Editing Penis and Urethra Surgery (section)

== Trauma to the genitalia ==

* '''See Lower Urinary Tract Trauma Chapter Notes'''
* Penetrating injuries to the penis can involve the urethra, the corporeal bodies, or both.
* With bullet injuries of the urethra, the velocity of the projectile must be considered. However, recent military actions have shown that high-speed projectiles can pass through superficial structures with relatively little cavitation effect and less propagation of energy to the adjacent tissues.
* Degloving injuries to the penis occur when the penis or scrotal skin is trapped and stripped from the deeper structures. Bleeding is usually not a problem. The tissues must be allowed to demarcate; acute reconstruction with grafts can be done.
* '''The damage caused by genital burns depends on how well the normal structures have been maintained after the acute injury. The unique vascular qualities of the penis allow careful repeated debridement as opposed to aggressive debridement.'''
* Radiation trauma to the penis occurs in two potential subsets: patients in whom radiation has been used therapeutically for a lesion on the penis and patients in whom radiation to the pelvis has caused chronic lymphedema.
** '''A patient with genital lymphedema can readily undergo reconstruction with either a STSG''' or, in select cases, the lateral margins and the posterior margins of the scrotum.