Tight foreskin - when do you go to the GP's?

[Littleboysbits]

DS's foreskin doesn't retract (not that we've tried to force it or anything) and he is now 2yrs 3mnths. When should it retract by? Should I be taking him to the GP about it yet? He often has a sore bit at the end, and it looks very red & tight when he's got an erection.

He also had undescended testicles, which are currently being treated, but the consultant has never mentioned his penis during the appointments, so I don't know if there is even a problem. Do you think they'd have mentioned it if there was?

TIA for any advice :)

I would leave it alone. 2 of my 3 have now been circumcised. Thez had very tight foreskins, but were circumcised becasue thez kept getting repeated infections. As for little one, don't even know if it is tight, i assume it is if he's like his brothers, but I leave it alone. )I do believe dh had tight foreskin as child and it sorted itself he did't get infections so no op. as for testicles, don't know, sorry. thinks 2yr 3 months still very youg to be concerned. only worry if infections

I read that you should leave it alone until they are around 4yo, by which point it will be pretty much fully retractable and they will also be old enough to clean round it themselves.

If it is often sore, you should prob ask the GP about it in case it's infection.

So I don't even need to worry about it yet then. What a relief! The poor boy is getting so much fiddling around down there already! I might just mention it to the consultant next time we're in (one testicle down so far, one to go!)

Can i just ask how did they manage to get one down? My ds has problems with his foreskin and we have to roll it back just slightly once a day and it is better but still quite red and he often gets it out to inspect it. He does get irratated when little bits of wipes get stuck (little strands)in the end.

my son is 8 and has a tight foreskin, we can't get it to go back. Should we be worried?

My DS only managed to pull it back when he was about 6. The doc had always told me that providing he was weeing OK and no redness or infection, it was perfectly OK.

Every bathtime I would just encourage him to pull it back and as I said it took a while but perfectly fine now.

Don't worry.
Ds (9) has a tight forskin and we have been under a consultant for a while because of repeated infections (balanitis) caused by the tight foreskin. In spite of the infections and in spite of the still tight forskin consutant is firmly of the opinion to leave well alone except for gentle bathing and pushing with a bit of cotton wool by ds himself. (He is one of the formeost paediatric willy docs in the UK - consultant, not ds I mean!) Last time we saw him I asked again about ds's forskin not retracting and when should I start worrying. He said that quite often it is not fully retractable until puberty. At 2 you have quite a way to go!!

encourage him to play with it. not joking, will help loosen up

jellyjelly - he had an op to bring one down. He's got to have the other side done 6m later. They only do one at a time round here in case an infection sets in and they end up 'losing' both.

Not fully sure I understand the reasoning behind that, as up until the day of the op, we thought both would be done. Also, the anaesthetist was unhappy about them doing both as then they are under GA for longer with the risks that has.

Thanks for the advice everyone.