is this normal for uncirced boy?

[mavery]

I bet something like this has been asked before, but I don't know what to search for. My ds (3) was in the bath last night and I noticed what looked like a piece of dead skin hanging from the tip of his penis. With his permission, I gently tugged it off.

The tip of his penis has been very slightly red lately, which I attributed to irritation from his nighttime diaper. It hasn't bothered him.

Is the skin piece something to do with the foreskin separating naturally? Or something else routine?

Thanks for any advice. My dh is circed so we don't have any experience in this household...

[Lula's Mom]

It doesn't sound like a concern to me (always the caveat that if things change, with more redness, or swelling and pain, then come back here to re-evaluate!)

I bet it was just a bit of dried smegma, which is made up mostly of dead skin cells and skin oils. It does tend to work its way out during the separation process, and given the slight redness and his age, your instinct was probably right. Is he in cloth diapers? I know it's pretty common for babies to get irritation, or even a yeast infection, if the diapers need to be stripped. You can visit the diapering forum if you want more information on that because I am not sure what the process is.

One other thing: you kept your son's body whole when he was born! You need to speak proudly about that! I hope you'll use "intact" to describe him, instead of uncircumcised. It's not as if you left something undone- you believed in your son's right to his normal body.

[mavery]

Thanks Lula's mom. I was wondering about smegma, but I didn't expect it to be so skin-like (i.e. a flat piece, rather than goop).

He is in cloth diapers (fuzzibunz) but only at night (he uses the potty in the day). I don't know about "stripping" so I'll check out the diapering forum.
Thanks!

[Lula's Mom]

Who knows? The human body is... weird. It could have actually been a piece of skin- I know it can peel or flake when there's a rash or yeast infection, but it just doesn't sound like he has anything like that going on, since has no pain or redness. When you took it off of him, was it attached? Did it leave a red area where it had been?

I still think it's nothing, just curious.

[mavery]

It seemed like it was attached but the end was hidden under the foreskin. It came off pretty easily but with a slight tug. Didn't seem to hurt my ds at all though. It really looked like a chunk of skin that had peeled off.