News

New confirmation of steroids for childhood 'phimosis'

Thursday 28th April 2005
A prospective randomised study in the April Edition of the Journal of Urology examined effects of highly potent and moderately potent topical steroids in treating paediatric "phimosis". The study of 70 boys aged 1 to 12 years were treated by application of either betamethasone valerate or clobetasone butyrate cream twice daily for 4 weeks, then for another 4 weeks if no improvement was achieved. The success rates in boys treated with betamethasone and clobetasone were 81.3% and 77.4%, respectively. The authors concluded that both highly potent and moderately potent topical steroids are of comparable effectiveness in treating phimosis.

None of the boys treated in this study was identfied as having lichen sclerosus (aka "BXO"). Given their young age, it seems unlikely that the boys had any other condition than the normal non-retractable foreskin of childhood. Nevertheless, this new study adds to the large and growing body of evidence that circumcision is unecessary for the treatment of "phimosis" in prepubescent boys.