2 year urethral (meatus) opening is red and swollen....

[natalieadw]

Ok, during a diaper change, I noticed my (uncirc'd) little guy has a red and swollen meatus.  I'm wondering if this is a sign of a UTI or a result of a partial forcible retraction when he was three months old (and mommy was distracted....I'm still sick about it...just sick!).  He has an appt today, but just wanted to be informed as possible before I go in (different doctor than when he was three months old, this one is foreskin friendly).  Any help or advice would be appreciated!!

[mama2soren]

His meatus is swollen?  Or the end of his foreskin?  How old is he?  If he is a baby/young toddler, I would imagine that his meatus would be covered by his foreskin, unable to be seen without retraction.

[mama2soren]

Ok, I see in your title that he's 2.  No, this is not a result of a retraction from almost 2 years ago.  

Is it possible that it's just a bit of diaper rash?  Have you tried treating it as such, by giving as much diaper-free time possible and using a bit of gentle diaper cream?  Do you use cloth diapers?  If so, maybe they need to be stripped?  If you use disposables, have you recently switched brands?  Are you using lots of soaps or bubble baths?  These can all cause irritation, redness, and swelling.

Another thought is that it could be an early sign of separation.  A little swollen and red, which then goes back to normal after a day or two.

Is he peeing normally?

I know foreskins come in all lengths, but I still cannot see anywhere near my son's meatus if I don't retract (which I don't.)  Make sure that you're not pulling on his foreskin, even gently.

[natalieadw]

Originally Posted by mama2soren 

His meatus is swollen?  Or the end of his foreskin?  How old is he?  If he is a baby/young toddler, I would imagine that his meatus would be covered by his foreskin, unable to be seen without retraction.

Originally Posted by mama2soren 

Ok, I see in your title that he's 2.  No, this is not a result of a retraction from almost 2 years ago.  

Is it possible that it's just a bit of diaper rash?  Have you tried treating it as such, by giving as much diaper-free time possible and using a bit of gentle diaper cream?  Do you use cloth diapers?  If so, maybe they need to be stripped?  If you use disposables, have you recently switched brands?  Are you using lots of soaps or bubble baths?  These can all cause irritation, redness, and swelling.

Another thought is that it could be an early sign of separation.  A little swollen and red, which then goes back to normal after a day or two.

Is he peeing normally?

I know foreskins come in all lengths, but I still cannot see anywhere near my son's meatus if I don't retract (which I don't.)  Make sure that you're not pulling on his foreskin, even gently.

I did not retract...he was ummm...very erect and it was peeking out if you know what I mean during the diaper change.  That was three days ago...lastnight  I saw him retract his foreskin in the bath, it is not attached to the glans anymore, and the meatus is still red and swollen. 

He's in disposables, and have not switched brands.  We don't use soap or bubbles.  A little nakey butt time will probably do him some good, lol.

[JBaxter]

Is it possible little man is playing a bit aggressively with his penis?   I have a 2 yr old who has been retractable since a few weeks old and he is always yanking pulling twisting etc and his will get irritated by times.  I would try a little diaper cream and give him some nice long soaks in the tub

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Unless he is complaining of pain I wouldnt think anything of it. The glans of the intact penis looks a lot different than the glans of the circed penis. It is usually very red/purple and moist looking. The few times I have seen ds retract his enough to show the meatus was red and puffy looking I just assumed it was how he looks.

[eepster]

It is normal for it to look red under the foreskin.

[vachi73]

ITA with pp. The few times i have had a glimpse of glans in any of our four intact boys, it is far more reddish/purple than a keratinized circ'd glans is. Unless your DS is complaining or unable to urinate, I would assume it is totally normal. At 2, self-play and exploration/erections are totally normal, and i would chalk it up to being a healthy, normal, intact boy with all his skin and nerves working just fine.

Good luck, and post an update when you can.

PS i, too, had an incident with DS1 when the ped tried to partially retract ("only" to visualize the meatus, which is clearly a no-no, but she did not force it beyond that, thank goodness). It happened really fast, and at the time, i didnt know better (thank you TCAC for educating me since then!!) she tried to tell me that his opening was "really tight" and caused me a lot of worry, but that is how i found TCAC. I never looked back and got a new pediatrician. All that to say, my son is FINE and his foreskin is FINE and he has never had a single issue. Please, try not to beat yourself up for something that happened 18 months ago!! Protect him now and in the future, but don't continually worry about it.

And PPS, get ready to see just how far he will stretch his foreskin foreward now that he is figuring it out. It is, IMHO, astounding. Talk about elasticity ... I wish my skin had that much stretch in my skin, ha ha!!

[natalieadw]

Thanks for all the great replies!  After the foreskin friendly ped visit yesterday and a quick glance at the meatus, he told me the meatus is just really irritated and swollen (looks like a bullseye).  Probably from Spencer and his playtime in the bath (seriously as the pp said, that thing is ELASTIC!)  or a version of diaper rash from urine.  Said the glans looks good and foreskin as well.  I know the non-circ glans is far different looking that a circ'd glans so there were no worries there, but the meatus looked pretty horrible.  Told me to just throw some neosporin on it or diaper cream and it should be just fine. 

Hope the little man can be nicer and a bit gentler from now on, maybe time for new bath toys to distract him more from his own 'toy'.

Hugs to you all!

