Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DOI 10.1007/s00383-002-0770-y
O R I GI N A L A R T IC L E
Concealed penis
A. Operated: 92
1. Buried penis 49 (2 previously operated)
2. Penis palmatus 14
3. Trapped penis 29
a. Phimosis 9
b. Post-circumcision cicatrix 17
c. Radical circumcision 2
d. Trauma 1
B. Concealed penis observed: 51
1. Resolved 29
2. Being observed 8 (2 extreme obesity, 1 previously
operated)
3. Lost to follow-up 9
4. Operated elsewhere 5
junction was sutured to Bucks fascia at the 5 oclock and 7 oclock with a webbed penis, after the circumcoronal incision, an inverted
positions. Penile skin was then wrapped snugly around the penis V-shaped incision was made instead of a ventral midline incision,
and the ventral skin decit was closed. Z-plasties were used when extending downward and outward on either side of the midline
required. On occasion, the dorsal skin ap had to be mobilized in raphe onto the scrotum. Upon closure as an inverted Y, it per-
the prepubic area to permit it to be advanced downward for at- mitted the scrotum to drop downward and created a penoscrotal
tachment to Bucks fascia. One patient was treated with the junction. Doughnut scrotum was corrected by making inverted V-
preputial unfurling technique of Donahoe and Keating [2]. shaped incisions on each side of the penis with the apex of the V at
the root of the scrotum. The incisions were either closed as inverted
Ys (Fig. 3) or the strip of tissue within the V was excised to obtain a
Penis palmatus straight vertical suture line [3].
These patients had inadequate scrotal migration that varied any-
where from a webbed penis to a doughnut scrotum. For patients
Trapped penis
Results
Buried penis
Penis palmatus
Trapped penis
and permitted the raw area proximal to the corona to Hinman [23] and attachment of the penis to the pubic
granulate in by having the mother retract the skin on a periosteum as described by Johnston [27].
daily basis. At the time of the report, 2 years later, It appears that the following elements are required
retraction was still required. In 1968, Glanz [9] success- for successful correction of a BP: (1) degloving of penile
fully corrected a BP in a 57-year-old man by making skin down to the base of the penis; (2) division of dartos
multiple ventral and dorsal Z-plasties on the penis. bands that dislocate the penis; (3) unfurling of penile
The majority of our patients presented when the pe- skin to cover the shaft; (4) suture of the dermis at the
diatrician, parents, or older boys themselves were con- penopubic and penoscrotal junctions to Bucks fascia;
cerned about the size of the penis. In addition, patients (5) snug wrapping of penile skin around the penile shaft;
with a BP who were voiding into the preputial sac were (6) creation of a penoscrotal angle; and (7) Z-plasties for
persistently wet. Balanoposthitis and urinary infections ventral skin closure.
can occur, but did not in our patients [1012]. Older Prior to 1985, we carried out the above procedure
patients also had diculty directing the urinary stream, through a circumcoronal incision only. Division of the
which sprayed, and they were wet after voiding. In the dartos bands and accurate approximation of the pen-
29 patients in whom the problem resolved spontaneously opubic dermis was dicult through this incision and, in
there was no phimosis or post circumcision cicatrix, fact, resulted in 1 failure. Addition of the ventral vertical
their prepubic fat pad was not excessive and there was a component described by Redman [1] not only made the
circumferential groove at the base of the penis. dissection and suturing more precise, but also permitted
Glanz [9] attributed buried and webbed penis to the penile skin to be snugly wrapped around the shaft of
abnormal attachment of skin due to an embryonic carry the penis and to develop a well-dened penoscrotal an-
over of a vestigial cloacal veil whereas Crawford [13] felt gle. Numerous modications of the Redman procedure
that dorsal dysgenetic bromuscular bands caused the have been described [12, 14, 1719, 2834]. Although we
buried penis. We agree with Devine [14] and Cromie [12] believe the suprapubic fat pad adds to the problem, we
who indicate that since these dysgenetic dartos bands do not remove it since it reaccumulates, as occurred in 2
are only attached at the corona the penis retracts and patients who came to us after a prior failed operation
adequate attachment of skin to the shaft of the penis is that involved its removal. We are also reluctant to suture
prevented. Johnston [15] wondered whether these dys- Bucks fascia to the pubic periosteum, since it could
genetic bands were cause or eect. We disagree with cause pain during an erection.
