Help quick. . .please!!

[treemom2]

DS retracted his foreskin last night.  Now his head is purple and sticking out.  He says it hurts.  It looks swollen and kind of like the circulation is being cut off.  He said he's been trying to put it back in the skin but it won't go back in.  HELP!!  Is this normal?  Do I need to take him to the doc?  My DH thinks it might just be morning. . .but I'm not sure.

[treemom2]

I just looked again.  It looks like his foreskin is still attached to the head on one side and is really swollen.  Seriously, I wish I could find pics of normal retracting penises online. . .but I can't!!  HELP please before I take him to the doctor and start a whole crappy series of events!

[treemom2]

So, I think he's been retracted all night. . .when I looked up pictures it looked a lot like paraphimosis.  Well, my DH just pulled DS's foreskin back this morning.  So, is there any chance of negative stuff with it being out all night and cutting off the circulation?  DS says it doesn't hurt anymore and he was able to urinate.  

[littlemizflava]

once the foreskin has been pulled back over the glans again everything should be fine. i would just keep a eye on it. tell ur ds to always put the forskin back over when he is done "playing" ;)

[tammylsmith]

I don't think foreskin is really supposed to be retractable at your son's age, so it isn't really any sort of condition... he is perfectly normal. He was probably being too rough with it and it caused irritation. I'm sure you will get many more knowledgeable posts than mine. I just wanted to say that from reading these posts for awhile now,, it seems like as long as your son is feeling better now and urinating, then you're good. No need to go to the doctor and cause more worry.

[treemom2]

I've read so much about natural retracting, intact penises, etc. . .but wasn't totally prepared when it happened to my own DS!  I think he's okay now, he's reading and not talking about or playing with it anymore right now.  

[eepster]

That's paraphimosis.  Go to the ER now.

ETA: read the update, don't go to the ER.  It's OK now that your Dh got the foreskin back down.

[eepster]

Sorry about that.  I didn't read past the first post before I posted.  It's just that paraphimosis really is an emergency, so I didn't want you wasting time.  The important thing is simply to get the foreskin back into it's unretracted position, so since your Dh knew what to do the emergency is over.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

What eepster said paraphimosis is a big problem and needs to be resolved as fast as possible. Now that your ds's is back where it should be the danger is over. If it happens again get it back as fast as you can. There are some links in this thread http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=764732 on how to get it back using sugar if that dosnt work the ER is where you need to go and you need to be prepared to fight them to not circ your ds. The links explain ways to resolve paraphimosis without circ and you should insist that is what they do.

I doubt it will happen again but for others out there who might read this thread I wanted to put that up so they know it is an emergency and has to be fixed.

[tammylsmith]

That was excellent info, thanks for posting for others to see too. I didn't realize anything potentially that serious could happen. Two questions 1) what causes the foreskin to get stuck back like that (is there anything that can be done to minimize the chances of it occuring?) and with the sugar....do you cover just the swollen part? then do you rinse it in water or something? I was just wondering how that wouldn't irritate the skin.

OP I'm really glad you didn't have to go to the E.R! What did your dh do to get the foreskin back in place?

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Originally Posted by tammylsmith 

That was excellent info, thanks for posting for others to see too. I didn't realize anything potentially that serious could happen. Two questions 1) what causes the foreskin to get stuck back like that (is there anything that can be done to minimize the chances of it occuring?) and with the sugar....do you cover just the swollen part? then do you rinse it in water or something? I was just wondering how that wouldn't irritate the skin.

OP I'm really glad you didn't have to go to the E.R! What did your dh do to get the foreskin back in place?

There are ways to minimize the odds of paraphimosis occurring the main one is not allowing anyone to push the foreskin back and making sure that if the foreskin is retracted that it is replaced back over the glans as quickly as possible before swelling starts to occur.

The odds a child doing this to himself are pretty low since they know when to stop usually though sometimes it slips back easily and then wont come forward.

It gets stuck when the sphincter at the tip of the foreskin is not totally relaxed allowing for retraction. This can be caused either by the boy's body just not being ready to someone forcing it back (one of the many reasons why we always say never let anyone retract)

Sugar works by pulling fluid out making the glans shrink allowing the foreskin to be pushed back. Once the foreskin is back where it is supposed to be then you wash the sugar off with water.

There are other more invasive ways to make it happen if the sugar dosnt work those include the boy/man to be put under GA and having needles inserted to allow blood to come out which makes the glans smaller then the foreskin can be forced back over the glans this is called the Dundee technique and can be seen here http://www.cirp.org/library/treatment/phimosis/reynard1/ (Warning graphic photo's of paraphimosis reduction in an adult male) This link http://www.circumstitions.com/Paraphim.html has the sugar technique and is drawings only.

Another technique is to actually cut a slit in the foreskin replace it back over the glans then stitch the cut back up. Circ should not be needed since the slit will work if the others do not.


The odds of paraphimosis is pretty low so it isnt something you should worry about but every parent of an intact child should know how to fix it should it happen IMHO because odds are if you do take your child to the ER over it you will be told the only fix is circ when that isnt the case at all.

[eepster]

Another simple thing to try before heading to the ER, is just squeezing the glans, then pulling the foreskin back in place.  The main thing is to not waste a lot of time on home remedies before heading for the ER.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

That second link I posted has step by step instructions on how to hold the penis to get the foreskin back over the glans as well as the sugar information and how it works.

[treemom2]

One thing that really worried me about it was that DS retracted it around 9pm at night and it was still retracted at 7am the next morning. . .when he started complaining about it.  My DH just gently pushed on DS's head while pulling the foreskin back over it.  He said there was a little popping sound when he did it.  Almost immediately DS's head size went back down to normal and he said it felt much better.  I'll have to read more about it, I want to be prepared in case this happens again.  I can't believe DS retracted himself when it wasn't ready to be retracted, I'm surprised it didn't hurt.  He doesn't like any kind of pain.  It was right after a bath so maybe everything was just really soft?  I did tell him always to cover it back up when finished playing.

Thanks everyone for the information!