The lovely subject of boy's foreskins and associated pain.

[MotherJack]

My DS is 5.3 and his foreskin has still not retracted, or whatever it is they do.

I understand that 90% of foreskins have opened by the time boys are around 3 so I know he's in the 10%

Not a big concern on it's own, but I find him increasingly agitated/distressed and quite evidently uncomfortable (shouting "my willy's hurting!") and this invariably coincides with him having an erection.

I know he hasn't got an infection from a problem that we have been to the doctors about recently, but should I be worried about something else?

Thanks

I will be watching with interest, as we got the same problem with our 8 years old. I took him to see our GP, but he is not ovely concerned and thinks it will sort itself out somehow.

It's a sort of comfort knowing he's not alone, Scully! Let's just hope someone in the know comes along....

My son had this problem, and was circumcised at age 8. We actually pushed for it, as it was identical to the problem dh had as a child.

Dh ended up being being cicumcised at the age of 21, at his own insistence, after years of pain, inability to have sex due to foreskin not retracting, etc.

Doctors seem very reluctant to circumcise nowadays, and probably rightly so, but we are certain we did the right thing.

For about two years prior to his circumcision, ds was having problems with urine being trapped under the foreskin leading to soreness and infections. The poor little guy used to keep loo-roll wadded up in his underpants to catch the trapped urine, and when dh saw this, he remembered doing the very same thing as a child.

Ds2 has a normal foreskin, so we feel sure ds1 had a problem with his which needed to be addressed.

Thanks Olivia. That's very useful to know. I have him booked in at the doctors on Monday so will be able to ask some more informed questions now

DS1 has similar problems - but there is a possibility that they can do a partial circumcision - just remove the tags/adhesions which are currently joining the foreskin to the glans of the penis.