Chicken Pox and the Intact Penis

[sandals]

At gymboree today, a woman was telling me that her son had gotten over the chicken pox a few weeks back. We discussed it a little and she told me his case was so bad he had pox all over his penis and painful ones right on the tip (he is circumcised.)

This got me wondering....does the foreksin help prevent against this kind of thing? I have also heard that pox can be found in the urethra too (not even sure if this is true). Would the foreskin help in prevention of that as well? or would it be a problem?

Would chicken pox be less painful to an intact child because the penis tip is covered and protected? Or would chicken pox cause pox under the foreskin and make more trouble if the child tried to ich them? I could find nothing on this on the internet.

[wendy1221]

When my then 2yo and 6-8 week old ds's got CP last fell, they both had CP on their penises. Ds2 had recently learned how to retract and he had one on the tip of glans as well as one on the tip of his foreskin. OUCH! He healed just fine and very quickly. He didn't really try to itch them, but the ones on his penis definitely hurt (he non-verbally let me know.) No infection anywhere.

[paquerette]

My DH got CP at 14 and he vividly remembers the penis pox. Circ'ed, so that doesn't answer your question. I dunno how much it would help, though. They spread internally through the circulatory system, not a contact thing, as far as where the pox pop up, so I guess it's just random. If you can get them inside your mouth and everything, you can probably get them inside the foreskin too.

[shelbean91]

You can get chicken pox anywhere, ds1 got one on his eyeball.

[sandals]

Thanks for the info everyone! Yeah, i figured it wouldn't be much but I figured I'd ask anyway.

Her son was only 21 months old...I feel bad for the little guy ...pox on your penis ouchies!

[AntoninBeGonin]

My ex-fiancé got chicken pox when his sister popped a cp blister on her kids, then (dumbly) scratched a spot on my ex's back. It went into his bloodstream and he ended up with cp covering every inch of skin, plus it was on the inside and outside of every organ, on his brain, and his eyes. He spent time in intensive care (I think?) with around a 20-30% chance of living. This was several years before we met. So I guess to answer, yeah, it's very probable an intact boy could get pox under his foreskin. Doesn't sound like much fun though

~Nay

[PuppyFluffer]

I got CP at age 18 during my senior year of high school. I had them in my mouth, down my throat and in my vagina as well as all over my external body - in my scalp, palms of hands....it really was rotten!

[PajamaMama]

Originally Posted by PuppyFluffer

I got CP at age 18 during my senior year of high school. I had them in my mouth, down my throat and in my vagina as well as all over my external body - in my scalp, palms of hands....it really was rotten!

It was the same for me, except I was 16. And OMG was I miserable. I couldn't even walk because they covered the soles of my feet.

[Lovenest]

After reading the prior comments about chicken poxs, was wondering if you all have had the chicken pox vaccine as well as your kiddos? I know the chicken pox vaccine is kind of ho-hum.

[teniprice]

I have no idea about the intact penis and cp. My kids have yet to have cp. I remember having cp as a kid (around age 6-7) and it wasn't a big deal that I remember. My sister and I had them back to back (she had them first.) My kids have not and will not receive the cp vax.

[Ivan's Mom]

I refused the vaccine for Ivan because I feel it is a bad choice for the kids since the CDC does not know how long the vaccine protects for. I also read that some get the disease after being vaccinated and it is not the good disease that gives the lifelong protection.

My major reason is that I would hate for him to go through what the PPs have said about how bad it gets for adults to have it. Wow, on the brain!!!!!!

I am all for the chicken pox party when Ivan is older. My chicken pox time was bad, but not like what you all have posted. :

[DocsNemesis]

I cant answer about the penis question, though I would assume they could pop up inside or outside of the foreskin and on the glans as well, but I had CP when I was 10 and my sister had it at 6 months old. Nieither one of us had it THAT bad-as in it was typical chicken pox, nothing on the inside, no mucous membrane stuff, and niether one of us got a single pox in our crotch area. Dh said he never got any on his penis either. We never had the CP vax....my older two have : but my little one hasnt. I never wanted my older two to have it either but we are an all or nothing state so I thought I had to. Then we realised we could have just signed the exemption form and claimed that they hadnt had any vaccines. I'm hoping that it will wear off somewhat as they get older and maybe they will catch it.

[Sijae]

Sounds like very good reasons to leave CP in childhood where it belongs instead of pushing it out to adulthood with vaccines. I, and my siblings had CP as kids and 2 of my children have also had it. I'll be hoping my daughter picks it up in the next few years as well.

Laura

[dnr3301]

I won't vax my kiddos for chicken pox unless they get to be teenagers and still haven't had them, although at that point, I plan to have a conversation with them about it and respect their inputs. I'd rather they get it as a youngster than as an older person, and 15-16 seems to be when it gets rough.

When my sister had them, she had them everywhere, inside her eyelids, every where. I would imagine that the foreskin might help them not itch it too much, but I doubt very much it would stop them from getting them in there.

[Stevie]

DD had them worse than her brother and did have some inside her vaginal area, but nothing horrible; a soak in warm water with a little peppermine EO took care of the itchies.
DS only had a total of 20 spots and one of those was on his penis, but he didn't have any discomfort at all...

[Daisie125]

Originally Posted by PuppyFluffer

I got CP at age 18 during my senior year of high school. I had them in my mouth, down my throat and in my vagina as well as all over my external body - in my scalp, palms of hands....it really was rotten!

Same here, but I was 17 (and missed midterms LOL) It was horrible. (But still better than that brand new CP shot that I refused to get!)

[PuppyFluffer]

Originally Posted by Sijae

Sounds like very good reasons to leave CP in childhood where it belongs instead of pushing it out to adulthood with vaccines. I, and my siblings had CP as kids and 2 of my children have also had it. I'll be hoping my daughter picks it up in the next few years as well.

Laura

I very much agree that it should be a childhool disease. Younger children handle it so much better!

[PuppyFluffer]

Originally Posted by dnr3301

I won't vax my kiddos for chicken pox unless they get to be teenagers and still haven't had them, although at that point, I plan to have a conversation with them about it and respect their inputs. I'd rather they get it as a youngster than as an older person, and 15-16 seems to be when it gets rough.

May I suggest that you have titer's checked on them if you haven't seen clinical chicken pox infection by time they are teens. Many people develop immunity to CP without ever exhibiting the disease. There are some concerns with the vaccine that the folks at the Vaccination forum would be able to tell you about more thoroughly. (Do a search, there are many threads already existing.)

I just wanted to let you know that vaxing if you have not seen the disease in them is not your only choice, in the event you didn't know.

[LadyMarmalade]

My boys both had chicken pox - they were everywhere. I actually took some photos of both boys (and later scrapbooked them *blush*) because they were so impressive. They did get them on their foreskins but neither of them had any of them on their glans.

We refused the CP vaccine because I think it's healthier to catch it as a child - lifelong immunity is usually built, and the risk of having shingles as an adult is much lower. Shingles can be extremely dangerous in adults. I worry that lots of kids getting the shot for CP now will forget to have boosters when they're older (the vaccine doesn't last forever) and they'll get a bad case of CP or shingles as an adult.

[AntoninBeGonin]

I got cp when I was 10 and barely even noticed them.

I think pox parties are a good idea for healthy kids.

~Nay