Swollen, red penis with pus - Page 2

[l_olive]

Originally Posted by RachelGS

He's doing better with topical abx. He developed a red streak moving up his penis, which we watched very closely, but it is improving. The swelling and discharge are better, and he's in less pain.

I want to say this delicately, because I'm grateful for all the feedback and because the issue of genital integrity is very important to me, but when I said two or three different ways that I was confident we were dealing with an infection and kept getting told that it wasn't one, that was frustrating. I'm not new to the parenting scene, or the penile one, either. I want to be sure that in giving advice to new posters here, we're not ignoring medical issues when they crop up. I will bang the drums for this cause as loudly as anybody, but I don't want to cross the line into thinking that being intact means being guaranteed a life without problems. This was a diagnosed balanitis, and if I had ignored it, it would have caused my son a lot more pain for a lot more time. Sometimes the instinct that something is wrong is on target.

I'm glad he's getting better!

I absolutely don't disagree with anything you wrote in the second paragraph. I don't know how often you visit this forum, so you may not be aware that posts like your original post appear in this forum very, very frequently -- often several a week. Many of those posters have NOT read about normal separation yet, and some of those have had their sons seen by medical professionals who have forcibly retracted, diagnosed phony phimosis, and basically scared the bejeebers out of them.

It wasn't that long ago that there was a poster here asking exactly the same question you asked, with almost identical lack of detail in her first post. Upon questioning, she too was convinced that she was seeing copious amounts of pus and her doctor had her practically ready to consent to circ. After reading more here, she convinced the HCP to run a culture on the discharge, they discovered it was just the remains of the tons of antibiotic cream she'd been applying which had melted and become oozy.

From your original post (and even from a few of your follow-ups), it was impossible to tell how much information you had, and how much possible mis-information you may had already been given.

I don't believe there are many, if any, regular posters here who would tell a parent not to seek medical help if s/he deems it necessary -- simply that there may be a cause other than infection that should be considered.

[tutucrazy]

Originally Posted by RachelGS

He's doing better with topical abx. He developed a red streak moving up his penis, which we watched very closely, but it is improving. The swelling and discharge are better, and he's in less pain.

I want to say this delicately, because I'm grateful for all the feedback and because the issue of genital integrity is very important to me, but when I said two or three different ways that I was confident we were dealing with an infection and kept getting told that it wasn't one, that was frustrating. I'm not new to the parenting scene, or the penile one, either. I want to be sure that in giving advice to new posters here, we're not ignoring medical issues when they crop up. I will bang the drums for this cause as loudly as anybody, but I don't want to cross the line into thinking that being intact means being guaranteed a life without problems. This was a diagnosed balanitis, and if I had ignored it, it would have caused my son a lot more pain for a lot more time. Sometimes the instinct that something is wrong is on target.

I'm glad everything is better.

You see the reason we caution on the side of nothing being wrong is b/c 97% of the time these types of symptoms are just normal separation, which has a multitude of symptoms. When a parent comes here with a diagnosis of infection without a culture having been done, we always suggest waiting to see if it gets worse or improves. Doctors just love to diagnose normal separation with balanitis. My son is one of many who was misdiagnosed this way. We also always recommend a culture be done before treating b/c if there is an infection it is more often than not a yeast infection and ABX will make matters worse. Of course you are the only person who actually sees what is happening so it is impossible for us to determine if your child's case is the 3% of cases where there is in fact an infection. Generally, the protocol is to wait-and-see if the symptoms worsen and/or get a culture. This is a very level-headed approach to treatment irritation and/or inflammation of BOTH boys and girls genitals. No one is saying that foreskin is never without problems and no one is ignoring medical issues, but we do want to approach potential issues as just that until proven otherwise by a culture. This will avoid improper diagnosis and treatment, which can cause further complications for a child.

[RachelGS]

I hear you on that, and I certainly appreciate the goal of helping to head off unnecessary and harmful interventions. As my children are older and the forums I've come to enjoy have been discontinued, I'm here less, so I did miss recent discussions that may have felt similar. As for my specific situation, I've got over 6400 posts on MDC over the past seven years, and this stuff isn't new to me. I felt frustrated because I knew there was a problem, knew the risks of the medical system, and was looking for help figuring out how to address all that. I appreciate that new posters and new parents may have a harder time figuring out what's what. I wonder if there's a way to keep an eye out for both.