as long as your little one can urinate effectively, it is not a problem.
i hope this isn't tmi but my dh's foreskin doesn't retract and never has. i forget what the condition is called : phimosis (thanks nddeadhead!) but i can promise you it is not a problem for either of us in any way. i am very glad his parents were not concerned and that they left him whole :) they never even tried the steroid cream or surgery either. i didn't realize that it was that rare, either!
If he can pee, leave it be.
It can take up to age 19 for complete foreskin retraction. 4% are born with retractable foreskin. Testosterone regulates the natural foreskin glans separation. One can be healthy having a non retracting foreskin. Many men are okay with this. So it is not a problem and no problem to fix. (many doctors term non retraction as a problem for citing a reason for circumcision and for circumcision itself. I was retractable at age 3-4. Boys usually play with their foreskins for pleasure. But nature also helps boys to naturally help themselves the spur along the separation of foreskin and glans by making it itch. (Yet another reason given to circumcise to stop manipulating the foreskin). The only person to attempt retraction is the boy himself. Best done in the warm bath pulling the foreskin gently back, when pulled forward using insertion of fingers to dilate (if possible). It is important to tell sons about retraction. Some boys who have not been told, when first all of a sudden retract are scared thinking it is broken. Even some are not aware of the possibility of retraction well into adulthood. Low dosage betasone cream can help with retraction. TLC-tugger now makes a dilator for the foreskin's orifice for those that can not get a finger in to help retract.
Smegma does not cause penile cancer. Though many doctors say it can there is no study done. Greeks have it right, smegma means nature's soap. There is no study on smegma because it then would show smegma to be beneficial and not cancer causing, yet another reason to circumcise would be gone.
We are born with variances. We know the thickness of dartos muscle varies. It is what keeps the foreskin tight to the glans, for protection of the whole, conserve warmth, constrict some movement when running, protect against frostbite and damaging UV rays on sensitive receptors. The tightness of scrotum means the tightness of foreskin. I believe a non retractile but fully separated foreskin/glans if not diseased or scarred, is just thicker than most dartos, a muscle that can be trained to be loose or tight. Men who restore their foreskins through stretching use retainers to train the muscle to keep forward just as some cultures train to keep the foreskin retracted.
FYI- The dartos muscle is striated longitudinal to the penis but as it approaches the tip, the muscle striates transitionally transverse so at the foreskin the dartos is fully transverse to the penis. Nature makes best use of the dartos in this way. This arrangement of muscle is lost to circumcision and can not be restored.
FYI- Cold/Taylor-the presence of smegma preputii is a rare finding; in a prospective examination of 4521 uncircumcised boys, only 0.5% had smegma.
FYI- Dr. John Taylor penile and heart researcher - Sexual Function of the Dartos Muscle (loosely):
Upon erection the Dartos muscle tenses creating a one-piece solid skin tube, where any action on the penile shaft is transferred to act on the erogenous Taylor's Ridged Band and through its loop to the Frenulum, this action it transferred to act on the erogenous Frenulum, together the male's sexual nexus. No action on the shaft is wasted on these sexual structures.
Circumcision always removes all of the erogenous Taylor's Ridged Band and part to all of it's connecting Frenulum. Having this hangman's noose of the male's sexual receptors missing no longer keeps the whole of the penile Dartos muscle tense. With tension gone, all action on the erect penile shaft is wasted to act on the Ridged Band and Frenulum. Action must be applied directly to the Frenulum remnant, if any remains.
Circumcision cuts off 65%-85% of the male's sexual receptors (85% when the frenulum is cut or scraped off infant). This leaves 15% sexual receptors located in the glans corona where it's overpowered by the more populous pain/thermal receptors, ratio 5% to 95%. It is this case that men report "If I felt anymore sensitivity, I think I would die of a heart attack!" (Larry David) Circumcision changes the way, means, and type of sensations felt. Circumcision sexually handicaps.
My four year old sometimes says his penis 'hurts' when he pees. I noticed that a few days after he complains he will be able to retract it back a little further as he plays in the tub. (I do not ask him to do this, it is just an observation I make as he plays) Perhaps the 'hurt' is when the foreskin is releasing a little more.
