Advice about the Penis
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Sept 2006
My son is 10 years old and has a penis that does not extend to
its full length unless he is urinating or during an erection.
Instead, most of the time, it is as if it retracts so that only
about 1/2 inch is visible. We took him to an urologist when he
was 5, and he assured us this sometimes happens and that it will
correct itself by puberty. But, somehow I find myself worrying
about it again. I'm wondering if anyone has had a son with a
similar situation, and if so when did his penis change? Thanks
for your advice.
Thanks for your help
Is your youngster overweight or obese? Frequently, in such
cases, the shaft of the penis is hidden by the excessive fatty
tissue and appears ''too small''. If it extends to a ''normal''
length during erection, then there is probably little to worry
about. I assume that the testicles are properly descended into
the scrotum.
I had a similar problem when I was a child and my father was
concerned about such. Nothing was done and all turned out
quite normally when I ''grew up''. I have sired four children
and have had a satisfactory sex life for all of my 68 years.
If ''normal'' signs of puberty do not develop at a normal time,
then I would check with an urologist once again
Robert
April 2006
i need some reasurrance about our 8 month old son's little penis--it
always seems to be ''hidden'' by his skin. i rarely see it come
straight out unless he's ready to pee and even then its still
surrounded by what is i guess the foreskin or the skin around it (not
sure what to call it). if we push down on that skin we can see it but
it still looks so small. he was circumcised and we think that they
just didn't take a lot of the foreskin off, but our doctor says his
penis is perfectly normal and it won't actually come out of the skin
area (not sure what to call it) until he is in 2nd or 3rd grade. this
is reasurring and i should just stop worrying about it but then i see
the little boys in george's playgroup being changed and their penis'
all stick out! some are huge! i'm becoming one of those mothers who
is comparing their child and i hate it. i DON'T want this to be an
issue with my son, and i can't believe i'm letting this bother me.
but i find myself hiding his penis when changing his diaper in front
of others. this is HORRIBLE, i know. i just want to know if anyone
else out there has a son with a hidden little penis. its actually
quite cute and looks like a little button, but i just want to know
that he isn't going to be made fun of in first grade when he's got to
go to the bathroom. since i don't have a penis and am not too
familiar with how they are supposed to grow (can't find any info on
this online) i would appreciate any advice or information. --penis
envy!
My son had, and still to some degree has, a similar problem. We
refered
to his penis as an ''inny'' much as one would refer to a belly button
as
an inny. It would only come out when he went pee or during the
occassion ''pokey'' as we'd call his mini- erections. The skin (he was
also circumsized) folded around it although didn't come to a tip like
an
uncircumsized penis. I think some of it had to do with that the whole
area was just kinda pudgy.
With that said, he is now 4 1/2 and for the most part it tends to pop
out more than in. In his case, the skin adhered to the tip of his
penis
so that it doesn't pull back all the way so it still has a little bit
of
a turtle look and doesn't look like other boys' penises, circumsized or
not. I also think that enough skin wasn't taken off yet have been
reassured he'd grow into it. He hasn't quite yet, but it is better.
We'll see. I do worry about it less though, and it looks more and more
''normal,'' whatever that means, everyday.
Also, please don't feel bad about worrying about it or think that
you're
horrible to care. Its not that you're worried people will think poorly
about you cause your son's penis is little, you're worried about him
and
don't want him to be teased. That is a normal thing for a mom to feel
and its great that you care so much about him. Just make sure as he
gets older that he doesn't pick up on any of your vibes about it.
Perhaps you could see a urologist for some reassurance. If they think
its fine, and his pediatrician thinks its fine, most likely, in the
end,
it will be.
mom with penis woes too
we too have the same issue with our baby boy. since our first child was
a girl, my husband and i had no idea what was supposed to be normal.
it
started being hidden at about 8 weeks and he is now almost a year old
and we still rarely see it! like you, our pediatrician assured us that
this is perfectly normal. also, a family member is a urologist who
referred to the area above our baby's penis as a ''fat pad'' and also
assured us everything is fine. we too tried doing research on this
issue
and didn't see it addressed in any of the baby books or online.
everyone
is telling us not to worry about it. i hope it gives you some
reassurance that your baby is not alone!
where is it?
Ah, yes, the things you have to worry about once you become a mother of
boys! I have 2 sons, ages 6 mos and 2 yrs, and both of them had so
much
skin left after the circumcision that I thought something must be
wrong.
The baby's penis is still entirely hidden unless you push the skin
back;
the 2yo's shows on its own but you still have to push skin back to see
what I would think of as a penis shape. The doctor says it's fine.
Bottom line, I think both of them had what the doc would call a
''conservative'' circumcision (eg, could/should have taken off more
skin
than they did), but I think they'll both turn out fine in the end. If
you're really concerned, get a second opinion from a urologist, but
know
that any ''revisions'' at this stage would involve general anesthesia.
I decided it was better to wait and see.
way more than I ever wanted to know
I don't really have any answers for you, but based on my own
observations, there does seem to be a huge range in size between boys.
My son's penis does seem to be on the small size and I was wondering if
he was normal the other day when I saw a boy the same age with a penis
that looked several times bigger!
Chances are your son is somewhere on the normal range as well, or it
not, that he will be in time. My husband said as a child that he didn't
spend any time ''comparing'', so hopefully it won't be an issue later
on.
