Average age of retraction?

[Kleine Hexe]

Hello everyone,

I don't come here too often even though I'm always spreading the word about anti-circ.

My DS is 28 months old and his foreskin does not retract. I know this is very normal and I'm not worried about it not retracting. My question is what is the average age of retraction and where can I find that info?

A ped in the office where I take my DS made a comment when he was just a few months old about him not being circ'd. She said that she did not see any reason for circing babies(which was good) but then she said as long as his foreskin retracts by age three everything is fine. If not that could mean there is a problem. I didn't say anything at the time and just dismissed it. I know that it can take much longer than three years for the foreskin to retract. If at the age of three my son's foreskin does not retract I want to be ready with supporting info that it is normal.

It's so sad that I have to feel ready at a moment's notice to defend my little boy and fight off the doctors who want to cut or pull at his penis.

[Sarah]

Vanessa- if he has a problem- then treat the problem... don't waste your energy worrying.

Even if somewhere along the line someone deems that his unretractability is a problem- it would not mean circumcision- 99% of the time it can be treated without circumcision- so just go to the CIRP library and read up on "the phony phimosis diagnosis" and you will get a much better idea about it all. http://www.cirp.org

This is a very recent article that has a photo illustration of a NORMAL unretractile prepuce and a contrasting photo of a PHIMOTIC tight foreskin where there is a tiny scarred opening.

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/...w10610_fm.html

If your son has the first type, you would just wait, and if he has the second type- you just get some steroid ointment.

I am not one to put a time limit on this, but the article i just refered you to seems to think that any diagnosis before five yrs could be premature.

love Sarah

[Frankly Speaking]

There is no absolute time that a child should be retractable. I have seen information that runs the full gammut from 3 years old to late teens. The best information I have seen is that 2/3 are retractable by 6 years old and 90% by 10 years old and some are not until mid-late teens. I can't remember where that was but it can probably be found in the Circumcision Information Resource Pages (CIRP). The only value to that document is that there isn't a normal time. It is not essential that the foreskin be retractable by a certain age. There was a wife/mother here about a year ago whose 32 year old husband had NEVER retracted and wasn't concerned about it and had little interest in retracting. Obviously, reproduction wasn't a problem since he is a father and he was satisfied with his sex life and there wasn't any problem with hygiene since his wife had no concerns.

If the child is not retractable by mid to late teens, the foreskin opening can be gently stretched using betamethesone cream .05%, a steroid ointment. The stretching process takes a couple of weeks to a couple of months and is 99% effective.

You don't have to prove your point to the doctor. You just say "no!" and that's that. They can not circumcise your son without your approval. If they start giving you too much grief about it, just go to a doctor who is foreskin savvy. That may not be a bad idea anyway.



Frank

[SagMom]

Re: Average age of retraction?

I second what Frank said. Neither of my sons retracted at 3. My oldest didn't retract until well past the age that I was allowed to see him naked. I think I'd ask your doctor what kind of problems he's talking about and also to explain exactly why a 3 y/o needs to retract.

[Eric]

Mine didn't retract fully till i was about 9 or 10. Nothing to worry about.


Eric

[Xenogenesis]

My just-turned-two-year-old shows absolutely no indication of even beginning the process of becoming retractable. There's NO WAY he will be ready in one year's time !! Just like some girls begin menstruating at different ages (my sister was about sixteen or closer to seventeen - with no medical concerns from docs back then) each body is different. Why do they want us to follow their textbooks? The span of five or ten years difference is really a tiny drop of water in the *bucket* of life considering an *average* life span of eighty(?) years. What's next? Hormone prescriptions to make womyn fit *the norm* for age of menses, menopause, breast growth, etc. Lol.

[Frankly Speaking]

Laila:

Shouldn't that be "mynstruating," "mynses," and "mynopause?"

Just kidding!



Frank

[Xenogenesis]

Ohhh, Frank !!



Ummmm ... yeah you're right ... you know....




Me ----->