For those who have been told their 4, 5, 6 year old will be horribly disfigured or in pain if not immediately circ'd....what do they do over in European countries? They don't have massive amounts of boys writhing in pain from tight foreskins. This is strictly an American problem. Most American docs are hell bent on having every penis cut and they will lie to get their way.
Catmuse, your doctor needs a good lesson in male anatomy. Please print out and make her read this: www.cirp.org/library/normal/ It is known that the AVERAGE age of retraction is 10 and there are men who go their whole lives very happily with an unretractable foreskin. This is in cultures that do not mess with foreskins, but allow them to develop in their own time.
HOWEVER, if after puberty, a foreskin is still tight and the owner wishes it to be retractable, circumcision is NOT the answer. There are many methods to achieve this that still preserve the entire foreskin. See: www.cirp.org/library/treatment/phimosis/ . Finaly there are surgical techniques that are a last resort such as this one: www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2490/8/6 . The results are amazing. For anyone to suggest circumcision is just plain ignorant. Also note that penile cancer is very rare (breast cancer in males is more prevalent!), and generally afflicts very old men who are suffering from ailments that will kill them long before the penile cancer becomes an issue An interesting sidebar to this issue is that there are fewer cases of penile cancer per capita in Denmark (a non circumcising nation) than in the U.S. (a largely circumcised nation). So much for the notion that circumcision protects against cancer - or any other disease for that matter. It just doesn't.
Good luck educating your doctor !!
This is as ridiculous as saying going to a European doctor means they're all foreskin friendly. Trust me, it's not true.
Most doctors I've met genuinely believe in the therapeutic value of circumcision. Unfortunately, a lot of doctors have a really hard time saying 'I don't know' or admitting to a knowledge gap. I really don't think there's a bunch of sinister physicians standing around rubbing their hands greedily as they contemplate unnecessarily circumcising another boy.
In Europe, they have more experience with intact boys than America. This isn't really difficult, the more experience you have with something, the less uncomfortable you are about it. Since the majority of boys in the US are still being circumcised, that's what physicians are most familiar dealing with (especially regionally).
My four year old sometimes says his penis 'hurts' when he pees. I noticed that a few days after he complains he will be able to retract it back a little further as he plays in the tub. (I do not ask him to do this, it is just an observation I make as he plays) Perhaps the 'hurt' is when the foreskin is releasing a little more.
For those who have been told their 4, 5, 6 year old will be horribly disfigured or in pain if not immediately circ'd....what do they do over in European countries? They don't have massive amounts of boys writhing in pain from tight foreskins. This is strictly an American problem. Most American docs are hell bent on having every penis cut and they will lie to get their way.
There are so many issues that aren't controlled for that you can't just jump to that conclusion. Penile cancer is more prevalent in intact men. It may be rare, but it is more prevalent. Anyone using that as a reason to circumcise is really stretching, but that doesn't negate the fact that it's more prevalent. We can't gloss over facts we don't like.
The results are amazing. For anyone to suggest circumcision is just plain ignorant. Also note that penile cancer is very rare (breast cancer in males is more prevalent!), and generally afflicts very old men who are suffering from ailments that will kill them long before the penile cancer becomes an issue An interesting sidebar to this issue is that there are fewer cases of penile cancer per capita in Denmark (a non circumcising nation) than in the U.S. (a largely circumcised nation). So much for the notion that circumcision protects against cancer - or any other disease for that matter. It just doesn't.
The issue is that the PP was trying to negate the association. Whether it's a huge number or not, the association is there. It's minor, and imo, irrelevant, but it does exist.
I always thought the hole was supposed to be tiny, its a sphincter, like the anus. Nothing to worry about. Normal.
Don't forget the Danish study which found that 50% of 10 year olds couldn't fully retract and in Finland there are only
6 circs for medical reasons per 100,000 males per lifetime.
Scar tissue is usually iatrogenic, caused by premature retraction by adults.
Many US doctors don't seem to have a clue about the foreskin, not surprising though, they don't learn about it in medical school.
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