circumcision problems...

Amjones52

Has anyone else had this with their lo?

My dh had been worried since it healed but I asked our pedi every time we were there and all he said was that it was "redundant." We switched ped's and one of the first thing I asked our new one was about his circumcision. He immediately said he thought it might need to be re-done and referred us to a urologist. Now I'm upset because L might have to go through that all again and I'm mad at our first pedi who shrugged it off when we were clearly concerned about it. My OBGYN was the one who did the circ and as we have been talking with friends of ours with boys, we're finding that about half of her patients needed them re-done. 

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone's son had to have this re-done and how it went, how he handled it, recovery time, did you wait until they were older or get it taken care of right away? 

gollywollypog

How did it heal?  Did the skin reattach?  Did not enough get taken off?

Amjones52

it healed fine and at his 2 week checkup the pedi said it looked good (although he said that every visit for months so I'm not sure that he is very trustworthy). After that is when my husband thought not enough was taken off or that he had a "buried pen!s" and our new pedi confirmed that not enough had been taken off. 

lady_tytah

Amir's healed well.
I'm hoping all goes well for him.

gollywollypog

Ok.  Are you able to retract the excess skin and see the complete head of the penis?  If so I would not worry about it one single bit. 

Emery is a big baby and has a lot of excess fat around his groin area.  So much so that sometimes he looks as though he is not circ'ed.  My husband was concerned as well so I asked my doctor, who I love and trust, have been with for a long time and who performed Em's circ.  She said as he grows and looses some of his baby fat his penis will begin to look less like there is still excess skin there.  He also has a "pad" of fat where his scrotum is and it causes his testicles to be retracted much of the time.  Totally the opposite of my oldest, who was a scrawney baby and looked....much different....down there.

I also did some googling once my husband expressed concern and found out that it is much better for there to be not quite enough skin taken off then too much taken off.  If the remove too much skin it can cause a "hooking" of the penis when they grow up and begin to have erections. 

If, however, the skin has fused onto the head during the healing of the circ, that would be something that may require additional surgery.

Otherwise, you are fine lady friend!  Your little guy is in good company. 

 

AmySmolos

My pedi just said at our 9 month check that the skin can cover the tip again if not pulled back regularly. She said it is common for circumsized boys. She pulled it back on ds in the office and told us to do it every time we change his diaper. I wasn't doing it far enough back because she said I needed to see the ridge. Is this what has happened to your lo?

Amjones52

Thanks for the encouragement, KLilley! We had been told about a lot of those things, too...

I actually think what Amy described sounds more like what happened. We pull back the skin every change but must be not enough because you can't see the head of it. And not to be crude, but it seems a bit small so we thought maybe that contributed to the situation. 

xxbabycakesxx

I sort of skimmed through the replies so I hope I'm not repeating anything but this is what happened with my boys.

DS1 was circ'd and it ended up reattaching or some call is readhering.  When I pulled the skin back, you could see the tip of the penis but not the ridge, because the shaft skin under it had attached back to the ridge of the penis.  I was pulling back constantly and puttng vaseline but sometims it just happens.  It didn't help that he was a fatso baby and had a big fat pad around his pubic area.  I guess thats also called a buried penis.  Pedi said to leave it cause sometimes as LOs get older, it can let go by themselves.

Fast forward to DS1s 18 month check up, penis is still attached.  Pedi prescribed a steroid cream that I used for a few months and the skin finally let go.  DS1 is like 29 months now and the skin has not reattached but its still a buried penis, I think, in that the penis can still go inside itself and I can still push the skin back and then the full head will pop out.  I hope I'm explaining myself ok lol.

I searched a lot of stuff on the net back then cause I thought I ruined DS1 and theres a lot of contradicting info out there but I'm glad we didn't have to recirc him, even thought Pedi said that was very uncommon anyway.  Something I did read on the net though was that a lot of people doing circ's leave more skin so that the boys have skin to grow into as they get older.  Back in the day they would take more skin off but as the boys got older, there was no skin to grow into and sometimes when they got erections, it would actually hurt.  Ouch.  But then not taking enough skin means theres a chance of it reattaching.

