[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Will at 14 Aug 2001 16:05:17: Re: 4 year old with ballooning penis
As an answer to: 4 year old with ballooning penis written by Raewyn at 14 Aug 2001 12:21:17:
>My son has just turned 4. 18 months ago we saw a specialist who told us he would need to be circumcised because his foreskin was not retracting and the hole was small so that when he urinates his penis balloons.
Many boys foreskins don't retract at 4, including mine when I was that age. "Small" is a relative term when talking about the opening. What does the stream do as it leaves? Does it flow freely and easily without looking like a high pressure spray? Does he seem to strain to make it exit his foreskin or does he just relax and let go. Also, if the opening is causing restriction, then his foreskin would keep enlarging as more urine is expelled from the glans than can exit the foreskin.
On the other hand, his foreskin may balloon slightly as the urine stretches his foreskin open. Ask him to try and gently pull back on his foreskin. Watch the opening and see if the opening does enlarge a bit as he tries retraction. If it's enlarging slightly, then its opening for his urine and will eventually stretch to slip back over his knob. Since I'm sure you still watch over bath time, you can make a bit of a game each time as you let him pull back gently to see if any more of his knob is able to peak out. He will most likely take an interest in this too as lomg as he is the one doing the pulling.
>He has no other problems eg infections. No pain when urinating.
Doesn't sound like there's much of a problem then. Course, many doctors think that circumcision is such a grand idea, "instant cure," and when there's no foreskin, there's 100% cure of foreskin problems, plus, in private medicine, there's always the nice fee for just a bit of work.
>We don't want to circumcise unless absolutely neccessary. After doing a bit of surfing it seems to me he may not have phimosis. What should we be looking for when he trys to retract his foreskin? Thanks in advance for your help.
If your son realized what was planned by the doctor for his bits, he'd be less than pleased too. In the meantime, you're the only one he can rely on to protect him. Once his knob does pop out, don't use anything but clear water to wash him there as soap in their bits irritates little boys just as badly as it does little girls and don't leave the skin back for any length of time. Once he's done rinsing, teach him to pull it smartly back forward again.