Dried, Red and Flaking

[bwylde]

The tip of 3.5 yo's uncircumsized penis (foreskin to be more specific) is dried, red and the skin is starting to flake. He says it doesn't hurt but then I made the mistake of wondering outloud if I should of mentioned it to the doctor (big mistake ). Anyway, it looks stretched out and the dried part looks painful since it started flaking. As far as I can tell, he's still peeing ok (he's potty trained) so I don't know what to make of it. It's been this way for a while, although the flaking is new. Is there anything I should put on it or that I should do?

[Frankly Speaking]

Carla, it's impossible to make a diagnosis on the internet but let's give it a whirl.

First, since he's potty trained, let me ask, do you see him "playing" with it a lot?

The next thing I suspect is a low level yeast infection. You might want to try an over-the-counter yeast treatment and see if there is any improvement.

If there is no improvement then, he should be taken to a doctor for a culture to determine if there is a pathogen responsible for this and to positively identify it for treatment.



Frank

[bwylde]

I don't notice him playing with it a lot lately since he's so busy doing everything else, lol! It looks better tonight than it did this morning but maybe I'll try something if there's not much more improvement overnight (nothing here is open this late). Thanks

[wendy1221]

I agree w, Frank, sounds ike yeast to me. This is how yeast starts out on my boys before it gets worse. Third time mom to 3 intact boys now, so I've seen a lot.

I keep a tube of Monistat on my shelf above the changing table and put a little one before bed if I see something like this. It's usually gone by morning. If you let it get worse, it takes longer for the cream to work.

My 6 yo still has an ocasional yeast problem, so being potty-trained doesn't mean it doesn't happen. The only bad thing is I rarely see him buck naked so it's usually bad before he tels me or I see him scratching, etc.