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== Medical indications and therapies == There is a group of typical conditions of the foreskin, that can occur in more or less distinct ways. === Physiological phimosis === Boys are almost always born with non-retractable foreskin..<refname="gairdner1949">{{REFjournal
Add information on childhood.
* The [[frenulum]] is too short to permit retraction. The medical name for this condition is ''[[frenulum breve]]''.
* The inner surface of the foreskin is fused or adherent by a [[synechia]] to the glans penis.
== Non-retractable foreskin of infancy and childhood==
|last=Gairdner
|first=Douglas
|DOI=10.1136/bmj.2.4642.1433
|accessdate=
}}</ref>The inner surface of the foreskin of a newborn baby is fused by a [[synechia]] to the surface of the glans penis so that is non-retractable.<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Deibart |first=G.A. |title=The separation of the prepuce in the human penis |journal=Anat Rec |date=1933 |volume=57 |issue= |pages=387-99 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/deibert/ |quote= |pubmedID= |pubmedCID= |DOI=https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.1090570409 |accessdate=2019-11-01}}</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 has been given the name ''physiological phimosis'' to distinguish it from ''pathological phimosis'' in adults.
Physiological phimosis can be divided into three main categories - symptom-free, in need of therapy, and in need of surgery.
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 (see above) have been known for 51 years, <ref name="Øster1968">{{REFjournal |last= |first=Jakob |title=Further fate of the foreskin: incidence of preputial adhesions, phimosis, and smegma among Danish schoolboys |journal=Arch Dis Child |date=1968-04-01 |volume=43 |issue= |pages=200-3 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2019851/pdf/archdisch01557-0066.pdf |quote= |pubmedID=5689532 |pubmedCID=2019851 |DOI=10.1136/adc.43.228.200 |accessdate=2019-11-01}}</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.
By age 10.4 years, about 50 percent of intact boys have a retractable foreskin.<ref name="Øster1968" /> <ref name-"thorvaldsen2005">{{REFjournal
|last=Thorvaldsen
|first=M.A.
|last2=Meyhoff
|first2=H.H.
|title=Phimosis: pathological or physiological?
|journal=Ugeskr Læge
|date=2005
|volume=167
|issue=17
|pages=1858-62
|url=http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/thorvaldsen1/
|quote=
|pubmedID=15929334
|pubmedCID=
|DOI=
|accessdate=2019-11-01
}}</ref> Most of the rest develop a retractable foreskin in their teenage years.<ref name="Øster1968" />
Teen boys with a non-retractable foreskin may benefit by manual stretching.
==Medical indications and therapies==
There is a group of typical conditions of the foreskin, that can occur in more or less distinct ways.
==Treatment options==