During my daily clinical practice, I often see uncircumcised male patients (any age) struggling with a recurrent episode of balanitis and posthitis, two common inflammations of the glans and foreskin respectively, giving redness swelling pain and itching on the genital area.
You need to know that penile inflammation is responsible for significant morbidity, including acquired phimosis, balanoposthitis, and lichen sclerosis.
Those patients with balanoposthitis are usually treated with topical antifungal or antibacterial creams along with the advice of hygiene successfully.
Sometimes medical treatment can be challenging, and patients attend more and more urological clinics with recurrent and persistent episodes of complicated balanoposthitis.
This meta-analysis shows that circumcised males have a 68% lower prevalence of balanitis than uncircumcised males and that balanitis is accompanied by a 3.8 fold increase in the risk of penile cancer. In immunocompromised and diabetic patients, due to the high prevalence and morbidity of penile inflammation, circumcision should be more widely adopted globally and is best performed early in infancy.
The role of circumcision in balanoposthitis
