My grandson was circumsized at birth, he is now 57 days old..the problem is some of the skin has attached itself to one side of the (roll) of the penis..just barely on the curve of the head....How common is this? and how do they unattach it?

This is VERY common thanks to the misconception that you aren't supposed to pull back on the left over foreskin of a circumcised baby.

It happened to my son b/c noone told me that you had to pull back and rinse for many months after healing to prevent adhesions.

Unfortunately, the only way they fix it is by sudden forcible retraction. The ped did it right there in the office. It hurt him somewhat, but there was no bleeding or anything. Then he told me to pull back on it every day and clean out any white cottage cheesy substance (called smegma. This is just bodily secretions and skin cells shedding as the foreskin begins to separate from the glans) because this is what causes it to adhere. Then to pull back and coat with vaseline frequently. My son is 17 months and has alot of leftover foreskin (many pediactricians leave a bit extra for them to grow into later in life) and I still pull it back and rinse it with water pretty frequently.

Good luck!

I also had to pull the skin back on my son's penis...The only reason I knew to do this was because my friend had a son 3 months before me and when she went for a check up the dr did it and charged her $95...the dr told her to pull it back everytime she changed his diaper...My son is 4 months old and I still have to pull the skin back....So I would say it must be pretty common for it to grow back...

susan

My oldest son had a very clean circumsision so I was surprised my second son was circumsised but was left with quite a bit of foreskin. nowhere what he would have had if he wasn't done but it looked different the the penises I was use to seeing. ( on his dad,brother or my brothers growing up) I did have to clean under it a little and he's 25 now so it's been decades since I saw it last don't know if the extra skin is still there or if he grew into it, He never said anything so I guess all is well in tinsel town.

I think your hospital should have told you how to properly take care of a newly circ.'d baby. It looks like there is confusion due to the over concern about non-circ.'d babies. It's the non-circ.'d you can't pull the skin back. Circ.'d is all together different.

Hi, my son who is now nearly 3 months old was circ'd at one week. His foreskin is cut as such that 3 quarters of the head is exposed but the rest is still hidden. I cannot pull the foreskin down at all as the foreskin is attached above the entire rim perfectly. At his last dr's appt 2 weeks ago I asked the dr if this was normal -- he did not perform the circ but is a Jewish dr, lol. He assured me that it is a beautiful job and that I should not try and force the skin down, that it will roll off by itself when he is a little older. He is a very well respected dr so I hate to think that he might be wrong about this, but is he?

Hm... I don't know. My doc was muslim, and they also circumcize for religious reasons. He did my sons circ and told be I needed to pull back on it. I don't know. Maybe your son doesn't have quite as much left over as mine did.

I did not have my son circumsised and the instructions with were to pull it back to clean it but not to force it. The foreskin is actually fused to the head of the penis and it stays fused for longer in some children. From what I read, if the foreskin does not pull back it usually isn't anything to worry about. Most children's foreskin will pull back by the time they are about five.

My son's still would not pull back in the least at the age of 6 so at a doctors visit I mentioned it. He was sent to a pediatrician who prescribed a topical cream which un-fused about half of it. We then went to the urologist who said to give it a year and if nothing happened he would have to "fix it".

A year later there was no change so at the age of 8 we took him to the hospital where the doctor put on a topical anesthetic then while pulling the foreskin back, scraped (for lack of a better word) under it breaking the fuse. The actual procedure only took a few minutes and caused my son no initial pain. The doctor instructed us that we needed to pull the foreskin back and put vaseline on the head of the penis twice a day for two weeks to prevent it from re-fusing. My son was quite uncomfortable the next day so we kept him home from school and he was a tender for a couple of days after that but it was fine after that.

I don't have any experience with circumsision but I know that if a newborns foreskin is fused the doctors must un-fuse it before they can circumsise so I guess if they don't cut the foreskin all the way back it is possible that the foreskin that is left re-fuses to the head of the penis.

KITKAT that is not normal! If it is adhered it will not detach itself. It needs to be pulled back. I have two sons and had to have it done with my first son. I thought I was being so careful with my second son but he ended up having to have his pulled back also.

