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The surgical techniques developed in antiquity to repair the lipodermic [[penis ]] have been described in modern medical journals,<ref>{{REFjournal

}}</ref> but these papers erroneously portray these operations as having the sole objective of surgically repairing the [[circumcised ]] penis rather than the lipodermic penis, which, as the ancient sources show, need not necessarily have been caused by circumcision. For instance, Celsus prefaces his account of his surgical technique by specifying that it is to treat "those in whom the defect is natural,"<ref>Celsus, De medicina 7.25.1 (Spencer [n. 21], 3: 421).</ref> rather than those in whom it is caused by circumcision. The Latin translation omits the term lipodermos, but the subject matter and composition fit so well with other explicitly denominated descriptions of lipodermos repair (see below)that the attribution may be taken to be legitimate:

:''"And, if the [[glans ]] is bare and the man wishes for the look of the thing to have it covered, that can be done; but more easily in a boy than in a man; in one in whom the defect is natural, than in one who after the custom of certain races has been [[circumcised]]; and in one who has the glans small and the adjacent [[skin]] rather ample, while the penis itself is shorter, rather than in one in whom the conditions are contrary.''

:''Now the treatment for those in whom the defect is natural is as follows. The [[prepuce ]] around the [[glans ]] is seized, stretched out until it actually covers the glans, and there tied. Next the [[skin]] covering the [[penis]] just in front of the pubes is cut through in a circle until the penis is bared, but great care is taken not to cut into the [[urethra]], nor into the blood vessels there. This done the prepuce slides forwards towards the tie, and a sort of small ring is laid bare in front of the pubes, to which lint is applied in order that flesh may grow and fill it up. <It is seen that a large enough part of the penis has been bared, if the [[skin]] is distended little or not at all, and if> the breadth of the wound above supplies sufficient covering. But until the scar has formed it must remain tied, only a small passage being left in the middle for the [[urine]]. But in one who has been [[circumcised ]] the prepuce is to be raised from the underlying [[penis ]] around the circumference of the glans by means of a scalpel. This is not so very painful, for once the margin has been freed, it can be stripped up by hand as far back as the pubes, nor in so doing is there any [[bleeding]]. The prepuce thus freed is again stretched forwards beyond the glans; next cold water affusions are freely used, and a plaster is applied round to repress severe inflammation. And for the following days the patient is to fast until nearly overcome by hunger lest satiety excite that part. When the inflammation has [Page 399] ceased, the penis should be bandaged from the pubes to the corona; over the glans the plaster is applied with the other end of the probe. This is done in order that the lower part may agglutinate, whilst the upper part heals without adhering."''<ref>Ibid. (Spencer, 3: 421–23)(angle brackets in original).</ref>