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"Question My son frequently has a sore penis. It is red at the end and he says that it stings.  I put zinc nappy cream on the tip when he says it is hurting. The redness then noticeably lessens and may even disappear for a while, and then it comes back.  I always think that this happens because he isn`t cleaning it properly, but don`t really know how he should be cleaning it.  He has never pulled his foreskin back completely, in fact I don`t think he can. Is this anything to do with it?  Answer This is a common problem in little boys, but one which is usually easily remedied. The foreskin does not retract very much at all at your son&amp;#039;s age and you should not attempt to do it forcibly.  Washing under the foreskin becomes more important at and after puberty when an accumulation of secretions can otherwise occur.  Your son&amp;#039;s problem is basically caused by a tight foreskin (phimosis) with only a very narrow opening through which he wees.  Provided his foreskin does not balloon out when he wees, the opening is almost certainly sufficient and in time it will expand and cause no problem.  At the moment however, the narrowness is predisposing to irritation of the skin by the ammonia content of the urine. This is known, in fact, as ammoniacal dermatitis.  The barrier creams you have been using will certainly help to protect the sensitive skin there from becoming sore, but when the redness and discomfort flares up again, the best thing would be a small amount of antibiotic ointment daubed on the tip of the penis such as Bactroban (mupirocin).  If the problem still proves to be recurrent, it may be that your son will require a circumcision.  Yours sincerely The NetDoctor Medical Team  Other Q&amp;amp;amp;As Dealing with an undescended testicle Explaining circumcision Is my son&amp;#039;s scrotum normal? My baby boy gets erections. Is this normal? My son has a tight foreskin My son has an undescended testicle My son has one testicle My son&amp;#039;s foreskin is attached to the head of his penis My son&amp;#039;s left testicle hasn&amp;#039;t dropped My 12 year old cannot pull his foreskin back My two-year-old has undescended testicles One of my son&amp;#039;s testicles is enlarged Tell me about circumcision of baby boys Testis pain in an eight-year-old Undescended testicle removal What is smegma? When to pull the foreskin back?  Last updated 23.04.2014 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ask-the-expert/pregnancy-and-family/a10171/is-my-five-year-olds-sore-penis-due-to-poor-hygiene/>