[eepster]

Do not use neosporine (polysporine.)  It has a high incidence of causing reactions when used on genitals, and using any kind of antibiotic cream can lead to yeast infections.

If the Dr took a culture and is therefore certain that there is a bacterial infection, it is ok to use bacatricine.  It doesn't sound like s/he took a culture though.

[JBaxter]

GOOD LUCK...  If they want to play with their penis there is NO stopping them.  I mean it is theirs after all.  My youngest plays with his 2x more than the other 3 put to gether.   If it really hurts they stop.

 

Originally Posted by natalieadw 

Thanks for all the great replies!  After the foreskin friendly ped visit yesterday and a quick glance at the meatus, he told me the meatus is just really irritated and swollen (looks like a bullseye).  Probably from Spencer and his playtime in the bath (seriously as the pp said, that thing is ELASTIC!)  or a version of diaper rash from urine.  Said the glans looks good and foreskin as well.  I know the non-circ glans is far different looking that a circ'd glans so there were no worries there, but the meatus looked pretty horrible.  Told me to just throw some neosporin on it or diaper cream and it should be just fine. 

Hope the little man can be nicer and a bit gentler from now on, maybe time for new bath toys to distract him more from his own 'toy'.

Hugs to you all!

[natalieadw]

Originally Posted by JBaxter 

GOOD LUCK...  If they want to play with their penis there is NO stopping them.  I mean it is theirs after all.  My youngest plays with his 2x more than the other 3 put to gether.   If it really hurts they stop.

 

 

SOOOO true!!

 

Originally Posted by eepster 

Do not use neosporine (polysporine.)  It has a high incidence of causing reactions when used on genitals, and using any kind of antibiotic cream can lead to yeast infections.

If the Dr took a culture and is therefore certain that there is a bacterial infection, it is ok to use bacatricine.  It doesn't sound like s/he took a culture though.

YIKES!  I just read this now.  I've applied it four times so far, and actually it is much better looking now.  I'll stop now that I know better, but I'm thankful it didn't cause a bad reaction!  Doc did not do a culture.

[jessjgh1]

He's probably not sensitive then, but I echo the sentiment about neosporin.  It has a lot of extra ingredients in it and I'm one of the people who must be sensitive to one of them.  I didn't really realize it either- no worse reaction, but the infection I was trying to help just never cleared up (it was an earring hole that had gotten irritated after I started wearing earrings after not wearing them).  I finally ask when I was at my dr, she told me to switch to a generic triple-antibacterial lotion...  it cleared in days after months and months of issues.

Sounds like all is going to be well!

Jessica

[Anastasiya]

Oh, you can stop them if you need to!

We had to put our youngest in a cotton diaper in the tub, because he would NOT stop playing with himself, even after he had hurt himself. He would play and tug and grab in the tub until his scrotum and foreskin were torn and bleeding. After two or three baths like this, we pulled out the diapers until he grew out of the really rough stage.

Originally Posted by JBaxter 

GOOD LUCK...  If they want to play with their penis there is NO stopping them.  I mean it is theirs after all.  My youngest plays with his 2x more than the other 3 put to gether.   If it really hurts they stop.

 

Originally Posted by natalieadw 

Thanks for all the great replies!  After the foreskin friendly ped visit yesterday and a quick glance at the meatus, he told me the meatus is just really irritated and swollen (looks like a bullseye).  Probably from Spencer and his playtime in the bath (seriously as the pp said, that thing is ELASTIC!)  or a version of diaper rash from urine.  Said the glans looks good and foreskin as well.  I know the non-circ glans is far different looking that a circ'd glans so there were no worries there, but the meatus looked pretty horrible.  Told me to just throw some neosporin on it or diaper cream and it should be just fine. 

Hope the little man can be nicer and a bit gentler from now on, maybe time for new bath toys to distract him more from his own 'toy'.

Hugs to you all!

 

[natalieadw]

Ughhh, I stopped using the neosporin immediately after reading this thread.  But now things are right back to looking really red and swollen around the urethral opening,....and I'm wondering if he also maybe has the beginning of a yeast infection.  What to do?

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Get some bacatracin and use that. Or you you suspect yeast go get some otc monistat and apply it use the 7 day kind not the 3 day.

[eepster]

Reacting to neosporine is common, but certainly not universal.  Since you were able to use it for a while w/o reactions, it seems likely that your DS isn't one of the many people who do react to it.  If the neosporine was working, it seems likely that there is a bit of a bacterial infection.  It would have been better to find this out with a culture than through trial and error, since if the Dr had guessed wrong it could have caused more issues, but at this point you might as well start treating it as bacterial.  Basically I'm saying, since the neosporine was working, you might as well continue it, though you could switch to bacatricine (I'm sure I spelled that wrong.)  Make sure you also give him pro-biotics.

[natalieadw]

Originally Posted by MCatLvrMom2A&X 

AGet some bacatracin and use that. Or you you suspect yeast go get some otc monistat and apply it use the 7 day kind not the 3 day.

I will get some bacitracin....and he gets daily probiotics.  I am not sure if it is a yeast infection though.  How could I tell, what should I look for?

 

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

It can be really difficult to tell yeast from bacterial. Yeast will often give the skin a dry, cracked appearance along with there being rash on other parts down there. What I would do personally is use one or the other for 2 days see if things improve if not then switch.