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I didn't even realize I should be keeping a lookout for this - around when does the penis retract and what does this look like?
How can you tell. . . .
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Well, there is actually no need to keep a lookout. When the foreskin retracts is simply a milestone like the first tooth or the first step. As far as anything else goes, it simply doesn't matter and as opposed to those other milestones, it doesn't come on schedule.
You pretty much know when the first tooth is going to come within a month or two and when the first step is going to come and when they are going to say their first word or take their first step or become potty trained. However, the foreskin becoming retractile is far different. It may happen soon after birth or in the late teen years but it really doesn't matter when it happens. There is no schedule.
Two things have to happen before the foreskin is retractile. The opening of the foreskin is made up of non-elastic tissue in young children and at sometime in the future, the body will slowly replace this non-elastic tissue with elastic stretchy tissue that will allow the opening to spread to pull back over the glans. This is an invisible process and it will look little if any difference before and after. One day, it will seem almost magically stretchy when it didn't appear to be a few days earlier.
Also in very young boys, the foreskin is adhered to the glans just like the fingernails are adhered to the nailbeds and with the exact same material, the synecchia or epithelium layer. Unlike the fingernails, this tissue will disolve someday and the foreskin willl no longer be adhered. The only indications you may see that this is happening is ballooning where the foreskin puffs up while urinating showing that the foreskin has released but the opening has not become elastic yet or there may be an episode of redness and swelling that lasts a day or so that indicates there is slight trauma to the foreskin related to the release. It will look like an infection but will pass quickly. The child may also report some pain for a short while.
Retraction may be something that happens progressively over months or years or it may be that one day, BAM! It's retractile. Every boy is different and unique.
So for a short summary, watching for retraction is simply from a curiosity standpoint for the mother, not something that should happen by age xx or something is wrong. Basically, it happens when it happens and it may be something you will never see because you son may be a teenager when it happens and certainly won't be wanting to discuss these things with Mom.
Frank
You pretty much know when the first tooth is going to come within a month or two and when the first step is going to come and when they are going to say their first word or take their first step or become potty trained. However, the foreskin becoming retractile is far different. It may happen soon after birth or in the late teen years but it really doesn't matter when it happens. There is no schedule.
Two things have to happen before the foreskin is retractile. The opening of the foreskin is made up of non-elastic tissue in young children and at sometime in the future, the body will slowly replace this non-elastic tissue with elastic stretchy tissue that will allow the opening to spread to pull back over the glans. This is an invisible process and it will look little if any difference before and after. One day, it will seem almost magically stretchy when it didn't appear to be a few days earlier.
Also in very young boys, the foreskin is adhered to the glans just like the fingernails are adhered to the nailbeds and with the exact same material, the synecchia or epithelium layer. Unlike the fingernails, this tissue will disolve someday and the foreskin willl no longer be adhered. The only indications you may see that this is happening is ballooning where the foreskin puffs up while urinating showing that the foreskin has released but the opening has not become elastic yet or there may be an episode of redness and swelling that lasts a day or so that indicates there is slight trauma to the foreskin related to the release. It will look like an infection but will pass quickly. The child may also report some pain for a short while.
Retraction may be something that happens progressively over months or years or it may be that one day, BAM! It's retractile. Every boy is different and unique.
So for a short summary, watching for retraction is simply from a curiosity standpoint for the mother, not something that should happen by age xx or something is wrong. Basically, it happens when it happens and it may be something you will never see because you son may be a teenager when it happens and certainly won't be wanting to discuss these things with Mom.
Frank
Frank, do we need to do anything at all once it is retractable? I have gotten conflicting info from drs and nurses. My ds(2.5) is now retractable. I was shocked because my 7.5 yr old's is not(I worry there may be some scar tissue from a botched catheder), but just wondering who's advice to take.
TIA~Debi
TIA~Debi
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4,673 Posts
Most boys will naturally do at least as much as is necessary just from fiddling with it in the bath. There really isn't anything that needs to be done at least until puberty when his body starts producing more testosterone and even then, it's just for any odor control. Once he becomes sexually active, he will want to retract and rinse away any accumulated smegma each day. That's purely for esoteric reasons. The inside of the preputial space is no more dirty than the vagina and needs no more cleaning than the vagina except for "appearance" reasons. Women would rightly be offended if they pulled their lover's foreskin back and found it coated with smegma just the same as if a man found heavy coatings of smegma on his lover's vulva.
You can start teaching him this as soon as he is old enough to understand just by telling him to pull it back and rinse. No soap is needed and it can be very irritating if not rinsed well just as it would be irritating if it were left on your parts. This rinsing is not necessary but not harmful either.
Frank
You can start teaching him this as soon as he is old enough to understand just by telling him to pull it back and rinse. No soap is needed and it can be very irritating if not rinsed well just as it would be irritating if it were left on your parts. This rinsing is not necessary but not harmful either.
Frank
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