What to do when child's foreskin was repeatedly retracted by doctor since 6 mos?

[tryingfortwo]

I recently posted a PSA "elsewhere", since I realized how many people are unaware about how to care for an intact penis.  Thankfully it's had a great response and really educated some people

However, one mom posted the following:

Quote:

I wish I knew about this sooner  :(   Our former family doctor used to pull back DS1's foreskin starting from the time he was 6 months old  :(  He has retired since then and the new doctor doesn't do it but I'm wondering now how much damage was done by the previous doctor  :cry:

I'm not sure how old her oldest son is, I'm assuming at least 3.  Just wondering what sort of advice I should give her, since it was repeatedly retracted since infancy.  Should she just leave it alone now?  Does that risk adhesions forming, if they haven't already?  Should she continue to retract it now to prevent adhesions?  Just want to give her some sort of advice, since she is so sad.

TIA!

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

No she should definitely not retract him any more. The effect of forced retraction is usually cumulative in that just once or twice probably wont result in damage but the more you do it the higher the risk of damage.

What ever if any damage has already been done odds are that he dosnt have any IF she was not also retracting at home. Since wbv are usually only every 3 months or so. Nature is pretty great about fixing things and if left alone he has a very high chance of being OK.

There will be no way to tell if damage was done until he is well into puberty and the hormones released then will start to do their work. It would be useless to try and see any damage now since he is so young. If he does have issues then there are many options available to him without circing. The first is the steroid cream along with stretching then there is a dorsel slit which allows for retraction while keeping the foreskin intact other than the little cut also something called a preneoplasty (cant spell that) then there is manual stretching with a balloon or by hand with local anesthetic to break up the scare tissue and then if all that fails only removal of the outer ring to allow for retraction without loosing the majority of the foreskin. Full Circ dosnt even fall into consideration.

[tryingfortwo]

Thanks for the great info! Do you happen to know of a link or PDF I can refer her to, especially one that describes problems he may encounter in the future, and non-circ ways of dealing with them? Basically what you explained in your post, but somewhere that I can direct her. Thanks so much!

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Here is one that talks about phimosis which is what he would be dealing with if there is scar tissue. http://www.norm-uk.org/circumcision_alternative_treatments.html
This one talks about Normal stuff she might encounter than Dr's might try to tell her are problems http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=764732