loss. Of course, if children over 6 years old are particularly fearful, it is also recommended to choose inhalation anesthesia for surgery.
As for saying that general anesthesia is not good, in fact, people have misunderstood. The inhalation anesthesia is different from the spinal anesthesia that we understand. The general anesthesia mentioned here is just like smoking for adults, only a small amount of inhaled gas is used to make the child fall asleep and not resist during the surgery. The child will be awake after the surgery. So generally there will not be any special side effects.
5.Q: What are the complications after the surgery? How to deal with them?
A: The main post-operative complications are: (1) adhesion of the residual inner foreskin plate to the glans; (2) edema of the inner foreskin plate; (3) infection of the incision; (4) post-operative dyspareunia and painful urination; (5) bleeding; (6) ring nesting; (7) narrowing of the foreskin mouth.