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Balanopostite

Last reviewed: 2 Jun 2025
Last updated: 01 Feb 2024

Summary

Definition

History and exam

Key diagnostic factors

  • presença de fatores de risco
  • estado não circuncisado
Full details

Other diagnostic factors

  • múltiplos parceiros sexuais ou comportamentos sexuais de alto risco
  • hipo ou hiperpigmentação pós-inflamatória
  • prurido
  • descamação vermelha
  • erosões
  • história pessoal/familiar de atopia (eczema, febre do feno, asma, alergias do tipo I)
  • história pessoal/familiar de psoríase
  • gotejamento urinário
  • hipopigmentação
  • púrpura
  • placas vermelhas
  • vesículas
  • pápulas ou micropápulas
  • pústulas
Full details

Risk factors

  • prepúcio disfuncional congênito ou adquirido
  • estado não circuncisado
  • higiene deficiente, gotejamento e perda de urina
  • lavagem excessiva
  • infecção por papilomavírus humano (HPV)
  • doenças cutâneas inflamatórias
Full details

Diagnostic tests

1st tests to order

  • swab para microbiologia (coloração de Gram e cultura) e teste de amplificação de ácido nucleico (NAAT)
  • swab para virologia
  • microscopia de campo escuro
Full details

Tests to consider

  • biópsia de pele
  • teste de contato
Full details

Emerging tests

  • dermatoscopia

Treatment algorithm

ACUTE

eczema atópico

dermatite seborreica

dermatite de contato irritativa (DCI)

dermatite alérgica de contato

psoríase

artrite reativa (doença de Reiter)

líquen escleroso

gonorreia

candidíase

balanopostite inespecífica

Balanite de Zoon

carcinoma in situ/neoplasia intraepitelial peniana (NIP)

Contributors

Authors

Ien Chan, MD, FRCP

Consultant Dermatologist

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

London

UK

Disclosures

IC declares that he has no competing interests.

David Hawkins, FRCP

Consultant Genitourinary Physician

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

London

UK

Disclosures

DH declares that he has no competing interests.

Christopher B. Bunker, MA, MD, FRCP

Consultant Dermatologist

Honorary Professor of Dermatology

University College London

Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals

London

UK

Disclosures

CBB is the owner and CEO of Bruce Shrink Ltd., the publisher of Male Genital Skin Disease, an e-book authored by CBB. He has done consultancy work for the British Skin Foundation. The fee for this work is usually paid to the British Skin Foundation. He is the honorary secretary of the British Skin Foundation, the senior Medical Trustee. CBB has provided advice to MC2, with a pipeline lichens sclerosis product, for which he has not received payment. CBB does a dedicated weekly male genital clinic at University College London Hospitals from which his employer receives income. CBB has a private practice and patients with male genital skin disorders consult him, for which he is remunerated. CBB is a frequent speaker at meetings on male genital dermatology (occasionally, his travel and accommodation are subsidised and he received honoraria) and is in receipt of a grant from a private donor, administered by the British Skin Foundation, to investigate the relationship of lichen sclerosus to penis cancer. He has been appointed to lead the 2024 reiterate of the British Association of Dermatology Guidelines on lichen sclerosus; he has previously been contributor. Occasionally, CBB provides expert advice medical litigation, for which he receives remuneration. He is an author of a number of references cited in this topic.

Peer reviewers

Jesse Mills, MD

Professor of Urology

Director of the Men's Clinic at UCLA

University of California Los Angeles

Los Angeles

CA

Disclosures

JM declares that he has no competing interests.

Colm O'Mahony, MD, FRCP, BSc, DIPVen

Consultant in Sexual Health

Department of Sexual Health

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Chester

UK

Disclosures

CO declares that he has no competing interests.

Sarah Edwards, MD

Consultant

Department of GU Medicine

West Suffolk Hospital

Suffolk

UK

Disclosures

SE declares that she has no competing interests.

David Paige, MD

Consultant Dermatologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer

Dermatology Department

The Royal London Hospital

London

UK

Disclosures

DP declares that he has no competing interests.

References

Our in-house evidence and editorial teams collaborate with international expert contributors and peer reviewers to ensure that we provide access to the most clinically relevant information possible.

Key articles

Edwards SK, Bunker CB, van der Snoek EM, et al. 2022 European guideline for the management of balanoposthitis. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2023 Jun;37(6):1104-17.Full text  Abstract

Bunker CB, Watchorn RE. Dermatoses of the male genitalia. In: Griffiths C, Barker J, Bleiker T, et al. Rook's textbook of dermatology. 10th ed. Oxford: Wiley; 2024 (in press).

Lewis FM, Tatnall FM, Velangi SS, et al. British Association of Dermatologists guidelines for the management of lichen sclerosus 2018. Br J Dermatol. 2018;178:839-53.Full text

Reference articles

A full list of sources referenced in this topic is available to users with access to all of BMJ Best Practice.
  • Differentials

    • Eczema e dermatite
    • Dermatite atópica
    • Dermatite seborreica
    More Differentials
  • Guidelines

    • European guideline for the management of balanoposthitis
    • Sexually transmitted infections treatment guidelines
    More Guidelines
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