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Re: phimosis vs. adhesions in my 12-yr-old son

Written by Adelina at 18 Feb 2004 19:11:10:

As an answer to: phimosis vs. adhesions in my 12-yr-old son written by Adelina at 15 Feb 2004 08:09:49:

Thanks so much for all your replies! I'm still a bit confused though. Firstly, I just noticed that the diagnosis written on my son's receipt from the urologist visit noted phimosis as the diagnosis. So I'm left wondering if my son might have phimosis in addition to the adhesions. The doctor never mentioned phimosis to me and never referred to a tight foreskin, but only to adhesions. I plan on calling to get some clarification here. But is there any way my son can tell if his foreskin is abnormally tight or narrow (he would never let me look at it!)?

I see that you all said that some degree of phimosis and adhesions is normal in a 12-year-old, that I should let nature take its course, that masturbation will take care of the adhesions. However, in the reading I've done I've noted how some men said that they never realized they had a problem until they started having intercourse. They didn't realize that their foreskin was supposed to retract. Some said they never realized that they were masturbating differently (because of the phimosis). These men said they wish that they had know about this prior to adolescense so they could more easiliy have taken care of the problem.

I've also read advice to regularly check little boys as they grow and gently stretch the foreskin for them until they're old enough to be shown how to do it themselves. I knew nothing of this and so of course never did this. But I'd like to be sure to instruct my son now on what the best course of action to take is. I don't want to be overly obsessed with his foreskin as one of you said your mother was, but I'm worried that if I just let nature take its course that he'll have problems once he has grown.

So, I suppose my questions are:
How can I/he tell if he also has phimosis in addition to the adhesions?

He's been doing ok with stretching his foreskin forward. Would this take care of the phimosis?

I know you said stretching the foreskin forward wouldn't do anything for the adhesions. So should he try to stretch it back too, just until it slightly hurts? I know he won't do it as far as the doctor did in the office because that hurts a lot and I don't think he should do anything that hurts a lot.

Sorry if I'm being dense here. Sometimes when one does a lot of reading (as I have) it just leads to more confusion! amz


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