Polgara69 wrote:Or mine. Do you think the doctor just says 'ok then we will whip it off' the first time you go and see him? My son was under the hospitals care for nearly 2 years before his consultant said 'yes, lets whip it off'. He had various things to do to try and get it to go back on its own but it wouldnt. Sometimes there is nothing you can do. Im sure the Colonels son had a similar experiance.
Well, Mooncat does actually have a point.
Some doctors are inexperienced. And in the U.S they simply don't bother, it's a circumcision or nothing. So, Mooncat is correct to an extent.
However, in some cases other treatments just aren't possible. My eldest son (who was 15 at the time, and now 18.) had a bad case where glans could not be seen at all, and the foreskin was so tight it looked like a refuge sack tied up with string. Urine used to spray everywhere, it would balloon, and urine would get trapped in the foreskin during urination and dribble out later on (looking like he'd wet himself). As a result of this, he got infections, which were painful for him. Also, he had to constantly put a piece of loo roll in his pants after going to wee to collect the urine that would leak out afterwards.
In addition, erections were painful for him as the skin would not retract but tighten, and being that he was at "that age" it became very upsetting for him. However, since his circumcision there haven't been any problems and he is very happy with the result. In hindsight, it would have been better had he been circumcised at birth to avoid the pain before and after the operation, but these things we just can't predict.
I know there are steriod creams, and also a dorsal slit that can be done. However, my son's case was bad. There was no way either of them would have worked. My wife is a GP, and there is no way she'd have allowed him to have it done if it could have been sorted otherwise (I mean, no parent would put a kid through a skin graft rather than get spot cream - if you see what I mean).
As I am circumcised, my wife wasn't too concerned about it, and it also reassured him to know I was.
My youngest, Andrew, has had a few urine infections. But nothing to the extent that Ryan had.
So, Mooncat does make a valid point, but circumcision is sometimes necessary for phimosis.