https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 04 Jun 2026 05:59:06 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1983065 Sat, 13 Dec 2014 03:13:38 +0000 Espion 1983065@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@keepcalmcarrie: Peeling back the foreskin that has adhered to the glans is like peeling off the top layer of skin cells. Basically the worst carpet burn in the worst place ever, so it definitely hurts. Glob Vaseline or aquaphor on the area and it will heal over the next week. </p> <p>Often these will either release on their own, or you can treat it like removing a bandaid by pushing at the edge over the course of several weeks. Each fraction of a millimeter gained gets coated in Vaseline or aquaphor to prevent readherence. Absolute worst case scenario: they don't release and get irreversibly fused to the glans. Doesn't happen very often at all, though. And even if it does, it's more of a cosmetic than functional issue. Wall me if you'd like more details! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1983060 Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:19:32 +0000 Mrs Green Grass 1983060@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have experience on this one too, d has a ton if extra foreskin and we actually did go to a urologist and he said he didn't recommend doing anything. I do believe d has a little adhesion at the base, but we don't force that, we just pull everything back once a day to keep it like it is. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1982999 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 22:57:52 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 1982999@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Yoyo: My mom said this happened to my brother repeatedly as a toddler, and he grew out of it (the things you learn about family medical history when you have a LO of your own!) </p> <p>I talked to the nurse today and she said if it's causing a lot of discomfort to stop pushing it back (which I already decided I wasn't doing again anyway). She mentioned perhaps referring him to a urologist after his 2 year appointment for a "correction," but again, I'm not at all interested in doing anything further unless there is a real medical need. </p> <p>If we have another boy, we won't be having him circumcised. I didn't feel strongly about it either way when J was born, and I still don't have an opinion on what anyone else decides to do with their own LOs, but I just do not want the risk of complications again. It's still pretty red and sore today, but not as bad as yesterday. I just hope it heals up quickly and there are no issues in the future.</p> <p>Thanks everyone for your thoughts and reassurance! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1982972 Fri, 12 Dec 2014 22:25:49 +0000 Mrs. Yoyo 1982972@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@keepcalmcarrie: we were referred to a pediatric urologist at because of adhesion and he took one look and said it would correct itself over time, and that if we took action now it was very likely to simply happen again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981262 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 21:14:18 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 1981262@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@butterbean: I know, he keeps saying "boo boo!!!" and then "All done!" which is what he says when he wants to stop doing something. Usually eating, of course, but I guess it applies here now too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981257 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 21:12:55 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 1981257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@twodoghouse: J almost looks uncircumcised too, but the pediatrician referred to it as a "loose circumcision" and it's basically the bare minimum foreskin removal. I have no interest in re-circumcision either unless there's going to be some kind of medical problem as a result. </p> <p>@Raindrop: Yeah, this was really tough to watch today. Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981242 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 21:05:27 +0000 butterbean 1981242@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We pull back his skin every now and then and more frequently when it is red and apply Vaseline after every diaper change...</p> <p>It was hard to listen to him say "ow-wee" every time we pulled back the skin...</p> <p>Stay strong! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981237 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 21:02:51 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 1981237@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catomd00: Ugh, I hope that isn't the case here. </p> <p>@Applesandbananas: I am too. I'm actually pretty pissed at the NP now. As I said, J raises hell at the doctor's office at the drop of a hat - being laid down, getting his temperature taken, etc - so at the time I was in my usual "help him calm down about something that's not a big deal" mode. But based on how the rest of the day has gone and what I've read, I'm angry. She didn't really explain anything in advance. It was more like "I'm just going to do this thing now, no big deal..." I wish they'd used numbing cream. Or prescribed some for us to take and us at home! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981236 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 21:02:35 +0000 jmarionsmith 1981236@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@keepcalmcarrie: poor baby!! :crying: definitely still keep up with the vaseline because it will provide a barrier while it's still sore. but yeah, if what my ped said is true, i'd just not freak out about it anymore. (and i was definitely freaking out when it happened!) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981227 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:58:26 +0000 Raindrop 1981227@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow this totally sucks!! I'm sorry your little one is going through.</p> <p>For some reason our son's circumcision was delayed a few weeks because he had some weird fatty fold condition which they explain was prone to regrow/reattaching if we did it when he was just born. So we waited I believe 6 weeks to have it done and it was tough ... we wished we could have done it at birth but maybe it was good since we haven't had this issue?