Circumcision Correction Surgery??

virginiawife · February 2012

My DS was circumcised when he was born by a female doctor. Right away we noticed there was an extra amount of fatty skin that would come up over the head of the penis making it look like he isn't circumsized. We asked our pedi about it and she said it wasn't anything to worry about and he would grow into the extra skin. We have had issues with the head getting adhered to the foreskin and have for 3 years now had to clean around it at bathtime and apply vaseline...still every night and it hasn't resolved the issue. I insisted on seeing a pediatric urologist. We made an appt and saw a nurse practicioner (had no choice, thats the office policy) and she immediately reccomended corrective surgery for the circumcision to be redone. She said they didn't take enough skin at the time of the circumcision. I am so angry!! He is three years old now and the thought of having to put my baby to sleep just terifies me. I called me pedi back and she said she does not agree with doing this invasive procedure for such a small problem. She said we will just need to continue to clean it and pull it back. I feel like we shouldn't be still dealing with this at 3. I don't know what to do? I don't want to have to put him through the surgery but I don't want to have him grow up and hate me for how his penis looks. I don't want him to be self concious if it stays like this when he is older. Has anyone been though this? Please offer any thoughts or advice...I want to do whats best for my son but I want to carefully think it through before rushing into a decision. Thanks

anonsouthernbell · February 2012

Since you are on the fence, perhaps wait until he is older (teen+) and let him make the decision for himself.

iumegan716 · February 2012

DS isn't as old, but we have been dealing with the extra skin issue since DS was circumsized right after birth. Our pedi checks on it at every check up and didn't mention anything at the last check-up. I do worry that the issue of corrective surgery will come up because he still has the extra skin.

I also worry that we're traumatizing him by pulling it back all the time. He yells at DH and says "No Daddy! No doing that!". I hate it. I am just waiting for the day he goes to daycare and says Daddy touches my penis. That will be a fun one to explain.

Anyway, if I was in your situation, I would wait on the surgery. Theoretically he could still grow into it.

12bailey18 · February 2012

I have no experience with this but if it were me, I would do the surgery. It's what you wanted in the first place (a correct circumsision) and I think if I didn't have it done it would stress me out and irritate me at bath time or diaper changes. I would rather have it done and get it fixed then continue worrying about it. Which if it were me, I wouldn't be able to let it go until it was right.

RedCardinal · February 2012

12bailey18:
I have no experience with this but if it were me, I would do the surgery. It's what you wanted in the first place (a correct circumsision) and I think if I didn't have it done it would stress me out and irritate me at bath time or diaper changes. I would rather have it done and get it fixed then continue worrying about it. Which if it were me, I wouldn't be able to let it go until it was right.

This is what I would do but you as parents have to make the decision for yourselves and your little boy. Since he already had the circ' partway done I would fix the problem (with a different doctor this time).

((Hugs)) I'm sorry you are going through this.

Smores730 · February 2012

I would also personally have it redone. We kind of went threw a similar scenario with my son who had to have his urethra rebuilt. When we gave the green light for the surgery it appeared his case was minor and more cosmetic than anything (we found out later it was worse) but we felt for self esteem issues, we wanted things to look as near perfect as possible. I'd also do it asap so he remembers less and while he's young, he heals faster. My son's surgery was 4 weeks ago and much more invasive than a circ and aside from 1 remaining stitch you wouldn't know anything happened!

AmandaP678 · February 2012

My brother actually had to have his redone when he was 3 ( about 20 years ago) Our pedi kept brushing it off, it got to the point where my mom took him to a specialist to have it corrected. I'm not sure what he remembers if anything at all.

My opinion is to do it now rather than when he's older, because recovery will be much worse than now.

rsd12 · February 2012

My middle son needed corrective surgery (worried about infection sinsce his skin bridged over and it was not something you could clean). His surgery was at 27 months old, and he healed very quickly. I would cringe when he straddled things a day post surgery and it did not intefere with going pee. But you might want to seek a 2nd opinion with a urologist first.

jaemiller · February 2012

I am right there with you. My son is 2 and I have worried about his circumcision since he was 2 months old. I kept telling my ped that something wasn't right.....too much skin and it was starting to re-attach over the head of his penis. She would brush me off every time "oh it will be fine once he starts walking, gravity will help". When my son was 6 months old I told her that I wanted her to give me the ped urologist name and I wanted his opinion. She told me that IF he wanted to do a re-circ it would be for purely cosmetic reasons.....huh!!!! It took me 9 months to get in to see the ped urologist. He took one look and said that he wanted to do a re-circ. And that it was NOT just for cosmetic reasons and listed a ton of health stats for being circumcised. I wanted to cry. Its an hour long procedure where he has to be put to sleep. I'm with you on not wanting my baby to be put to sleep:(

Needless to say DH and I are beside ourselves with anger!!! I have since switched peds and the ped I am seeing now said that he would hold off on the surgery until he is a little older. I currently have my son scheduled for a re-circ in May. I'm still on the fence but I think we will go ahead and do it. My brother was never circumcised and at the age of 8, it got infected and he had to be circumcised at 8. I'm sure he has memories of that.....ouch!!! the ped urologist said that if you are going to circ or re-circ, do it before the age of 5 or 6 due to memories of it.

My advice: Pray, Pray, Pray and get a few different opinions before you make your final decision. sorry this ended up so long.

first-time-mama · February 2012

IMO I would have it done now. I have a cousin who was 16 when he had it done and it hurt ALOT. I would think putting up a fight with the doctor and having it done now would be in your sons best interest. If I was in this situation I def would rather DS go through it now and not remember it then have it done when he is older and remember the pain. Good luck.

babygirl87511 · July 2014

I know this was several years ago. But virginiawife are u still a member? I am going through this right now with my son. His circ has never looked right to me. He has too much skin left and is always getting penile adhesions. His male ped says he'll be fine n grow into it and lots of little boys deal with this. I am not only worried about the reoccuring adhesions but also his self esteem when he gets older. Will he be embarrassed of how it looks? He just turned 2. On the bottom side of his penis, theres like a weird little piece of skin/scar tissue thats grown weird. It doesnt look normal to me and if I were an older boy, it would bother me. I dont know what to do. I, like you were, am worried about putting him to sleep for surgery. Can u please share with me what u ended up doing? Thanks

eyenigh · July 2014

@babygirl87511 Go see a pediatric urologist for a second opinion. We're going through the same thing and have been going to the urologist since he was 3 months old to see if things would correct themselves and we finally made the decision to have the circumcision revised. He has recurring adhesions and it does not look normal-- and the last thing I want is my little boy to be self conscious about his penis when he gets older. I'm not crazy about him going under either but realistically, you have a much better chance of getting into a car accident on the way to the surgery than anything actually happening with the anesthesia from the surgery. Also, as others have said, I'd rather have him get it done now while he's young, heals quickly and hopefully won't remember it. The surgery itself is only about 30 minutes and, from what I've discussed with the urologist and from others that I know who have had sons go through it, they're pretty much bouncing around again in two days and back to normal in a week. I wish that we could have avoided it but we trust our doctor and I feel confident that it's a good decision. Good luck!

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