Circ Adhesions

[PerkyJerky]

Hi. I was referred here from another board. I have a son that just turned one last month. Sadly, he was circumcised. I have no excuse other than being uneducated. Until I began posting on some other boards, I'd never even heard of people not circ'ing. Unfortunately, that was about six months after my son was born. Suffice it to say, I feel horrible about it, and future boys will NOT be circ'd.

Here's my question. He keeps getting adhesions on his penis. His ped has manually separated them three times, the last time being at his 12 month checkup. It looks like it's already starting to adhere again. I've gotten opinions from other people who are telling me to have it left alone to separate naturally in it's own time. I'm inclined to do this, but I can't find any information online. I'd like to have something to back me up with the ped.

Can anyone help me out with links or advice?

[Frankly Speaking]

Hi P.J and welcome to our place. We get lots of referals here and we are happy to help all. Hopefully, you will also become a regular here.

Go to this site and type "penile adhesions" in the search block:

http://www.cirp.org/search.html

I saw about 9 or 10 different articles that mentioned this. I didn't read them but I'm sure you'll find what you need.

Now, let me help you understand what has happened and how to deal with it.

When a child is born, his foreskin and glans are bonded together just like the fingernails are bonded to the nail beds. It's even the same tissue that bonds them together. It's called the synecchia or epithelium layer. During the circumcision procedure, the foreskin is forced away from the glans the same as would happen if you pulled the child's fingernails off. The body recognizes this as an injury and tries to repair that injury by putting the body back as close to it's original condition as possible. That is to readhere the remaining foreskin to the glans. This is what has happened to your son. His body is trying to repair itself and the doctor continually pulling this bond apart is a futile effort to prevent the body from doing it's job.

If a child is not circumcised, this normal bond will disolve on it's own some time later, usually between about 3 and 10 years old and the foreskin will easily pull away from the glans. Girls can also have something similar called labial adhesions where the labia bond together and then later as they approach puberty and start producing estrogen will spontaneously release. At one time, the medical associations recommended that both of these be lysed or cut or torn apart. They changed this recommendation in the late 1990's for both and now just recommend you leave them alone.

You can battle them by pulling them apart and heavily coating the foreskin and glans with an occlusive dressing such as Vaseline but from what mothers tell me who have experienced this, the adhesions will start reforming quickly (in as little as 4 hours) and it is painful to the child to separate them. I know of Moms who have battled them for years before they stopped forming.

My recommendation and The AAP's recommendation is to just leave them alone. They will spontaneously disolve usually around the time he is 3 years old. It will save you a lot of hassle and save him a lot of aggravation and pain.




Frank

[Past_VNE]

Frank, well spoken as always.

Perky, Good for you for wanting the best for your child and be willing to make a change when you learn something.

[PerkyJerky]

Frankly Speaking, do you happen to have a link for the AAP recs on this? I did search the other link you gave me before. I found one study that said the adhesions would separate naturally, so that helped.

Oh, and thank you guys. I was so scared I was going to get flamed.

[susienjay]

I found this

http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/adhesions.htm

It sounds like most adhesions resolve on their own by the age of 3.
Read the account at the bottom of the mom with 6 adopted children. Her son's adhesions sound like what your son is having.

Your not going to get flamed. There are lots of moms here with circumcised sons. It sounds like you only want the best for your son.