redness on tip of penis, 6 mo

[ElliesMomma]

DS is 6 mo, intact. has his well baby visit tomorrow. tonight before our shower i noticed for the first time that the tip of his penis looks a little red. he is also red in the creases between his groin and his thighs. i washed his penis gently (outside only of course; he's never been retracted) in the shower, and put on some Aquaphor on the red areas including the tip of the penis.

my only theory as to why the red tip of the penis would be that he pooped while i was at a resale event and i didn't get his diaper changed for about a half hour yesterday late morning. he also had a poop today when we were in the car, and he sat in that one for about maybe 15 minutes before i was able to get where we were going and change him. other than that, i can't speculate why he is red there.

normally i wouldn't worry and would just watch it, but being that tomorrow afternoon is his WBV, the timing couldn't be worse.

does anybody have any advice? what can i do to heal the redness? does redness always indicate infection? obviously i will watch the doctor carefully when she looks at his penis tomorrow, and make sure she doesn't retract.

oh- wait, one more theory i have. he has recently "discovered" his penis and grabs it SO hard with his grabby hands, complete with his always scratchy fingernails. do you think maybe this caused some minor trauma to the end of his penis and hence the redness?

any help is appreciated!!

[glongley]

Redness is not often a sign of a true microbial "infection" any more than the redness of diaper rash is a sign of infection. Mostly what redness is about is some local chemical or mechanical irritation or inflammation, e.g from sitting in dirty diapers too long as you mentioned. The NOCIRC brochure on care of the intact penis gives a list of commonsense possibilities for redness of the foreskin. http://www.nocirc.org/publish/4pam.pdf

Usually handling it just like you would a diaper rash is the best first strategy: change diapers frequently, keep it clean, air it out, eliminates chemical or mechanical irritants, use barrier cream. Frequent warm tubs soak can keep the area clean, and bring in circulation and help with recovery of the the health of the tissues.

See also the great post in the Stickies section on foreskin irritation or redness:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=764732?

also the great article "Protect Your Uncircumcised Son" on a lot of normal variations with the intact penis:
http://www.mothering.com/health/prot...advice-parents

Gillian

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Sounds like a simple diaper rash to me. Also the tip of the foreskin can be red because it is so vascular. Even laying funny in the diaper can make it red.

[Greg B]

Both my sons (intact) had epsiodes of redness on the tip of their penis. No signficant discomfort that we could determine, and it would go away on its own in a few days.

DON'T LET THE DOCTOR RETRACT!!

Regards

[Crunchy Frog]

Sitting in poop will definitely do it. Even just a little diaper irritation will cause some redness. My boys get it from time to time, and I freaked the first time I saw it, but it's really just the foreskin doing it's job, and it always clears right up with a little dab of diaper cream.

Good luck at the doc's, and don't let them mess with it.