adhesions on circ'd penis...STILL

[mobeans]

I posted here about a year ago, and don't want to rehash my whole story, but I am one of the ones that circ'd and deeply regret it. My DS is now 2 1/2, and his adhesions are as tight as ever, and completely surround the tip of the penis. I know,the advice is to just leave it alone, that is not my question.

I am wondering if anyone can give me an honest answer, what his options will be IF he is one of the ones that the adhesions don't release on their own. Every place I read says "MOST adhesions release, some lasting until pubescence". What are the ones that don't? Will it be like a skin bridge, or something I saw on the mutilated penis website?

I am not planning on doing anything, I had thought about getting an urologist's opinion, but that worried me, entering into the medical establishment, I was afraid they would just tell me to recirc, and I feel so guilty about this mutilated penis, and would listen to them and have a "normal circ look" as opposed to this adhesed penis. BUT, like I said, I decided against even going. I know he is still young, and they have plenty of time to release themselves. I am just wondering what would happen if he happened to be the 0.01% or the 10%, I have no idea what the stats are, that don't ever release.

I also just wanted to ask, I have read about a cream that releases adhesions, maybe a steroid cream or something. Any information about that, and the dangers of it?

Thanks in advance.

[InDaPhunk]

I don't know the answers to your questions but I just wanted to say and . I'm sorry you and your son are having to go through this and I hope it gets fully resolved.

[njeb]

How is he doing? Is he in any pain? Is he urinating properly?
As long as he's not in any pain and is peeing ok, you should be able to wait awhile. The cream you are thinking of is called betamethazone (sp?) cream, and it is used to help stretch the foreskin in cases where men or boys are having trouble retracting. Unless he's experiencing discomfort, however, he shouldn't need it yet. Give him a few years yet. The foreskin usually doesn't begin retracting until ages 3 to 5, and sometimes not until the teen years. Your ds' remnant foreskin might do the same.
Good luck! Let me know if any of this is off-base.

[Frankly Speaking]

I can understand your concern and I'm going to give you the most honest answer I can. As usual, I'm kind of wordy because I want to give you as much information as I can.

The normal state of the penis is to be adhered like this and your son has simply repaired his body to as near the natural state as possible and all of the life processes will continue. Normal separation comes sometime between shortly after birth and well beyond puberty. However, circumcised boys adhesions usually resolve between 3 and 5 years old. I suspect since you've already been here, you already knew that. Girls also have labial adhesions but they don't generally resolve until about 10 years old.

I have only seen one case where the adhesions didn't completely resolve. There was a young man in his late teens who came to another site who still had adhesions on the underside of the glans. With some information he received there, he began a daily regime of retracting his foreskin each time he toileted and at bath time. He would retract and pull at the adhesions to the point of minor pain. Each day, he was able to retract a little farther and in about 10 days to 2 weeks, he had completely released the adhesions. He spread a little Vaseline on the area for about a week as a barrier just in case. I have no idea if the Vaseline did any good or not.

If they are allowed or helped to release naturally, his penis will look absolutely normal for a circumcised penis. There is also a procedure called lysing to release the adhesions but that can leave scars and pitting. Lysing the adhesions is a last ditch option.

I suspect the steroid cream you remember was betamethesone. It is not used for releasing adhesions but for softening the skin to resolve phimosis. Labial adhesions in girls are treated with estrogen to release them. I have no idea whether estrogen or testosterone would be effective for boys. I've never heard of either being used.

Betamethesone cream was a part of a study reported several months ago. The study was done to learn if another steroidal cream that was about half as strong would be safer. The control group in the study got betamethesone and the trial group got the other steriod. There were no significant differences in the response between the two groups and no complications reported. Betamethesone is very safe and effective.

I know you want hard and fast answers and guarantees but unfortunately, there are none. One thing is for sure, if he were recircumcised, they would have to lyse those adhesions first and lysing adhesions can cause some very undesirable cosmetic results to the glans. That is absolutely the option of last resort.



Frank

[mobeans]

Actually, I knew there were no "hard and fast answers" and I certainly knew there would be no guarentees, especially here, at a website where all you can go on is my post and have never seen the penis in question. But, I appreciate the info about the adolescent that was able to simply manually release his, that is comforting.

I don't plan on doing anything else, he is peeing fine, seems to have no problems, a bit of smegma under there, but no problems. If it cosmetic only, I would let him make the decision when he is old enough. I am just trying to head off anything that I can ahead of time.

Frank, as always, thanks for your answer and your time. Thanks, njeb and InDaPhunk as well.