Doctor retracted at 4 month visit - Page 3

[reborn]

Thanks Laura, that does help. :)

[MSWmama]

Just to add another data point to this thread, my son was retracted at his 6-month visit. It was a doc we'd never seen before, but everyone else in the practice seemed so foreskin-friendly, I was shocked! She must not have retracted him all the way, because he didn't even flinch. I took him to another ped a few days later because there was a weird looking "ring" around his penis and I wanted to make sure everything was ok. This ped examined him (obviously without retracting) and said it's probably just a normal anatomical variation that we'd never noticed before (I admit, I'd never closely examined his penis before the retraction, so that's very possible). She said that you can never say anything for sure, but long-term effects would be rare after a one-time partial retraction that caused no immediate bleeding, severe pain, etc. Of course she said that retraction is bad and to make sure it doesn't happen again, but she did make me feel a lot better about it. This just happened last week so I guess we'll have to see what the long-term effects are, if any. Obviously, we're switching pediatric practices. I guess I'm hoping this serves as a reminder to everyone to say something every time, even if you think you're in a safe place. 

[ddhrewer]

Peter, I apologize if I'm missing something here, so maybe my response/advice is not helpful, but -- why don't you just have the foreskin cut off?

Whether or not you belong to a faith which ritually follows circumcision -- I happily do -- if the idea is to spare your child pain or "mutilation", his foreskin seems to be creating for him discomfort and even pain now, and could cause him much worse later.

So either way, you as the father have to make important choices for your son. 

Am I missing something here?

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Hi ddhrewer welcome to the forum as you can see this place is called The Case AGAINST circ so our goal here is to keep all boys intact and to help parents with question that come up with the intact penis when Dr's are little to no help since circ used to be so prevelent here in the USA.

The boys foreskin is not causing him issues the op just wants to know what the odds are that it will and if he should be doing something different. Cutting something off just because it might cause issues later is not how things should be done.

[ddhrewer]

Thanks for the explanation.  What a parent decides to do on this issue is, of course, completely the choice of the parent, and I respect anyone who decides against non-ritual circumcision.  It doesn't seem as if there is overwhelming evidence that retention of the foreskin necessarily leads to disease.

I guess it just seems like there's so much medical evidence FOR circumcision based upon the foreskin's role in promulgating sexually-transmitted diseases, and such a relative paucity of medical evidence AGAINST circumcision, that .... why wouldn't a caring parent choose circumcision for his child? Or at least consider it. 

What's baffling me today, as I read the mind-boggling news coming out of San Francisco and Santa Monica, is why anyone would take it upon themselves to try and tell the rest of the world how to act on this issue.  Is the need to personally be at the helm of the Nanny State so overpowering that it cannot even be resisted on the topic of my son's foreskin? 

Bizarre and troubling. 

[MyBoysBlue]

The ban on circumcision is about increasing individual rights not taking away parental rights.  I don't know about you but I am sure glad my parents didn't have a say in which body parts I was allowed to keep, since I'm a girl.  I want my son's to be able to have the right to their whole body,  I want that for all the son's out there. 

STD prevention is a myth and the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of keeping boys intact, if you read more then just news articles. 

I care very deeply about my boys, I want all the best for them.  That is why we kept them intact.

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Hi, ddhrewer. Welcome to MDC. I want to gently point out to you that the name of the forum you are posting in is "The Case Against Circumcision." Our forum guidelines are stickied to the top of the forum:

Mothering questions routine medical circumcision and advocates for informed consent. TCAC hosts discussion of the reasons to avoid circumcision, the history of the procedure, medical issues and studies, complications, the needs and rights of the child, care of the intact child's penis and other educational topics. We are not interested in hosting discussion on merits of routine infant medical circumcision

.

I do hope you stick around and take the time to look around the forum a little bit. You may be very surprised by what you learn.

[japonica]

Originally Posted by ddhrewer 

I guess it just seems like there's so much medical evidence FOR circumcision based upon the foreskin's role in promulgating sexually-transmitted diseases, and such a relative paucity of medical evidence AGAINST circumcision, that .... why wouldn't a caring parent choose circumcision for his child? Or at least consider it. 

Because it's not MY choice to make. It's my son's. It's his body. And he is not old enough to consent to an elective cosmetic procedure. Simple, really.

[briannas auntie]

I am in college to become a medical biller and coder, and we just learned about the male reproductive system (and how to code for different tests and problems associated with this system).  When I read the section on circumcision in my medical textbook (The Language of Medicine, 9th edition), it says that most doctors start to retract the foreskin at 5 months and instruct parents to do the same to avoid problems later on in life. 

But.... when I read the two books I recently bought on Amazon.com on circumcision (Circumcision Exposed and Say No To Circumcision), it says to never retract the foreskin until it is ready to be retracted.  It says in both books that this usually happens in the preteen ages (8-12) and the foreskin becomes completely retractable in the teens around 13-16 years of age.  The books say that the reason the foreskin doesn't retract in infancy is because its a protective measure to keep the glans healthy, and that forcebly retracting too soon can cause scarring/adhesions and infections, due to raw skin exposed. 

So, it goes to show you that books that are written by US doctors will commonly have false information about circumcision, because its uncommon to see an intact penis in the US, so most doctors don't know how to deal with that (they are used to the other way around).

For the person who wants to take her baby to a urologist, DON'T!!!  The urologist I see for a neurogenic bladder does circumcisions routinely, and I have heard many of times a baby screaming in agony from having a circumcision done when I have been in the waiting room.  It brings tears to my eyes everytime when I hear that and I just want to punch the doctors teeth out when he performs that and causes so much pain to those infants.  Urologist are just as "circumcision-happy" as standard pediatricians.

Jessie

[PeterJ]

ddhrewer,

I have no intention of having my son circumcised, because his foreskin is not causing him any pain or discomfort whatsoever.  The temporary discomfort was caused by an uneducated Pediatrician who forcibly retracted my son's foreskin at four months, which led to my original post and the beginning of this thread.  Even if it was causing him discomfort, there are numerous treatments available to enable him to retain a valuable part of his body and avoid unnecessary and potentially dangerous surgery, before circumcision is even considered as an option.  As a parent, I *am* making important choices for my son, including allowing him to keep his penis intact, contributing to the health of his penis and his future sexual health and wellbeing, and avoiding circumcision for the sake of following a cultural norm and the miniscule chance that it may cause him some difficulties in the future.  Often these 'difficulties' are misdiagnoses by urologists who do not understand the difference between physiological and pathological phimosis of the foreskin, incorrectly believing that a boy should be able to retract by a certain given age.  There is a great deal of educating to do in order to inform people that the foreskin has a function in the health of the penis and is not a valueless piece of tissue to be lopped off at the first sign of trouble, or worse, when there is no sign of trouble at all.

However I agree with you that mandating on this issue is not the way forward.  Education is the way forward.

Peter