3.5 yo fully retracted his foreskin and now it's all swollen with a blister!

[CanidFL]

Last night my son fully retracted his foreskin for the first time in the tub. This morning his foreskin would not fold back over the head and there was a big blister looking bump on the frenulum. I put some comfrey cream on it and took him to daycare.

I just saw it for the first time when he went in the tub. The foreskin is now back over the head but it looks like it has a tiny (I mean tiny) tear in it and he says it hurts to pull back now. The tip is all red. He says it only hurts when he pulls it which he obviously is not doing at the moment.I feel so bad for him.

Any suggestions? I am worried about an infection forming or a bigger blister that may have formed.

Is it normal for a 3.5 yo to fully retract their foreskin? He seemed quite excited about it.

Sorry if this is a silly question or post. I am a single mom and don't know much about intact children. Thanks for the help

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

It can be very normal yes for him to retract at this age.

What is not OK is that it wasnt put back right away. Leaving it retracted can cause damage and is considered an emergency situation.

It sounds like he finally got it back or someone at daycare forced it back but in doing so he/they tore a bit it will heal given time but he must leave it alone till it does. It is a really good thing that it got back down even if it took a little tear to get it there.

You need to watch and make sure that it if it ever happens again that you make every effort to get it back ASAP by gently squeezing the glans and pulling the skin back over it. A diagram of how to do that can be found here http://www.circumstitions.com/Paraphim.html along with other things to try if that dosnt work

If you cannot get it back then you need to take him to the ER and let them put it back because leaving the glans exposed (paraphimosis) can be very dangerous. It can cause the penis to loose circulation and cause cell death.

I would apply some bacatracin to the tip of the foreskin without retracting and talk to your ds about always putting the skin back.

[MarineWife]

I don't know about the blister or pain or other problems (Thanks for the info, MCat.), but my 3.5yo just did this yesterday, too. He seems to be fine. He was very excited about it as well. The glans did look a little red so I asked him if it hurt. He said it was fine. The foreskin went right back.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

The glans looking red/purple is normal since it has been inside and protected. The color you see on a circed male, usually the same color or very similar to the shaft, is caused by the constant contact with clothing. The skin becomes keritinized to protect it.

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by MCatLvrMom2A&X 

The glans looking red/purple is normal since it has been inside and protected. The color you see on a circed male, usually the same color or very similar to the shaft, is caused by the constant contact with clothing. The skin becomes keritinized to protect it.

Thanks again. I kind of figured that. I tend to go with whatever my kiddos feel so, if he says it's fine, then I figure it's normal. If it hurt or was bothering him in any other way, he'd let me know.

[jsave]

I do a lot of work with males it's normal the first on the foreskin is retracted to have a very red penis head it will get better over time is for it getting spline head at 3 1/2 you may have to help him out by gently pulling the foreskin back over the head after his bath make sure also that you are rinsing it off with just clean water after every bath know so skin is very sensitive overall it sounds normal if you need any more feel free to e-mail me thanks

[CanidFL]

Thanks so much for the information ladies. Everything was healing up fine and he wasn't really touching himself much. This morning he retracted fully again and started crying saying it hurt. I used the link about how to pull the foreskin back over and it worked. I'm not sure on how to instruct him but if it's hurting it seems obvious that he shouldn't pull it back. I feel more confident now though.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Yeah if he is doing it an hurting himself then he should not be doing it. But I know how hard it is to get little boys to leave things alone like that. Just keep talking to him and hopefully he will remember it hurts and not do it any more.