Infection

[RosemaryS-F]

DS (who is 2) has been complaining about a boo boo on his penis. Finally, yesterday he was in agony over it, and my husband retracted (not forcibly) and saw a totally miserable raw, crusty, oozy spot on the inner foreskin. How did this happen??? I have never retracted it before, I just always leave it alone. My husband is circ'd and didn't know you weren't supposed to retract. I was so surprised when he did it to look for the infection that I'm not sure if he's been doing this all along to clean and that is what caused it??? Help. What should I do?

[2boyzmama]

It's okay, it's just a small infection. Would you be panicking if his fingernail were infected? No, you'd just clean it, put some ointment on it, and put a bandaid on it. Same thing here...clean it gently, put some ointment on it (I'm not sure what kind...neosporin would be my first guess, but someone chime in) and obviously you can't put a bandaid on it, but you don't need to since it's not likely to get dirty!

It could have happened by your son naturally exploring and causing some separation trauma. It could have been your husband, ask him, and tell him that only your son should retract. It could have been a small cyst. Whatever caused it, it's really not a big deal. It's painful because that's a very sensitive area.

I bet he'll be fine in a day or two

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Have you read this thread http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=764732 Lots of helpful information there. Some things to try to help your ds feel better and to hopefully keep you from having to take him to the Dr.

Like pp said it could have been self exploration or even the natural separation process going on and germs got involved. It is nothing to panic about and is easily fixed.

[eepster]

The oozy stuff might just be smegma. Smegma is often mistaken for pus since they can look quite similar.

Neosporin causes reactions in many people when used on extremely sensitive genital skin, so it is best to avoid it. It really is best to avoid any antiboitic creams on genitals unless absolutely necessary, since it can lead to yeast infection. There fore I recomend a wait and see approach unless there is dramatic swelling or fever or other symptoms that suggest th infection is major.

[RosemaryS-F]

Thank you everyone. I was for some reason feeling guilty about it (like I hadn't kept it clean.) When a penis is fully retracted, what does that mean? How far does the foreskin retract off of the penis in an adult? I really have no idea about this, and neither does my husband. I told him about not retracting after posting this; he won't do it. And lord knows, DS has done a great deal of exploring.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

The foreskin retracts off the glans only. When not erect it bunches up behind the glans when erect there is usually little to no bunching.

I am PM'ing you with links of how the foreskin works. They are graphic but you can see exactly how retraction works.

Adding them here in case anyone else wants them.
WARNING: adult male genitals. NSFW or if you have little eyes near you.
Very graphic http://www.circumstitions.com/completeman/

Not as graphic but still live genital pictures http://www.noharmm.org/anatomy.htm

[RosemaryS-F]

Thanks for the links--can you reassure me that if I open them, I won't get "interesting" things on my computer?

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

They are safe links as far as that goes I have used them many times in the past for questions like yours. They are not porno they are meant as medical instruction so you wont see anything like that. But they do have adult males with erections.