Mom of a boy
Please consult another pediatrician for your own peace of mind and for
your son's sake. There are several correctable things it could be.
anon
I am the mom of fraternal boy twins (age 2.5) who are circumcised. One
has a penis that looks to me like I expected a penis should (I only
really got a look at a penis when I saw adult ones when I became
sexually active so it's all I have to base it on). You can see the
shaft
and the head. The other little guy has a penis that sounds like what
you
describe -- there is just a little button and I can't make out the head
or the shaft (as I expected I would be able to in a circumcised penis).
The doctor told me that he may have a slight amount of redundant
foreskin but that really, once this child had erections and his penis
grew, the head would separate and pop out from the wrinkled sac where
it
likes to reside these days.
The doctor was able to pull the penis out a bit to show me the shape of
the head and that it was indeed detached. Ask your pediatrician to take
a look if you are concerned.
anon
I too have a son who had a ''hidden'' penis, exactly as you describe. I had the same
suspicion about the circumcision, but our pediatrician has always said it was because
of fat in his groin area. He's now two, and I can tell you that it is much better now,
at least we can see it now! However, I like you, find myself making comparisons to
other boys, and wondering if his penis is smaller than most, and whether that will
change later. I also have not read or seen any information on the topic.
anon
Hello,
When I first read your post I had to chuckle, remembering how I wrote a
very similar post on this subject almost three years ago. Ous son also
had a ''hidden'' penis, starting a few weeks after his circumcision,
and we were worried that it was not normal. Most of my friends with boys
had chosen not to circumcise, and their boys'
penises seemed huge in comparison to my son's; all that you could see of
it were little flaps of the skin surrounding it. My family used to make
many teasing comments about the size as well, which needless to say did
not help the situation.
What I did was to occassionaly manipulate the skin by pushing down
gently, just to make sure it did not adhere to the head. His penis
eventually reappeared around 1
1/2 years, as he slimmed down, and there wasn't as much fat around his
groin for the penis to hide in. Now he is 3, and toilet traning. He
plays with himself all the time, and often has an erection. I'm happy to
say he seems normal in size, and I don't notice any extra forskin. I
would say don't worry, this will pass as he grows and slims down. Try
not to worry too much.
amy
I didn't see the original post, but ''hidden penises'' are very common,
especially in chubby baby boys. This is because there are ligaments
that pull the penis back ( that's why little boys don't *hang* the way
adult men do, because the relaxation of the ligaments happens in
puberty). In chubby boys, the fat covers much of the shaft. To see
your boy's ''true'' length, place your index and middle fingers on
either side of the penis and gently push in toward the abdomen-this
exposes the shaft.
a Pediatrician
Sept 2003
My baby started life with a normal looking penis, but not long after he was
circumcised it started to retreat so that the skin covered
the head again. He is now six months old, and the penis has completely disappeared
so all that's left are little flaps of skin. If I push
down on the skin, the head pokes out for a moment, and I do this a couple times a
week to make sure the skin doesn't re-attach. He
is a very chunky little boy, and I'm sure once he loses some baby fat things will
return to normal, but I'm curious if anyone has
experienced this, and if so, at what age did the penis reappear? My husband has been
taking this very personally, especially with
all the comments we get from other family members.
anon
Yes, my son's did that too. I think when he started walking, we started to
see the penis again! Don't worry - it's just a baby thing.
July 2002
Hello,
My son is scheduled this month to have surgery to correct a
condition called hypospadius. He has a moderate level of the
condition. I am hoping to hear from other parents whose sons
have undergone this procedure. Any advice, thoughts, etc. would
be GREATLY appreciated! We are planning to do the surgery at
Kaiser.
Thank you very much,
Heather
My son has hypospadia and hypocordia (minor genital birth defect).
We opted to not pursue surgery when he was an infant, as the
hypospadia is mild and the extent of the hypocordia could not be
determined until he got an erection. Also, we were not given any
compelling reasons why surgery in infancy was better than waiting
until he was old enough to decide for himself (and waitng for
suregery techniques to improve even more). Well he's now 7 and I
think we need to start developing a relationship with a urologist
before he hits adolescence. I was thinking we would work with
Sumner Marshall but I hear that he is about to retire. I am
worried that most urologists will be one trick ponies who advocate
''cutting'' without much discussion of anything else. I am
wondering what other families have done and who they have
worked with. Thanks!
Hi,
My son was born with hypospadia and we are going ahead with the procedure to
correct it once he is one year old. We have met with Dr. Chi Lee who is in
the same practice as the Dr. you mentioned (I believe he has actually
already retired). We decided to go ahead with the surgery because at least
in our son's case, it is off enough that as he gets older he would most
likely end up urinating on his shoes and later in adulthood the Dr. said
that he could have trouble with sperm placement if he wanted to have
children. I think it might be worth you meeting with Dr. Lee (he came highly
recommended to us and other parents in the ''network'' have responded to me
about him as well).
mom
My son does not have the problem that you are facing, but a few months ago
we had to see a urologist for another minor problem. The first doctor we saw
was in Marshal's practice, and he very quickly recommended cutting, which
seemed extreme to me. He offered few other alternatives, and none that were
non-invasive. We sought a second opinion with Hiep Nguen at UCSF pediatric
urology department. I can't recommend him highly enough. He was kind and
caring, took time to explain to us the situation, gave us a stack of papers
to read about the problem and current medical options (many from Europe,
where circumcision is not the norm), and solved our son's problem with a
simple topical cream. He was also available via email during the treatment
period for any questions we had (we had to apply the cream for three weeks).
I felt there was a world of differences between practices--UCSF seemed to be
much more current on new proceedures and treatments. Good luck to you and
your son!
Anonymous
this page was last updated: Apr 13, 2009
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