crooked penis/stream?

[berrybear]

I just took my non-circ'd DS to his 1 year well visit. ped though his penis looked more crooked than last time and asked if urine stream was still straight.
I actually havnt seen a stream personally in months b/c I've been luck with diaper changes and the few times I can see him gearing up to pee and i quickly throw a cloth diapr over him to absorb it....

sooo, she recommends a visit to a pedi urologist "just to be safe" because as she said, she can't "see the hole"

but now i'm wondering...if she cna't see the hole then how does the urologist see the hole? short of pulling back teh foreskin?

i'm thinking of letting DS run free until I can see a few streams with the hope that i can call her back and say" looks straight! never mind the urologist!"
I am also still unclear about
a. how "straight" of a urine stream is consisdered normal
b. who cares if hte stream isnt' straight? what are the implications/potential problems associated with crookednes.

I"m just looking for people's personal experiences related to this issue...and any additional thoughts or questions that would be important that I haven't thought of...I WILL pose my questions to the ped once I get see a few of DS' streams.

tia!

[bandgeek]

Is there any reason to really be concerned? I mean all penises look different and if it's functioning, I can't see where it would be a problem.

No doctor should be able see the hole or even be looking for it. Probably what will happen is you'll go to the urologist, they'll try to retract him, you'll demand they don't and then they either 1) say they can't help you if you won't let them look or 2) come up with a reason he needs circ'ed.

Let's say his hole is slightly off center and they find out that he has a mild case of hypospadius. Would you do anything different than you are doing now? Are you going to go get him circ'ed to get the problem corrected for cosmetic reasons? If not, then I absolutely wouldn't go.

Lots of boys have hypospadius...only the more severe cases need corrected for medical reasons.

Oh and BTW, if she retracted in an attempt to see, even if she didn't get the foreskin over the glans, it's still considered retraction and she should NOT be doing that. It most likely didn't cause him pain or damage but it could...it's just better not to risk it. Which is why we say that only the owner of the penis should be retracting it.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Originally Posted by berrybear

I just took my non-circ'd DS to his 1 year well visit. ped though his penis looked more crooked than last time and asked if urine stream was still straight.
I actually havnt seen a stream personally in months b/c I've been luck with diaper changes and the few times I can see him gearing up to pee and i quickly throw a cloth diapr over him to absorb it....

sooo, she recommends a visit to a pedi urologist "just to be safe" because as she said, she can't "see the hole"

but now i'm wondering...if she cna't see the hole then how does the urologist see the hole? short of pulling back teh foreskin?

i'm thinking of letting DS run free until I can see a few streams with the hope that i can call her back and say" looks straight! never mind the urologist!"
I am also still unclear about
a. how "straight" of a urine stream is consisdered normal
b. who cares if hte stream isnt' straight? what are the implications/potential problems associated with crookednes.

I"m just looking for people's personal experiences related to this issue...and any additional thoughts or questions that would be important that I haven't thought of...I WILL pose my questions to the ped once I get see a few of DS' streams.

tia!

As long as he can urinate freely there is no issue. My ds goes straight, to the left, to the right, down or slightly up depending on the mood his foreskin is in at that particular time

The only way to see the hole would be retraction yes, so there is no way I would allow that.

I think your ped is a bit to worried about this in all honesty.

[beru]

:
Your ped is a loon. What on earth is she talking about? I think you would know by now if your son, at 12 months, had a functional problem urinating.

My pet peeve is doctors who diagnose a problem when there is no pain, harm, discomfort or dysfunction. In general, I am not against watching potential medical problems but in the case of the intact infant penis in the US, you are just opening a giant can of worms. "Preventative" medicine in this case is more likely to harm your child than to benefit him.

If I were you, I would do nothing.

[beru]

Originally Posted by berrybear

b. who cares if hte stream isnt' straight? what are the implications/potential problems associated with crookednes.

I didn't see this bit when I replied...I think this is an excellent question for your ped! If the urethral opening is in the wrong place, then the function of the penis can be affected. (That's hypospadias.) There are 2 functions I know about: urinating and sex. Your son is doing okay with the urinating and he has many many years to go before he has to worry about the sex part.

I think the potential problems are messy peeing, impaired fertility because semen can't be deposited in the right place, and problems with erections. I guess it would have to be relatively severe to cause big problems...

[Quirky]

I think your ped is full of it. Your ds' foreskin might be "pointing" in one direction but that has nothing to do with where the urethral opening is on the glans, and it is simply unnecessary to go looking.

IME boys' foreskins can kinda get mushed around, so that the sphincters don't line up exactly with the urethral opening. When they pee though the urine comes out just fine in a good stream.

Your ped may be thinking that perhaps your ds has meatal stenosis, a narrowing of the urethral opening that can cause crooked/forceful urination. But meatal stenosis is entirely a complication of circumcision and just doesn't happen in intact boys.

I would so totally not worry about it, and not bother looking, and certainly not take him to a urologist. Just let him run around nakey once, and when he pees normally, it will set your mind at ease.

[eepster]

Around 70% of the time, DS's penis is straight, and he pees straight. However the other 30%, his penis was stuffed into his underwear and smooshed a bit to the left (never right maybe that isn't as comfortable, or it's b/c he always puts it away with his right hand) and when he it out down and pees (he's 3 1/2 yo, so still just does it in front of me) it's a bit crooked and he pees a bit to the left.

While there are conditions that can cause extreme curvature during erections, which can lead to pain and dysfunction, hanging slightly to one side is common and harmless. Unless you are seeing major bending during erections, don't worry.

[MommytoB]

My ex whose intact and also my son's father has a crooked penis . He had no issues whatsoever and he's now 42 .

[tutucrazy]

You have to be kidding me! This pedi clearly doesn't know about the intact boy. Do yourself a favor and FORGET about everything he/she told you!!!

First, the opening of the foreskin shifts around on boys so the urine stream is never the same direction. Sometimes my son pees and it goes down, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. We EC so I get to see it every single time and I assure you it is always different. How the foreskin is positioned (which is always changing) impacts the direction of the stream.

Second, The opening of the foreskin is very narrow and only relaxes to let urine out. To try to "view" the opening is pointless and potentially harmful. If your son was having trouble urinating it would not take you until 1 year of age to find out. The penis hole doesn't close up on intact boys. Meatal stenosis, the condition where the hole narrows, is exclusive to circumcised boys. It is a complication of circumcision and is unseen in intact boys.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1016016-overview

Third, Your son is perfectly normal. Boys penises bend and move in the diaper. Sounds like this pedi is looking for something pathological, where nothing exists. This is the trouble with doctors who get no training about the normal development of the intact boy. He can urinate, he is a-okay.