[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Ivan at 12 Jul 2005 13:24:24: Re: white ring - better information
As an answer to: Re: white ring written by Ivan at 11 Jul 2005 23:00:48:
I received the following information from a well-informed net-friend whose comments on health and medical matters I have found I can rely on. He is very right - I had gotten my information from American web sites I had been directed to. You may find that you have to educate your dermatologist as to this (educating one's own doctor is more common than you might think - many tend to rely on the same tools for almost every problem). Even if they try to push circumcision, you can tell them that you would like to try conservative therapies first, and since steroids can be discontinued if need be, but amputations are forever, you'd prefer to try the proper steroids.
" Hello Ivan.
> IF you have BXO, then it appears from the available literature that
> circumcision is the recommended treatment.No, not actually, only if you read *American* urology literature,
which carries this bias.Lichen Sclerosis et Atrophicus (LSA, aka BXO) is only rarely treated
by circumcision in women, in whom it is somewhat more common than men.
It is a condition that should be managed by a dermatologist, who do
indeed treat it using the strongest steroids available, and it generally
responds.The fellow whom I sent to the dermatologist, was so treated and it
settled down quite well, albeit he had not developed phimosis to the
point of being unable to retract.or so-called "BXO" (a term the dermatologists deprecate, for the reason
I first stated), *the* treatment is steroid - circumcision is very much
a last resort - for either sex. Mind you, (decent) dermatologists are
not the most common of specialists - for one reason or another!"