DS2 is circ'd and his also reattached even though I pulled the skin back all.the.time.  Its not as bad as DS1s but I'm sure he'll need the steroid cream in the future.  He also has the buried penis thing cause hes so chubby.

The thing I'm wondering about it when will the buried penis thing go away.  DS1 is no long chubby and it doesn't seem like he has a fat pad in his pubic area yet his penis still goes inside.  I guess thats something I need to ask the pedi next time I'm there. ETA-I'm thinking again...and maybe this buried penis thing gets solved as the boys get older, like I mentioned before.  Meh, I'm not sure lol.

Anyway, sorry this is so long but I hope some of it helped.  I was so worried after DS1s circ reattached and I wish I others to talk to about it!  GL! 

smile50208

We are Jewish so we had Bris and a mohel did the circ. I have heard from a number of people that you are better off hiring a mohel (even if not Jewish) than some doctors.

Amjones52

xxbabycakesxx:

I sort of skimmed through the replies so I hope I'm not repeating anything but this is what happened with my boys.

DS1 was circ'd and it ended up reattaching or some call is readhering.  When I pulled the skin back, you could see the tip of the penis but not the ridge, because the shaft skin under it had attached back to the ridge of the penis.  I was pulling back constantly and puttng vaseline but sometims it just happens.  It didn't help that he was a fatso baby and had a big fat pad around his pubic area.  I guess thats also called a buried penis.  Pedi said to leave it cause sometimes as LOs get older, it can let go by themselves.

Fast forward to DS1s 18 month check up, penis is still attached.  Pedi prescribed a steroid cream that I used for a few months and the skin finally let go.  DS1 is like 29 months now and the skin has not reattached but its still a buried penis, I think, in that the penis can still go inside itself and I can still push the skin back and then the full head will pop out.  I hope I'm explaining myself ok lol.

I searched a lot of stuff on the net back then cause I thought I ruined DS1 and theres a lot of contradicting info out there but I'm glad we didn't have to recirc him, even thought Pedi said that was very uncommon anyway.  Something I did read on the net though was that a lot of people doing circ's leave more skin so that the boys have skin to grow into as they get older.  Back in the day they would take more skin off but as the boys got older, there was no skin to grow into and sometimes when they got erections, it would actually hurt.  Ouch.  But then not taking enough skin means theres a chance of it reattaching.

DS2 is circ'd and his also reattached even though I pulled the skin back all.the.time.  Its not as bad as DS1s but I'm sure he'll need the steroid cream in the future.  He also has the buried penis thing cause hes so chubby.

The thing I'm wondering about it when will the buried penis thing go away.  DS1 is no long chubby and it doesn't seem like he has a fat pad in his pubic area yet his penis still goes inside.  I guess thats something I need to ask the pedi next time I'm there.

Anyway, sorry this is so long but I hope some of it helped.  I was so worried after DS1s circ reattached and I wish I others to talk to about it!  GL! 

 

Thank you so much! I did read up on Buried Penis' and most ped's said it should be better by 3 years old, so that's a possibility for us... I did not read anything about steroid cream but will definitely mention it at the urologist appointment on Friday. I'm torn because I obviously don't want him to go through surgery again if it can be helped but I had not heard of leaving more because of the possibility of pain in the future. I also don't want to not get it taken care of and then have him be self-conscious about it as an adult (or want to correct it then - the thought makes me nauseus). I'm glad I asked because I DO feel better - I hope our appointment on Friday helps put my mind at ease.

xxbabycakesxx

I wonder if the method of the circ has anything to do with this?  Both my boys had the Plastibell done on them.

Yea, if they absolutely needed to be recirc'd, its definitely better to do it while they're younger.  Its just a lot of pedis have so many different opinions on this.  I asked 2 other pedis in the same clinic as my pedi (she was away those times) and those doctors both said different things.  I just trusted my gut and went with what our pedi said...wait til DS1 was older and give his penis a chance to detach and if it didn't, we'll use th steroid cream.  If the steroid cream didn't work then we'll talk about a recirc. She wasn't at all concerned though... not even about the buried penis part.

I really hope your appointment goes well on Friday.  Its tough being a mama and having to make these decisions!