September 2015 Vol. 3 No. 9

Search Pubmed for articles by:
 

Case Report

Self gratification in Sudanese children: indisputable but implausible. Case Reports and Literature Review

Dr. Suhair A. Othman MD, MRCP-CH

Consultant paediatrician and Neonatologist, Sea Ports Corporation Hospital (SPCH) Port Sudan / Sudan. P.O. Box 531

E-mail: soharia@hotmail.com
Tel: 0901920032

Accepted August 03, 2015

Abstract

Self Gratification (SG) in children or Infantile masturbation, is a self genital stimulation to gratify one's self, it affects both sexes but more in males (90 – 94% versus 50 -60%). It occurs many times per week and lasts for several minutes. Onset ranges from 3 months to 5 years. Paediatricians are aware of the presence of the condition in infants and preadolescents, but are less aware of its display spectrum. Most episodes in children lack direct hand stimulation of genitalia and manifested as dystonic posturing of lower extremities, or rocking on floor or a chair, allowing pressure on genitalia / perineum, a fact that makes the diagnosis difficult to recognise. It has been mistaken for epilepsy, abdominal pain, and paroxysmal dystonia or dyskinesia, and children undergone unwarranted investigations and unwarranted treatment. Luckily, SG can be stopped by distraction and this is providing a potential diagnostic clue. Key management, is to reassure parents that this is a normal developmental behaviour, needs no specific treatment apart from distraction and elimination of the stressful cause if recognised. SG in children is present in our community but is unrecognised, and is being misdiagnosed. We report on 11 Sudanese children ranging 10 mo to 8 years old, with SG behaviour, and show the manifestation spectrum.

Key words: Self gratification in children, infantile masturbation, manifestation spectrum, misdiagnosis, unwarranted investigation, unwarranted treatment.