</p> <p>Edit - the reason we wished at the time to do it sooner (aka at birth) because you kind of get attached to your kid in 6 weeks... and it was tough watching a doctor do circumcision on him and he was crying a lot... DH almost fainted!</p> <p>Good luck! I hope it turns out well! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981225 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:58:04 +0000 twodoghouse 1981225@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son has never had adhesion, but he does have a lot of "redundant skin," that we push back to clean around. Our pediatrician mentioned recently that he may be a candidate for re-circumcision, but we aren't interested in having that done. So we will proceed with keeping it well cleaned and see how it goes. It may change as he gets older, or he may just always appear uncircumcised (as he basically does now). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981221 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:57:02 +0000 Applesandbananas 1981221@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This happened to LO and they used numbing cream and then we did Vaseline for a few days and he was fine. I'm surprised they didn't do any kind of numbing?! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981215 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:51:58 +0000 catomd00 1981215@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's very common and I do also know quite a few people whose sons had to have the circumcision redone as a result. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981214 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:51:30 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 1981214@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jmarionsmith: Thanks, that does help. That's what I plan to do - if it doesn't reattach, great, if it does, oh well. </p> <p>I don't know if it's because he's older, or because she was pretty forceful, but he was screaming for a solid 2 or 3 minutes while she pushed it back. Both times I've tried it during diaper changes today, he screams, shakes, and sweats. I couldn't even give him a bath tonight because he was getting hysterical about it.</p> <p>So now I'm sitting hear wallowing in mama guilt and consulting Dr. Google. Thanks for the reassurance :)</p> <p>ETA - @Tanjowen: @Mamasig: Thank you both too. I'd never heard of this before and I'm really diligent about keeping him clean down there and everything, so I'm relieved to hear it's not super rare and it's not anything I did! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981212 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:51:03 +0000 Mamasig 1981212@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>That happened to my older son even though we pulled it back. Friends and the pediatrician warned me very early on that it could happen. Vaseline or aquaphor with diaper changes helped the redness go away. It took a couple of days. I still do it every so often on my older son and every day on the 7 month old. I'm all in his business making sure it looks ok! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981206 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:47:00 +0000 Tanjowen 1981206@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our pediatrician checked each time and said it's pretty common. He had to separate it at our 9 month well visit, but it hadn't reattached but a tiny bit. Vaseline dabbed on helped the few days afterward. Our doc said it is common until about 1.5 years and then should cease to be an issue. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981191 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:39:10 +0000 jmarionsmith 1981191@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>this happened to my son when he was around 12 months old. the pediatrician separated it and he flinched so i know it hurt (though no screaming!) the ped told us to put vaseline on at every diaper change and to pull it back once a day after bath. but that if it happened again we could just leave it alone and puberty would take care of it...</p> <p>we did the vaseline for a few weeks (btw, it did get pretty red and he was definitely sore for a few days) but it ended up reattaching anyways and we just don't mess with it anymore. at his 2 year appointment the ped didn't bring it up at all. </p> <p>hope that helps! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/penile-adhesions-after-circumcision-anyones-lo-experience-this#post-1981174 Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:32:27 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 1981174@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>J - who is now 21 months - had a regular, uncomplicated circumcision with a plastibell as a newborn. </p> <p>We mentioned at a well-visit AGES ago (when he was 4 months? 6 months? I don't know now) that it looked like the foreskin was maybe regrowing, but our old pediatrician checked it and said it was fine, that he would grow into it.</p> <p>We recently moved, and at our new patient appointment today we brought this up with a NP (didn't see the pediatrician today). She looked, said that he had "moderate penile adhesions," and pushed everything back, "re-separating" the foreskin and the head. He screamed bloody murder and I felt pretty sick about it, but he screams at the doctor's office over them peeking into his ears, so I didn't think things were terribly wrong. </p> <p>Now I'm very worried - it is soooooo red down there. The NP suggested pushing it back at every diaper change for the next 3 months until his 2 year well-check, but he is crying so hard that I don't think I can do it. I put triple antibiotic ointment plus pain relief around it, and I gave him a dose of Motrin. He cried when he was peeing today too. I just feel awful.</p> <p>I think I'm just going to put the ointment on over the next few days to prevent infection plus hopefully provide pain relief and prevent the skin from reattaching. But no more pushing it back like that. I'm reading a lot of conflicting information, but many studies suggest that the adhesions will separate on their own as toddlers get older and there's not need to force them to separate like that. Does anyone else have experience with this? Just feeling really sad for my little guy tonight :( </p>