Does this sound like retraction?

[bluejaunte]

Just noticed yesterday that my 23-month-old's penis is swollen and slightly red -- a generalized swelling & redness, not localized to any specific area. It seemed to start very suddenly, after he'd been in cloth diapers all day, so he hadn't been pulling at it.

I have topical thrush on my nipples, but he's totally asymptomatic as far as I know -- and this doesn't look like yeast to me. The skin looks normal, not peeling or flaky or bumpy. Just swollen. I can't tell if it hurts him. He doesn't like having it poked at, and a few times I've noticed him grabbing at the front of his diaper, but not in a screaming-painful way, just an annoyed/slightly pained way.

Today it's not any worse but not any better either. My understanding is that if it's retraction, it probably won't last longer than 48 hours or so.

We put him in a bath last night, and he started out sitting down, but then he wanted to stand up for the rest of the bath. It didn't seem to hurt him to sit. He just wanted to stand. He doesn't usually do that, though, so maybe it's connected?

Does it sound like retraction to you? Or is it likely to be yeast? Or other?

Thanks!

***EDITED TO ADD*** Okay, so he just came out of a baking soda bath and it's MORE red. Not sure if it's more swollen, though. It's really pretty swollen. I mixed up some antifungal cream with diluted GSE and antibiotic powder and got as much of that on there as I could -- he really didn't want it to be touched. He was fine in the bath, and he peed in there and it didn't bother him. I called the office of a supposedly awesome pedi who's starting to see patients tomorrow, and am waiting for a callback so I can make an appt. The receptionist said the doc had openings for Tuesday but I don't know how far down I am on the list of people for her to call. Plus, who knows what this'll look like on Tuesday. I really don't want to take him to some random doc. Especially as I have thrush, I don't want them assuming he needs antibiotics, which would obviously just make things worse if it was thrush ..

Why would it get redder after the baking soda bath? I don't get it.

[Jenny_Jen]

My son had the same thing happen & it was a yeast infection. I changed his diaper in the morning & when I went to change it at lunch his penis was swollen from base to tip & red. I left it until evening hoping he had hurt himself & when it started to look worse, I took him to the emerg. He was put on an antifugal med & within 2 days it started to clear up (Diflucan). Because he has foreskin the yeast is growing underneath so you don't see what's happening, just the redness of the penis. There is no chapping or scaling of the skin when foreskin is intact from what I understand unless it gets left.

My GF's son is circ'd & he had a yeast infection but it spread all over his groin area because no foreskin to contain it. Took her 2 weeks to get rid of it, but her Dr had her put Canestan on it & if she missed one day it started to grow again so she basically had to start back at day 1.

My son is 3.5 years now & this was almost a year ago that it happened. I had never had a problem before & have never had a problem again.

When I asked him if he hurt, he told me it was "tickily" which I should have figured out meant itchy but his language wasn't nearly as advanced as it is now.

[Fellow Traveler]

The baking soda bath should have helped. It could certainly be yeast (something like monistat should be helpful) and have you stripped the cloth diapers? I understand that if they aren't occasionally stripped, irritation is possible. One way to check if it is the diapers is to perhaps have some diaper free time today if that is possible.

[bluejaunte]

Thanks bunches!

I was worried about the yeast, given that I have thrush (and those yeast questionnaire thingies and the candida spit test both seem to think I have full-blown candida). I think you're probably right.

The good news is, before his nap I mixed up some of my antifungal ointment with an acidophilus capsule and some diluted GSE and smeared it on there -- oh he was NOT happy -- but then he slept soundly & when he woke up I changed his diaper and there was a little smear of green-white discharge, which from the other posts on here I think was stuck smegma. And with that having come out, the swelling's gone down a bit and the color's a bit less violent. The fact that it didn't discharge until I treated it with anti-yeast things makes me think, yeah, probably yeast.

Waiting on a call-back from a highly recommended pedi new to town -- very AP-friendly, I'm told. Aiming to get all three of us on Diflucan. Sick unto misery of frickin' yeast. Attack me if you want, stupid yeasties, but stay the hell away from my kid!

Oh, and what with the thrush, I've been washing all clothes & diapers on hot with a bit of distilled white vinegar, so those diapers are probably pretty well stripped by now. They sure SMELL better than before I added the vinegar! Iron-supplement pee is some nasty nasty stuff!

[Jenny_Jen]

You can use an over the counter remedy like canestan, but you have to put it on a Q-tip & smear it under the foreskin, we did it once & my son screamed & I couldn't do it again so I called my Dr & got a prescription for the oral Diflucan. He had to take it once a day for 2 weeks. Even though the yeast infection looked gone, they want to make sure it's all killed.

I think though as an adult you can just take a Diflucan pill once & that will treat you, but children have to be dosed much lower so they do it over a course of 2 weeks.

My son hated the taste, but since it was once a day I put in it yogurt or pudding & got it down. It had an orange flavour to it, but he hated it.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Never put a q tip or anything else under the foreskin that would hurt badly and cause more problems.

You can use otc monistate and put it on the outside only and it will work like it does for a woman with yeast and it wont hurt him.

[bluejaunte]

Well, I treated it like yeast and sprinkled grapefruit seed extract powder capsules over it, and it discharged a bunch of white gunk (either smegma or yeast, I guess -- some of it was pretty solid) and this morning the swelling's almost gone and so is the color!

Thanks for all your input!

[Jenny_Jen]

Originally Posted by MCatLvrMom2A&X

Never put a q tip or anything else under the foreskin that would hurt badly and cause more problems.

You can use otc monistate and put it on the outside only and it will work like it does for a woman with yeast and it wont hurt him.

I know, the Dr did it at the emerg so quickly I screamed at him, boy was I mad. So the next day I called my Dr & requested the Diflucan. We won't be going back to that emerg any time soon with my son.

I spoke to my mom's boss who's a family Dr & 3 of her sons aren't circ'd & she said that's usually the way they treat them unfortunately for yeast infections because the canestan has to be able to touch all the yeast for it to be effective. They didn't retract him, but I was mad they put anything under there without telling me beforehand or I would have said no & left.