GUIDE ON DIAGNOSIS A quick guide for early diagnosis of any problems. The Optimal Way to Check. "It would be best for parents to check their son's erections during infancy" (22) - This check is very easy to perform: During bath time erections - Simply look : Is the foreskin moving freely? - If so your child is in perfect health! If parents made an early check on a boy's erect penis, this would be far more effective and efficient than a doctor's check on the boy's flaccid penis. After reading the Summary of The Conditions, if parents wish to, they could easily diagnose most problems. While it is not essential for parents to do this, I believe it is essential that the information is available. PRACTICAL GUIDELINES The phimotic ring is by nature less elastic than the surrounding foreskin; a foreskin which can be easily retracted when flaccid can easily cause pain during erections; therefore the only complete way of checking a boy for potentially sexually difficult conditions is when the penis is erect. This is easy for parents to observe during bath times, and simple observation is all this check requires; at most the child could be asked if he can retract his own foreskin, if at some point this becomes necessary. As the pouting nozzle of an infants foreskin starts to open up, which can be anytime between birth and 5 yrs. old there will often be a few harmless remnants of the adhesive bond between the foreskin and glans. These should not be forced in anyway and detailed reading of Natures Way and the following pages, is advised if you wish to encourage these to release. The common problem conditions are phimotic ring, frenulum breve and skin bridges. Phimotic ring When checking for problems, first, if there is a phimotic ring this will often be thickest and most easily visible on the top side where it is near the end of the inner foreskin. On attempted gentle retraction, the outer skin will fold over a little, and only a small strip of the inner foreskin will be visible and maybe even a fine pencil line of this white band of "gristle". The majority of these infant rings are soft rings which will stretch.(especially with the help of steroids) Skin bridges and Short frenulum If the infant adhesions were previously broken and the raw sticky skin surfaces allowed to rest together again, they may have left little skin-bridges anywhere between the foreskin and the glans. Though the frenulum breve can be checked when flaccid, it is most obvious during erection when it causes the foreskin when retracted, to slide forward again and this is the definitive check. There may at times be some confusion between a short frenulum and a skin bridge as both involve a skin connection between foreskin and glans.- as both these (at present) require surgery, a surgeon's visit is necessary. At which age should these skin malformations be treated? I would suggest that your son should get used to a non-painful, non-inhibitive erection as soon as is humanly possible. Please contact me if the above description is unintelligible, or for further information, feedback comments .... More detail on diagnosing phimosis or frenulum breve is found under Self Diagnosis. Self Diagnosis Parents Diagnosis Diagnosis for circumcised child