My grandson was circumsized at birth, he is now 57 days old..the problem is some of the skin has attached itself to one side of the (roll) of the penis..just barely on the curve of the head....How common is this? and how do they unattach it?
This is a quite common complication from circumcision, though it doesn't seem to show up in statistics. When a baby boy is born in 99% of cases the foreskin is fused to the glans as firmly as a fingernail to a finger. The circumciser has to use forceps (tweezers) to tear the foreskin away from the glans before the actual cutting can start. In the USA the entire procedure is usually done without anaesthetic despite most doctors organisations now recommending anaesthesia. The glans is left raw after the operation and it is quite common for the cut edges of the remaining foreskin to fuse to it during the healing process, forming skin bridges or skin tags. Doctors and hospitals seem to want parents to think that the circumcised penis is maintenance free, so they don't warn about this risk during the healing process. If the condition is left till the boy grows up then surgery is the only way to fix it and this will leave scarring on the glans. Untreated it will affect the normal function of the penis.
It is very hard to judge how much skin the adult penis will require when performing infant circumcision. If too much is removed the adult may experience painful erections and have hairy scrotum skin pulled up onto the shaft. Tight circumcisions also don't leave any loose skin for masturbation and lube becomes essential. Of course nothing will stop masturbation.
If the baby is left intact then no attempt should be made to retract the foreskin for the first year or two. Misguided attempts to do this by parents and even some medical staff can cause pain and tearing. This can result in similar adhesions to those from circumcision and is the main reason for circumcisions of young boys whose parents wanted them left intact. If left alone the boy himself will usually pull on the foreskin and this is a good thing breaking down the natural attachments. Foreskins separate at differing ages and it is common for boys of five to not be able to retract yet. Since there is no cavity until the attachments have broken down then until then there is nowhere for germs to collect and no need to wash under the foreskin. If it is still a problem later on then stretching can usually cure it. See my stretching instructions at the top of the Mens' Health board for more information on this.
I hope this explains things and is some help,
Geoff

same thing happened with my first son, doctor had to rip down on the foreskin to fix the problem. no one ever told me so everytime i meet a new mom of a son i tell them, of course doctors still aren't telling moms about this!!

Hi i am new here and i had a question regarding my son. Well my son is 18 years old and was not circumsized and i have been reading that u are suppose to pull back the foreskin when they are babies but i never have. And now that he is 18 years old his his skin does not pull back. So i wounder if that could be fix or if their is something wrong with his penis. i also want to know if he could o it himself???

DS was circumsized in the hospital and it went fine and then at his 3month (i think) visit it was stuck also. So the Dr. pulled it back. No one told me you were supposed to pull it back, DH knew and he was doing it, but he didnt' tell the rest of us. Anyway, she pulled it back and he screamed and screamed and hurt for a few days. We had to pull it back everytime and put vaseline on it for months.
Just so you know, these little white things, they kind of look like pimples that need to pop they are called Creatin (i am not sure of the spelling) might show up, but they are ok, they are supposed to help it stay unattached and actually DH talked to a few other drs who told him that those pearls actually will come up and unattach the foreskin on their own.

Hi i am new here and i had a question regarding my son. Well my son is 18 years old and was not circumsized and i have been reading that u are suppose to pull back the foreskin when they are babies but i never have. And now that he is 18 years old his his skin does not pull back. So i wounder if that could be fix or if their is something wrong with his penis. i also want to know if he could o it himself???
No NEVER pull back the intact foreskin when they are babies. That can do very serious damage and is a major cause of unnecessary circumcisions due to that damage. Some doctors and nurses don't know this. This rule does not apply to circumcised infants where the risks of adhesions forming between the raw glans and the cut edges of remaining foreskin are high.
The penis forms as one organ and at birth is normally firmly attached to the glans like a fingernail to the finger. There is no gap between the foreskin and glans at this stage of life and therefore nowhere for germs or dirt to collect. Before newborn circumcision the doctor rips the foreskin away from the glans using forceps (and usually without anaesthetic as is the surgery itself). As the intact boy grows these attachments break down, often helped by little boys' tendendency to pull on the foreskin. Sometimes the attachments form hard white lumps that emerge from the foreskin opening as the breakdown process progresses. I think that is what cattieos is refering to. Usually a boy can retract and clean by about six years old but some boys are earlier and some don't retract till puberty or later.
I have written detailed stretching instructions on how to fix most tight foreskin problems in older boys and adults simply, easily and usually quicker than the recovery time from surgery. They are a sticky near the top of the Men's Health forum. He should be able to "Do it himself" following those.
Good luck,
Geoff