Betamethasone is safe, efficacious, and economical treatment for phimosis.
Aug 14 (Reuters Health) - Treatment with topical betamethasone appears to be a safe, economical and efficacious alternative to surgery in the treatment of phimosis.Dr. Anna Orsola, of Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues in Spain report in the August issue of Urology that 6 months after treatment with topical steroids, 90% of 137 boys with phimosis "had an easily retractable prepuce without a phimotic ring" at 6 months after therapy. Treatment was well tolerated and consisted of application of 0.05% betamethasone cream twice daily for 1 month.
"Of importance, we did not find statistically significant differences in the response rate when stratifying the patients on the basis of age or type of phimosis at presentation," Dr. Orsola and colleagues write. "Moreover, we showed for the first time that the treatment is equally beneficial when a previous history of forcible foreskin retractions (secondary phimosis) is present."
The researchers found that "all the patients with persistent or recurrent phimosis were found to be noncompliant with the suggested daily foreskin care." They explain that "after the fifth day of treatment, [patients and/or their parents] were asked to gently retract the foreskin several times after applying the cream. They were also encouraged to retract the foreskin when they voided and during their daily bath." The boys were 13 months to 14 years old.
The team suspects that the efficacy of betamethasone in boys with phimosis is a consequence of its anti-inflammatory properties.
Urology 2000;56:307-310.
http://www.cirp.org/news/bethamethasone2/