Wollin [16] who states that the defect is ventral rather PP occurs in a wide spectrum. In the webbed penis
than dorsal and with Joseph [17] who blames it on infe- the scrotum creeps up onto the penis, and along with
rior displacement of the root of penis. He believes that fat correction of the BP a penoscrotal junction has to be
and areolar tissue secondarily ll the space created and created by an inverted V-Y-plasty or Z-plasties. At the
he does not believe that the fat pad worsens the situation. other end of the spectrum of inadequate scrotal migra-
In our opinion and that of others [11, 18], a large sup- tion is the doughnut scrotum which results in a toad in
rapubic fat pad does seem to contribute to the problem. the hole penis and the Shawl penis, in which a hor-
Casale [19] attributes the problem to the presence of a izontal skin fold runs dorsally at the base of the penis. In
web, hypermotility of the angle of the penis, a circum- these patients the dorsal conuence of the scrotum is
ferential scar and disproportionate obesity. displaced ventrally by making V-Y plasties on either side
We classied concealed penis on the basis of the type or by rotating scrotal skin aps from the dorsal to the
of operation required to correct it (Table 1). Other ventral aspect in addition to correction of the buried
classications have been proposed by Crawford [13], penis. Care has to be taken to place the apex of each
Hinman [20], Maizels [11] and Bloom [21]. Only Maizels inverted V such that the base of the dorsal skin ap to
[22] and Burkholder [10] have noted an association with the shaft of the penis is as wide as possible and retains its
renal anomalies. Other genito-urinary anomalies are not blood supply.
to associated with the condition. Patients with a trapped penis due to a post circum-
We believe that, in the infant, if the buried penis has cision cicatrix or phimosis essentially require a circum-
not resolved by two to three years of age it will require cision which, in the former instance, should carefully
correction. It is also important that the patient be able to avoid excessive removal of skin.
void standing up when he is toilet trained. Patients with a denuded penis due to a radical
Numerous operative procedures have been described circumcision or after trauma have been treated in
for management of the buried penis. Hinman [23], various ways including use of vascularized aps [4],
Perlmutter [24] and Masih [25] used a two-stage proce- split-thickness skin grafts [35], multiple Z-plasties [9,
dure requiring burial in the scrotum. Hinman also ex- 34] and two-stage repair after burying the penis in the
cised the suprapubic fat pad. Others have used skin aps scrotum. Our personal preference is for vascularized
alone to [2, 9, 16, 26], while Johnston [27] sutured the aps.
penis to the pubic periosteum, Crawford [13] divided In conclusion, a smooth transition from prepubic
only the dysgenetic fascia, and Burkholder and Newell skin to penile skin is indicative of a buried penis. A
[10] placed a short penile prosthesis. Maizels et al. [11] trapped penis can be dierentiated from it by the pres-
combined removal of prepubic fat as described by ence of a circumferential groove at the base of the penis.
672
Neonates with a buried penis should not be circumcised 16. Wollin M, Duy PG, Malone PS, et al (1990) Buried penis. A
at birth. novel approach. Brit J Urol 65: 97100
17. Joseph VT (1995) A new approach to the surgical correction of
buried penis. J Pediatr Surg 30: 727729
Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Dr. Russell Pearl 18. Horton CE, Vorstman B, Teasley D, et al (1987) Hidden penis
for his illustrations. release: adjunctive suprapubic lipectomy. Ann Plastic Surg 19:
131134
19. Casale AJ, Beck SD, Cain MP, et al (1998) Concealed penis in
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