A lot of the male children born at the same time as my oldest went on to have their foreskins removed when they were three or four due to repeated balanitis, a condition where the glans of the penis becomes red and inflamed due to phimosis or a foreskin that is too tight.
If the skin cannot be pushed back to clean the area properly, infection can set in causing swelling. If left untreated this can cause permanent damage to the penis. In those days, repeated infections normally resulted in a small operation to have the foreskin completely removed – in other words, circumcision.
I can remember my daughter coming to me after a playdate where there were four boys under 10 and the kids all just threw off off their clothes and jumped in the pool with no concern for their nudity.
My daughter, having pretty much grown up with these guys and sharing the house with a younger brother of her own, seemed completely unperturbed by this – she is, after all, her mother’s daughter.
It was later that I realised I probably should have been paying a little more attention to what was going on that afternoon.
‘Mum, how do you get a blue willy?’ She asked in a tone that suggested a joke was about to be forthcoming. In response to my rather bemused look, she replied with the punchline: ‘Have the foreskin cut off!’
She was probably about seven at the time! Certainly, this was not a side-effect of which I was aware but I will take her (and her friends’) words for it…
There were also a couple of guys who had to endure this operation when they were in the late teens/early twenties. At this age, the procedure is a little more complicated due to putting pressure on the stitches with involuntary morning wood.
More recently, full circumcision has been replaced by a technique called Preputioplasty, where a small slit is made in the foreskin, which loosens it to allow full retraction of the foreskin.
Occasionally, problems reoccur because not enough of the foreskin was removed during the first operation and a repeat procedure is required.
I should also point out that repeated bouts of balanitis can also be caused by systemic Candida infection so, if you want more advice on a diet that will help to rid you of this distressing condition, as well as fungal toenail problems, jock itch and other seemingly unrelated issues, you should go to Treat Thrush, Candida and Yeast Infections
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