Please, some foreskin advice?

[mamaleahnz]

My ds was born with one undescended testicle which we thought would come down when it was ready but it appears that it is probably not there at all. He is booked in for surgery sometime after his 1st birthday. While at the consoltation the registrar pulled his foreskin back but ds didnt notice, I havent touch it since and there has been no problems.
My question is to do with his reasonable amount of foreskin. Its almost as long again as his penis. Could this be because his scrotum isnt full and pulling it back? I am worried that during his surgery they may remove some/all of his foreskin which of course I will be clearly telling them not too before any surgery begins but Im worried all the same.
I am also worried that perhaps it does need to be 'trimmed', if it doesnt start to 'fit' him better it will almost definately cause problems with cleaning and urinating and possibly sex.
Is it better to wait and see? What are the problems with having a partial circ. at an older age? I would really appreciate any advice or information.
Thank you!

[+stella+]

his skin is perfect for him, there is no reason to suspect he will have infection issues do to the length of his foreskin, and he has a lot of growing to do not even being 1 year old yet. it just doesnt work like that. "trimming" would be the equiv to circ.

second, my son had surgery for this same thing just over a year old. he is intact, i told the urologist and everyone who would listen that

"THERE WILL BE NO FORESKIN MANIPULATION WHATSOEVER!!!!! during this surgery"

i dont know why they felt they needed to look at that during the initial exam, but i would just let them know under no curcumstances are they to TOUCH the foreskin during a testicle surgery. they should not need to anyway.

they may want to place a catheter, (in our case they didnt because its such a short surgery anyway) and if they do make sure they know NOT TO retract for this either.

basically, just tell them 12000 times.

do not
touch
the foreskin.

[dynamohumm6]

I would go so far as to tell them that any manipulation/cutting of the foreskin would bring them a malpractice lawsuit in a manner of seconds.

Bring them AAP guidelines about retraction, and have them sign the intact care agreement form that's floating around here.

And no, no need for him to be "trimmed"....his penis is only a year old, it'll grow into it's skin. And if it doesn't, that's okay too - just like women's labia are different lengths, so are foreskins.

[njeb]

No, his foreskin does NOT need to be trimmed. Some foreskins are long and luxurious; others are so short they don't even cover the glans. Most are somewhere in between.

The reason a baby's foreskin seems to be so long is that as the baby matures, the penis will "grow into" the foreskin. Of course, you'll never see that because by then he will have developed a sense of modesty, and mom will never be allowed to see it!

It sounds to me like your doctors are woefully uneducated about the structure and function of the penis, especially the foreskin. The only thing American doctors and nurses learn about the foreskin in medical/nursing school is how to cut it off. Unfortunately, it is up to us parents to educate them. It is sad when we have to educate our doctors. They should be the ones educating us.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by dynamohumm6

I would go so far as to tell them that any manipulation/cutting of the foreskin would bring them a malpractice lawsuit in a manner of seconds.

Bring them AAP guidelines about retraction, and have them sign the intact care agreement form that's floating around here.

And no, no need for him to be "trimmed"....his penis is only a year old, it'll grow into it's skin. And if it doesn't, that's okay too - just like women's labia are different lengths, so are foreskins.

Hey, DS's foreskin here probably takes up half the length of his penis. I sometimes shudder thinking if that had been done with it, he would have only been left with a tiny looking stump.

They grow into their foreskin, it's typical to have a long overhang as an infant/child. Read up more...the foreskin is the concentrated area of fine touch receptors on the penis. There are numerous other functions as well...my main goal in keep my son's penis whole is to protect his right to a fully functioning penis and full sexual function. Reading about the dynamics of intercourse and masturbabtion for a fully functioning penis show how dramatically the circumcised penis is robbed full functioning, and sadly how their parter is also robbed as well.

[Fi.]

if it doesnt start to 'fit' him better it will almost definately cause problems with cleaning and urinating and possibly sex.

I *highly* doubt that. Guys can have a decent amount of overhang (when limp) and be FINE. And he CERTAINLY doesn't need to be "trimmed up" at this age. That wouldn't be an issue until he was an adult. The foreskin being long has nothing to do with urinating, and as far as cleaning goes that's like saying women with large clitoral hoods should be trimmed too so that they can wash better. Sex? Same thing.

Having a long foreskin isn't BAD at all. Don't let anyone tell you any different.

As far as your questions: Yes, it's 100% better to wait and see. There's a woman here whos husband was trimmed as a baby because it was "too long" and now the skin doesn't even cover the glans.

Problems with a partial circ? Loss of the ridged band, increased risk of infections/adhesions (the bad kind), loss of sensation, loss of the over half the foreskins function (as the muscle that keeps the foreskin over the glans is cut off) which leads to keratinization of the glans

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Here is the link to the Intact Care Agreement http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/care.html provided by Nathan1097 print it up and make them sign it. I agree with telling them if they touch his foreskin tell them they will have a malpractice on there hands. Word that however you feel comfortable but make 100% sure they know you are serious. Here is the AAP Intac Care Guide this is what dr are supposed to go by print this out as well and take it to them.

As a pp said make sure they know to not to retract to do a cath or for any other reason it just isnt needed.

When your son reaches puberty the hormones will take over and every part of his body will grow including the penis. If you remove some of the skin now that could mean that he will no longer have enough to cover his glans. That would be a bad thing.

He would loose the ridged band that keeps bacteria out making him more prone to infection. For them to do the "trim" they would undoubtedly have to forcibly separate the foreskin from the glans this would lead to problems with adhesions that wont let go making it necessary to go back and do a total circ.

[Lula's Mom]

I was just posting this link on another thread and thought you might like to see it- it has a picture of a baby penis with a long foreskin (Fig 1). There's another normal baby penis below that, with a much shorter foreskin (Fig 2). So as you can see, there is a wide range. It's all normal. He definitely doesn't need surgery on his penis!

[A&A]

You should be very specific that they are NOT to perform a circumcision while he's having this surgery. You might also want to include NO appendix removal, either! (See this thread

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=487593