[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Will - UK at 31 Jul 2003 03:55:50: Your 7 year old
As an answer to: how to apply steroid cream for phimosis on my 7-yr-old?? written by wendy at 31 Jul 2003 01:50:16:
Mercy, the lad's history of his bits reads like a urology textbook! He's only to be circ'd to round things out with meatal stenosis.
The spraying you describe can be instantly stopped by having him sit whilst having his pee when using a conventional toilet instead of a urinal.
It would help a bit if you could describe the look of his foreskin beyond the "pinhole" opeming. Is his foreskin short, just covering the knob? Does he have a very short nipple in front of the knob or does he have a longish, tubular, "snout" going past the covered knob?
If he has extra foreskin going beyond the knob, I take it that he can retract that bit before showing th small opening? What I'm getting at is that the steroid cream is applied sparingly to the tight area of the foreskin.
Now, one problem with a 7 year old is that using a steroid cream has to be done in tandem with the foreskin owner's putting stretching tension on the tight opening to encourage it to stretch. Quite often, a pre-puberty boy will have little interest in the project and you and he will quickly tire of your hounding him to stretch his bits. If that turns up to be the case, this what I might suggest:
1. Encourage him to have a stretch and put tension on his foreskin each time he has a pee, even whilst he's sitting. Tell him not to cause pain but enough so he feels the stretch.
2. At 7, there's really no reason his foreskin needs to be retracted. The natural flora and fauna under his sheath will take care of things nicely. To you, avoid the temptation to fiddle with his bits. No soap, no trying to see if you can give special washing attention to the opening. Let him wash, keep him out of a soak in soapy water, tell him to wash his willy with clear water and nothing else. This should end all problems with rashes and balanitis.
3. Ehen you notice he's entering puberty, have his father, or you if there's not a man about, talk to him about how his foreskin should work and explain that Betamethazone Cream will help him easily stretch his foreskin so it's ready for the time he has sexual activity. It's important that you give him a reason to see the project through, that's important to him, not just because mum says he must.
4. You'll need to get a prescription for the steroid cream from your GP or the chemist won't dispense it. Go to www.cirp.org and print out a good article on the use of Betamethazone Cream just in case your GP is still mucking about in prehistoric times and only knows to whack off his foreskin as a cure.
Well. that's a bit for you to think about. Hopefully Paul B. will add some more comments to mine.