Every mother sooner or later has to deal with the “male” problems of her baby. And one of them can be such a serious disease as balanoposthitis. It means inflammation of the glans penis and its foreskin, which, if left untreated, leads to undesirable consequences.
Acute balanoposthitis in children can develop as a result of a complication of an infectious disease, but most often the cause of its occurrence is the lack of proper hygiene care. The disease can also manifest itself when rubbing the glans penis with tight underwear.
It is also known that physiological phimosis is often observed in preschool children, when the head of the penis is exposed with difficulty or not exposed at all. But this is a natural process. All babies have physiological phimosis, but everything is resolved naturally. By the age of five, and a maximum of eleven years, the foreskin is separated from the glans penis, and it easily comes out of the preputial sac – a kind of skin fold of the foreskin, creating a certain space between its leaf and the glans penis.
However, it is precisely at preschool age that due to physiological phimosis, the child’s personal hygiene becomes more difficult, and the dirt accumulated in the folds of the skin can lead to inflammation. There is an acute and purulent balanoposthitis.
In the early stages of the disease, acute balanoposthitis is characterized by such characteristic symptoms as:
Redness of the mucous membrane of the glans penis,
Difficulty urinating,
The appearance of whitish or yellow purulent discharge,
Well-marked swelling and hyperemia of the foreskin,
Anxiety in a child, an increase in body temperature up to 37,1-37,6 ° C.
But at this stage, the treatment is quite simple – it is enough for the baby to do warm baths with furatsilin or chamomile infusion for 2-3 days every 2 hours. Medicinal infusion is prepared in the following proportion: 1 tablespoon of chamomile flowers per glass of boiling water, after which it is filtered. Grass can be steamed in a thermos for the whole day. Furacilin is diluted at the rate of 2 tablets per glass of warm water, the temperature of which is 37-37,5 ° C.
The procedure is very simple and does not require any trays or basins. It is enough to pour the already prepared solution into a small rounded container and lower the diseased organ of the child into it. You don’t need to do anything with the glans penis and the foreskin, the medicine will get into the preputial sac anyway. It is undesirable to use the potassium permanganate solution recommended by some doctors, since it has drying properties, which is not necessary in this case.
After water procedures, it is recommended to treat the glans penis with a regular baby cream. At night, you can make a gauze bandage with antibacterial ointment, for example, with levomekol. However, self-medication is strictly contraindicated, the baby should definitely be shown to the doctor. Based on the results of the tests, the doctor will prescribe the most effective treatment.
There can be several reasons for inflammation of the foreskin:
Hygiene violations. Parents should know that it will be possible to fully expose the head of the penis in a child only by 3-5 years. This is an absolutely normal physiological phenomenon. In an effort to carry out hygiene measures as efficiently as possible, adults can overdo it too much and injure the foreskin by pulling it. This leads to the appearance of small cracks into which bacteria penetrate and provoke the development of an inflammatory reaction.
If hygiene is insufficient, then this can provoke itching of the penis. The child will comb it, inflict injuries on itself, where pathogenic microorganisms can penetrate. Other causes of trauma in early childhood are also possible.
Overheat. If the child is dressed too warmly or constantly kept in a diaper, then this contributes to the reproduction of bacteria. They very quickly increase their numbers in conditions of high temperature and humidity.
Candidiasis. It may be the result of taking antibiotics. Fungi are able to multiply in the oral cavity in the genital area.
Inflammation of the urinary tract. Children are more susceptible to various urinary infections due to the imperfection of their immune system.
Allergy. The reaction can be triggered by wearing diapers, baby skin care products, taking medications, washing powder, food.
Chronic balanoposthitis in children is manifested by painful sensations in the foreskin and frequent itching. On examination, the doctor may reveal slight hyperemia and swelling of the glans penis, whitish discharge. The disease lasts for months, with periodic improvements during treatment, and subsequent relapses after its cessation.
Chronic balanoposthitis in children is practically untreatable, and after several relapses of the disease, parents are usually offered to circumcise the foreskin. After the operation, all manifestations of the disease disappear. Most often, parents cannot name the cause of the disease, however, when collecting an anamnesis, the doctor finds out that they have repeatedly tried to open the foreskin, which is not necessary at all. Forcible opening of the foreskin is unacceptable. In order to prevent the child’s balanoposthitis, it is enough to wash it once a day without soap, and also after each stool.
In the event of the development of acute and purulent balanoposthitis in a child, all measures must be taken to prevent its transition to a chronic form, since prolonged inflammation can lead to various complications. Most often, when the infection spreads, there is a deterioration in the sensitivity of the glans penis, which in the future will not have the best effect on the sexual life of a man.
In addition, inflammation can spread to the urethra and then this will lead to the development of urethritis, manifested by violations of the urinary process and narrowing of the urethra. However, the most unpleasant consequences of infectious inflammation – balanoposthitis, include such pathological processes as the development of phimosis, paraphimosis, and a malignant tumor of the penis.
In any case, the child must be shown to the doctor. If you do not get rid of balanoposthitis in time, then it can lead to the development of phimosis. In the future, an operation will be required.
To prevent inflammation from forming, you need to wash the genitals of the child every day with warm water using baby soap. When there are no signs of inflammation, the foreskin should not be retracted.