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→Non-retractable foreskin of infancy and childhood: Revise text and Wikify.
}}</ref> Moreover the tip of the [[foreskin]] at birth is usually too tight to permit any retraction.<ref name="gairdner1949"/> Thus normal, natural childhood non-retractable foreskin, which must be distinguished from pathological phimosis,<ref name="shahid2012" /> has been given the name ''physiological phimosis'' to distinguish it from ''pathological phimosis'' in adults.<ref name="shahid2012"/>
[[Physiological phimosis can be divided into three main categories - symptom-free]] is a normal, in need healthy stage of therapy, and in need of surgerydevelopment that does not require treatment.
From a medical standpoint, an otherwise symptom-free [[phimosis]], even after dissolution of preputial adhesions, does not require any treatment before the child enters [[puberty]]. The widespread notion that full retractability has to be achieved by a certain age, derives from obsolete assumptions and studies which only covered children's development until they entered school, but not beyond that point.
Even though the data from [[Jakob Øster]]'s studies have been known for more than half a century,<ref name="Øster1968">{{OesterJ 1968}}</ref> some check lists for school doctors‘ examinations still erroneously refer to [[physiological phimosis ]] as an abnormality.
In most cases, only watchful waiting is necessary, not surgery or other treatment. Parental reassurance is the only treatment required.<ref name="shahid2012" />