Painful penis

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Sorry about the direct title.

My 5yo son is complaining of a painful penis. It's too painful for him to be in his car seat because he screams and needs to be out and he got upset this morning getting dressed because his pants touched it. Upon inspection it's a bit red and might be a bit swollen at the very top but not 100% on that as I don't really look down there as much these days no we don't have nappies to change. I probably should do a weekly check or something but never thought of it. He says it feels like it's being prickled and in fire. However he goes to the toilet ok and there's no problem passing urine. It doesn't make it worse to wee.

He's not otherwise ill, no temperature, nothing to suggest infection. I asked if he's banged himself, fallen over or trapped himself but he says no. It just started yesterday afternoon. I asked my mum (as a mother of a boy) and she said drs might need to check.

Any idea what it could be?

I should probably add I've been away all weekend without him so this is the first I've know of it and family and google have been no help!

Sounds like it could be an infection which is very common. I would take him to see a GP asap.

It could be balanitis, inflammation of the penile head in which case he'll need antibiotics OP.

My DS had this. It was because he often had slightly wet pants because was too impatient to get to the toilet on time. Took him to doctor who prescribed a cream to put on it, can’t remember what it was called but it cured it after about a week.

Thank you. I tried calling the drs to make an appointment but they said I need to try again at 8am because they have no appointments left today. If it gets worse I might go to urgent care as small people tend to get worse quicker.

Our doctor does a sit and wait at 6pm end of day for urgent apts.

@raisinseverywhere ours does a system where you ring at 8am and get a telephone appt later in the morning and if they think it's urgent you get a face to face in the afternoon. I once walked in after slicing the top of my finger off because I couldn't stop the bleeding and I was told to go away and ring for an appt 😒

Might be better off go to a walk in centre or Urgent Care at the hospital. Keep an eye on it to see if it swells more. Sounds like and infection is starting

My eleven year old ds has had balinitis and he was treated with a topical cream. It cleared up very quickly and provided relief from the discomfort almost immediately 😉

While waiting for an appointment try getting some zinc and castor cream. It can help with swelling and redness until you get something prescribed.

www.boots.com/boots-baby-zinc-and-castor-oil-125ml-10185898

DS had something similar last year. I was working so DH took him to the GP, she prescribed a steroid cream (HC45 I think) and it cleared up in no time.

I’d go to urgent care or a walk in centre tomorrow if you don’t have any luck with getting a same day GP appointment.

Definitely make sure he gets seen by a medical professional tomorrow. If it’s a urinary infection, it can turn into a kidney infection if not treated, so you need to get it diagnosed and treated.

My son used to suffer a lot with balenitis when he was 4 - 6 - we had antibiotics but more usually a steroid cream which worked brilliantly. That was the same as you describe - red at the tip.

Thank you everyone. We took him to the urgent care walk in as it was making him cry. They said he has thrush and have given him some cream for it. We started it last night but it's not helping yet so it might take a time. It's inside at the top that hurts. They tested him for a water infection though and it was negative junk as no antibiotics were given.