What causes redness and swelling on penile head in a child?
Patient: My 16 month old son is not circumsized. When he was born I asked his pediatrician how to care for his penis. He told me never to retract his skin and just wash. When he was four months old I took him to the ER because he had a fever for days that was not going down. They inserted a catheter and accussed me of not taking care of his penis. His foreskin had never been retracted until that point because of the advice I had received. They showed me the head of his penis and it had like a white build up. So they instructed me to pull his foreskin back and clean it every time he has a bath. His penis always seems to bother him . Tonight he has been crying for hours, but I couldn t figure out what was wrong. I finally checked his penis and the head looks really red and the opening looks swollen. My husband is now at the ER with him. But, I feel very skeptical as to what they might do (I feel that they have caused the problem with his penis 1. because of inserting a catheter 2. because of retracting his foreskin at 4 mo old). Please help. Doctor: Thanks for asking.The fault neither lies in you nor your doctors.In my opinion it's the uncircumcised penis which is the culprit.Studies ha proven that uncircumcised penis can lead to recurrent infections.So I would advise a therapeutic circumcision once this infection of penis is over.Good luck.