Author: Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE

Caring for your son’s foreskin is pretty much a hands-off job. But knowing what is normal and how your son’s foreskin develops and changes over time is essential for every parent to a boy with an uncircumcised penis.

In the beginning, during infancy, your son’s uncircumcised penis needs no special care. The foreskin is a piece of skin overlying the outside of your son’s penis. You never need to pull the foreskin back or detach it in any way. You clean it just like any other skin surface on his body.

Over the first 5 + years of your son’s life, the foreskin will gradually “retract” or pull away from the head of his penis. This happens without intervention as the connective tissue bonding the foreskin to the head of his penis dissolves on its own. As this happens, you can teach your son to wash the end of his penis with soap and water and rinse it well. Some boys will be able to fully retract or pull back their foreskin by the time they start Kindergarten while others may not fully retract it until puberty. Both are okay.

Never force, pull, or rip the foreskin back for your son–your son is the only one who should move his foreskin.

Once he is able to fully retract the foreskin, keeping it clean is his job. Teach him to gently retract the foreskin, rinse the inside of the foreskin and the head of the penis with warm water, and then allow the foreskin to return to its extended position on its own.

The foreskin should never be stuck back or retracted in a painful way. If your son has swelling, redness, or drainage from his foreskin, call his pediatrician for advice.

Very helpful site about Foreskin Care from Paediatric Society of New Zealand

Images above Courtesy of National Organization of Circumcision

Care For An Uncircumcised Penis