Child Foreskin Retraction

My dad being cut, my parents didn't know that it was normal for a young boy to have his foreskin and glans partially fused. So they took me to the hospital and the doctor who examinated me didn't know either about it. He tought I had something wrong and thought he should separate it himself. I was only 3 years old and THIS is the first memory I have. The pain was excruciating...and the word is weak. He didn't finish because my mother told him to stop it.

Even if he told me to force it myself, I refused to do it and by the age of 11, the remaining part of fused foreskin separated for the glans all by itself. Without any other intervention than retracting it gently to wash.

So, never force the foreskin. Wash only what you can see and when he's older, tell him how to wash his privates carefully.

More than highly likely, you did not need a circumcision at all. In circumcising cultures the biggest problem is genital cutting is a first remedy for anything that could possibly go wrong, rather than a last resort. How is it possible the human race made it through the millenia without "modern" medicine? All mammals have a prepuce or clitoral hood.

Hi Frank. Thanks for reinforcing what I just said with your personal experience of "modern" medicine vis a vis the human prepuce.

For me, a week or so of pain was more appealing than getting balinitis (and the crap that goes with that) just about every two weeks for the rest of my life.

I also prefer the look of a cut cock so it was just a case of doing the research and plucking up the courage.

Well, if you preferred the look of a cut cock you probably live in a circumcising culture and that had a lot to do with your decision. Maybe bad luck too. The incidence of balanitis is pretty low overall and apparently there are laser treatments that work now. I'm not saying that circumcision is never a choice for an adult male, but the thread is about a normal infant with a brand new penis. Let's give the father our best wisdom.

Well yeah, but really, any decent book or website about puberty will address this.

Besides, this is the perfect thing to foist on his father/primary male role model. No reason for you to have to deal with it.

I actually never remember my foreskin being fused to the glans. My mom always washed behind it when she bathed me, and she told me every time that it needs to be "pulled back" to be rinsed under. When I was about 5, I already knew it was supposed to be washed, and I did it on my own.

Don't want until the boy's older. . .tell him all along.

i was not taught about my foreskin. i was about 11-12 and when i was first curious about my penis i wanted to retracted it. i retracted it and it was little painful. i thought i broke my penis. being raised in a family that was not open with teaching us about sex i was scared and embarrassed to ask my dad or mum about it. i don't know how i knew that it was normal to do so.

i think that you should be open with him about things like that. I can still remember how i felt when i thought i "broke" my penis even after so many years

I didn't know my foreskin could come all the way back until I was 11 or 12 haha.

lol Parents needs to be more attentive to their children sometimes. . .alright, well all the time.

That's old school Greek Dude. If it can be retracted fine, rinse it, but a lot of boys' first experience with foreskin was like frank389's - some ignorant doc yanking it back and making it bleed. This is not good medicine, but I'm sure there's a lot of old school docs out there still doing it; when they can find one that hasn't already been cut off.

Where do you think all the stories about so and so's sister-in-law's cousin's brother just had to have it done. That was the most common story I heard growing up. It was calculated to make us feel glad that we didn't have foreskins. It's a whole system of being inculcated in believing that foreskin is some infectious disease you should be glad you don't have. How many guys on these threads give that repetitious dismissal? - saying things like nothing could be less important than foreskin - that sort of thing.

You know, what else are you going to believe if you've never had foreskin? - you have no experience of having a normal penis - just what people tell you. And most of them don't have one either. No one really knows what they are talking about, they're just cocksure that they do know what they are talking about. Heaven forbid anyone should speak truthfully, point out that some circs are done very badly, say it matters.

Where do you get that 90% figure ? So USA anti-cir web site ?

In europe, foreskin retraction isn't an issue and isn't a dramatic problems. Parents just pull teh skin back gently during the bath. They are smart eough to not forcibly pull it back. If you don't forcibly pull it back, you won't hurt it.

To say that Americans shouldn't try to retract the foreksin is an insult to american parents, accusing them of not having the judgement of how to "gently try to retract the skin".

re: teaching them to wash when they are teenagers. This recommendation is laughable. By the time a child is a "teenager", parents have long stopped teachiing them about body hygiene and especially washing of genitals. This is done early in childhood 3 to 7 years old.

As soon as the foreskin is retractable, you want to have it retracted at least once a day to keep the skin elastic and especially during the childhood growth spurts. Remember that for boys with long foreksins, boyhood erections will not task the foreksin to retract since the ofreksin will be long enough to remain over the glans, so it will not cause foreksin opening to stretch. Manual retraction is important.

It is no big deal to teach son to try to retract skin once a day at least. The rest of the world has had centuries of experience with this. Foreskins may be new to the USA, but they are not new to europe and south america.

My advice would be consult your Doctor, not a web site..

Exactly-GEESH!
Little girls get poo and ointment all in the folds of their vagina's and it should be gently and thoroughly cleaned.
I used wipes in public places and at home I just put her under the faucet at each changing. Even with rinsing they can still have gunk in the folds and a wipe or q tip is needed to clean these teeny folds.

Please be sure not to use soap on the boys foreskin when it becomes retractable and be sure it is rinsed really well. I have read forums about the care of the penis and soap is reported to cause odor problems and terrible problems with the penis.

I don't know about other places but in the US many doctors believe propaganda and are not very smart at all about these things.


I say a forum is much better.