Questions about DS' attached foreskin.

[Hennycluckington]

My DS is 11.

His foreskin is attached to the head of his penis still and doesnt pull back. it's fused on not just tight.
He has had a couple of infections under the foreskin as the are two places less than 1cm where it isn't attached and obviously as it doesn't pull back bacteria can cause infections under there. He was treated with antibiotics.
We have been to the drs a couple of times and it seems the only answers are put him under a GA and loosen the foreskin or full circumcision.
We are not keen on either of these especially not the circumcision.

Has anyone's DS had anything similar to my sons.
Have they had the op?
They say that if left it ' might sort itself out'

We are not sure what to do.
It's not that it's tight and urinating causes no problems as its fused on about 2 cms down the head.
Also he said that when he gets a erection (boner as he called it) when he needs a wee it doesn't hurt at all. so that's not a problem.

Hoping one of you mums has had some experience with this and can offer some advice.

Thanks

my ds1 had something similar, we got a referral from the gp and he got a steroid cream to use and was told to fiddle LOTS! especially in the bath! anyway the cream worked, it thins the skin i think and his foreskin now retracts.

i would ask for a referral, i have heard about the procedure to help it move manually and when i googled it it has a high success rate if that helps? i would certianly prefer that over a circumsision!

also sometimes a foreskin does not retract and is still attached at this age and it may well still naturally detatch as he gets older, its fairly common for it to retrain attached until puberty, if its not causing him any pain or discomfort i would be be inclined to get the referral, talk over your options and wait a bit.

in the meantime encourage him to maintain very good hygeine, bathing, showeing every day, giving it a good wash and to fiddle with it in the bath as this will help it to stretch.

such fun having boys is it not

My DS had to have a circumcision when he was 3 as his foreskin was too tight and couldn't be pulled back, they took him in a tried to stretch it first but it didn't last and ended up going back in for the circumcision anyway. I wish in hindsight I hadn't bothered trying the stretch as it was quite sore for him when he came round and didn't work anyway. He had no trouble after his second op - he's 12 now and hasn't had any problems being 'sans foreskin'. Hope this reassures you if it turns out that's the road you have to go down. Also, as a nurse I have came across plenty of male patients in my time whose foreskin doesn't retract for various reasons and they have married and had families so maybe it isn't entirely necessary to do anything about it - my concern would be infection though.

DS1 - aged 6 - has had recurrent and nasty infections since he was 3 due to tight foreskin. Finally saw a consultant last month and had his circumcision on Monday - DH had something similar (and was circumcised at 12) so we wanted to spare him years more of infections. He seems to be fine. Consultant said in DS1's case the stretch wasnt work trying.

Ah thanks for that. I have been worrying about and so has he although I don't let on.

We have chatted about it today again, I'm so pleased he isn't embarrassed and is very open about it, as he is about most things. I think we will give it a bit longer until/ if it flares up again. Will then ask for a referral as its so painful for him when it gets infected and def consider the manual option, to be honest it's the GA I worry about the most.

We were given some steroid cream when it became infected last time, so we have decided he will start using that in a evening, but he gave me a
when I suggested he fiddle with it to stretch it a little He is good at showering daily anyway so that will help I suppose.

Thanks for all your help

5madthings yes having boys is such fun, I think when you have a boy you should get sent on a mini willy course to prepare you for the questions and malfunctions you can possibly encounter

bigreddi glad to know if it does come to a circumcision that your DS at twelve is ok and no problems now.

dinkystinky hope you DS has a quick recovery, I know what you mean about saving him years of infections, I hope we are not just postponing the op and has to encounter another bad episode.

Thanks again

i have 4 boys and their willy adventures are interesting!

glad he can talk to you about it, that is the important thing, thankfully my ds1 was able to talk about it as well and when he went to the hospital (dp went with him) the drs were great, really lovely and reassuring etc, it can be very embarrassing for them at this age, so i was really pleased the drs were so nice and put him at ease. and as i said ds1's is now all sorted :) we had a further issue with his testicles that required an emergency op! and yes ga is scary but my ds1 was fine and they really do look after them at hospital, as hard as it is for us parents they do know what they are doing i guess. not that that stopped me staying up all night until i knew ds1 was ok!

fingers crossed for no more infections and good luck with the referall :)