Synechia

Synechia is the medical name for an adhesion between body parts in any area of the body that are not normally adherent . The plural is synechiae. The word comes to us from Greek (συνέχεια).

There are some synechiae that are natural. Baby boys are born with the inner foreskin fused with the glans penis by a synechial membrane that is common to both parts.

Contents

Penile synechia in childhood

Øster (1968) was a school physician in Denmark where boys are not usually circumcised. Øster conducted regular examinations of school boys from age 6 through age 17 and recorded his results. Øster reported that 63% of 6-7 year old boys; 48% of 10-11 year old boys; and 3% of 16-17 year old boys had a prepuce that was not fully separated. The separation and breakdown and the synechia is natural, normal, spontaneous, and requires no special care. Thorvaldsen & Meyhoff (2005) report about 50 percent of boys can retract their foreskin by age 10.4, thus confirming Øster's report.

Synechia destruction prior to infant circumcision

When as infant boy is circumcised, as remains common in the United States, in preparation for the circumcision, the preputial synechia must first be broken by passing a blunt probe under the foreskin in an intensely painful procedure.

Premature forcible foreskin retraction

Premature forcible foreskin retraction (PFFR) of a boy's foreskin will rip the boy's synechia apart and cause severe pain and injury to the boys. Unfortunately, many American physicians are ignorant of normal penile anatomy and cause severe pain and grave injury to boys whom they examine in their practice. The first person to retract a boy's foreskin should be the boy himself.