Phimosis

[AmeliaG76]

Has anyone experienced having a 14 year old with phimosis (where the foreskin doesn´t retract) and had positive or negative experiences of circumcision - with a child who is VERY anxious about any medical treatments and can´t even cope with injections/blood tests without days of panic in advance? He doesn´t have any pain or infections, just aware that time is ticking and he saw a paediatrician 3 years ago but they said to leave it naturally and nothing has changed yet. Only minimal signs of puberty so far, a few hairs, that´s all... no voice change. He´s 170cm and 70kg and otherwise fine...

Was he given any stretching exercises or creams to use?

Hi, he was given a topical steroid cream but it didn´t do anything. He was encouraged to pull it back and forth in the bath, but again, didn´t really do anything...

Yes, one of the DS's had his done last year when he was 16 after a couple of years of creams and trying to stretch it himself. It was a bit tender afterwards but nothing like as bad as he'd thought it would be. It healed completely within a few weeks and he was back playing sports (gently) before then - he says he's very happy he had it done.

Just be aware that the waiting lists on the NHS are horrendous for this procedure - we were told 2 years after the initial consultation that he waited months for, so we went private. The waiting list for that was about 3-4 months, so still not immediate. If he does want it done then get him into the system asap.