How can I help my 5 mo baby with buried penis?

[Mom_Needs_Advice]

Two days after my son's birth, I witnessed his circumcision at the hospital and presumed it was done aggressively. I brought my concerns to the attention of his pediatrition and he advised me that everything looked normal even though there was some yellow, ***** marks at the underside, base of the head of his penis.  One day later he developed a yellow-ish and slightly oozing open sore underneith the head of the penis, beneith the plastic circumcision device.  The sore trippled in size in 12 hours overnight.  I made an urgent appointment immediately the next morning.  His pediatrition prescribed an ointment which did clear the 'infection'.  
After his penis healed he did have a noticable red scar where the 'infection' was.  More importantly, I started noticing that his penis began to appear 'retracted' 1/4 to 1/2 of his original size.  Occassionally this was the issue, then after 2 months or so it began to appear retracted inward most of the time.  I knew something was not right, but had no idea that this was something that may not go away.  He is now 5 months old and his penis is now buried all the time.
Please tell me what my options are?  How do I find out if this was a direct cause of his circumcision?

[rmprdl1964]

Hi,

I don't have an answer for you but here is a link that might provide you with the information that you need.

It might be possible that following your son's circumcision that the remaining skin pulls the penis into the pelvic region if he was circumcised tightly.

I am the father of 2 sons and two daughters. One biological son and one adopted son. The adopted son was 10 months younger then our biological son. In the case of the younger son, his penis was alomost not visable if he was cold. It looked like only the glans covered by the foreskin was sticking out. One of the reasons might be that this boy was a lot heavier set then our older son. If your son is heavier then this becomes a lot more noticable. If you don't think that your son's penis is normal then you should discuss this with your doctor. I feel that at 5 months the size of his penis might be normal. there might be a big difference when he enters puberty. This was the case with our adopted son.

I would advice expecting parents not to have their sons circumcised. It is an unneeded surgery, and has no benefits as long as good hygene is practiced. The risks of circumcision is much higher then the so called benefits.

Please understand that I'm not trying to judge you,or make you feel guilty? The above mentioned information is just my own personal feeling.

Hope fully this link will provide you with information: http://www.mic.ki.se/diseases/C12.html

God bless,

Ron

[Cat10]

Yes buried penis is a complication of circumcision. Doctors should disclose these risks fully, but many parents do not get the full amount of information. Here is a list of complications that can arise from circumcision.  http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/

The answer is to not circumcise your children. Then there is the natural protection of the penis, provided by the foreskin, and no risks of buried penis, MRSA, hemorrhage, or death from the surgery.

[Lid71]

I have a two mont old and am dealing with the same problem!!!  This is how i found you.  I found this on line, it's giving me a little bit of hope and is keeping me from going crazy I hope it helps you as well.

Best regards
Lidia

Purpose

Buried penis may develop after circumcision, mostly during infancy, presumably due to peripubic fat. A surgical approach may be recommended for psychological benefits to patients and parents, and because it is believed that this condition will not improve on its own with time. The aim of this study was to assess the natural history of buried penis after newborn circumcision.

Materials and Methods

During a routine visit to the pediatrician infants with buried penis were assessed by a single pediatric surgeon between January 2004 and June 2007. In December 2007 all of these children were reexamined by the same pediatric surgeon and the natural growth of the genitalia was analyzed.

Results

A total of 88 infants were enrolled in the study. When they were first examined they were 3 to 6 months old (mean 3.3). In December 2007, after reexamination, patients were divided into groups based on age, including those younger than 1 year (14 patients), 1 to 3 years (59) and older than 3 years (15). The aspect of the genitalia was evaluated by the same pediatric surgeon for each patient. Buried penis was noted in 14 of 14 patients younger than 1 year (100%), 19 of 59 patients 1 to 3 years old (32.2%) and 1 of 15 patients older than 3 years (6.7%).

Conclusions

Buried penis after newborn circumcision is not permanent. As infants get older, and after beginning to walk, the appearance usually turns out to be normal. This resolution may be due to growth and/or maturation alone. Based on our results, we do not recommend surgery for buried penis in children younger than 3 years.

[bombero1990]

circumcision should be illegal

[nn2g2bT]

My Dad, my son and I were all born with a small, buried penis, and as a result, we all have suffered severe humiliation throughout our lives.  

In the early 1990's, when I sought treatment for my son's buried "micropenis", I did find some literature that supported treating such infants with Testosterone (in order to stimulate some additional penis growth before puberty), but since he was already in 5th Grade at that time, his Endocrinologist opted to artificially induce puberty with Testosterone injections.  

It's impossible to tell whether my son had any more penis growth (with the Testosterone injections) than he would have had anyway during puberty.  In fact the only clear effect I can see is that, as an adult, he has an inordinate amount of back hair.  

I believe there are now surgical options to treat Buried Penis which include liposuction, skin grafts to the shaft of the penis, and/or the detachment of the Suspensory Ligament (which physically retracts the penis), but...  

If I were you, I would look into Testosterone injections first, in the hope that some additional penile growth may be stimulated during infancy.