Fusions and adhesions
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Fusions and adhesions are both connections that can exist between the glans penis and the skin of the penis. The fusion is normal and healthy, while the adhesion is an abnormal, pathological condition that is usually a complication of circumcision. The two separate, diverse conditions are frequently confused, both by the public and by health care providers.
Fusion
It is well established that boys are born with the inner foreskin fused with the underlying glans penis by a common membrane to which both parts are fused.[1] The membrane, which is called the balanopreputial lamina, is common to both parts, so retraction of the boy's foreskin is prevented by nature. There is good reason for this, since the foreskin provides protection to the penis while in the diaper, which usually contains feces, urine, and ammonia. Boys with a protective foreskin do not develop meatal stenosis.
The fusion of the balanopreputial lamina gradually breaks down over a widely variable period of years, so the foreskin can be retracted. Thorvaldsen & Meyhoff (2005) reported the mean age of first foreskin retraction to be 10.4 years.[2]
Retraction of the foreskin may become possible as early as age five but may not occur until after puberty.
Adhesion
Adhesions of the residual skin to the glans penis usually occur after the circumcision of an infant boy. They are a pathological condition.
References
- ↑
Deibart GA. The separation of the prepuce in the human penis. Anat Rec. 1933; 57: 387-99. DOI. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
- ↑ Thorvaldsen MA, Meyhoff H. Patologisk eller fysiologisk fimose? [Pathological or physiological phimosis?] (Danish). Ugeskr Læger. 2005; 167(17): 1858-1862. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
