# Foreskin problems in the elderly?



## babygrant (Mar 10, 2005)

How common are foreskin problems in the elderly? We did a quick little section in school about foreskin, but not much. Pretty much that was said was that foreskin is a big iossue in the elderly. Becomes VERY common to get very very tight and not be able to retract, gets infected, blah blah blah.

Anyways, is it common to have foreskin problems in the elderly? My first resident I will have is intact that's why I'm wondering. I know that he hhas foreskin issues but I'm wondering if it's because the other staff are not caring for his penis correctly or what.


----------



## glongley (Jun 30, 2004)

This brochure from NOCIRC on care of the intact foreskin in the elderly/disabled population should be helpful. Please share it with your co-workers.

http://www.nocirc.org/publish/8pam.pdf

Gillian


----------



## Lauren82 (Feb 26, 2007)

Both my mother and I worked with the elderly, mom as a nurse and me as a nurse aide. The main issues we saw were that people were not cleaning the penis properly! Elderly men (and women!) tend to have a bit more folds to clean in and it's common to see that they aren't being bathed as well as they should be. Mom has actually had patients THANK her for cleaning them thoroughly.







That's my experience.


----------



## mntnmom (Sep 21, 2006)

Gee, seems so basic. i don't understand why people get all upset about it?


----------



## JustKiya (Feb 5, 2007)

Urm, what? Do people not get old in Europe, Asia, Africa? Most of the WORLD doesn't circ. If there was a on-going problem with eldery intact men, I'm sure it would be discussed in medical journals, medical classes, etc, etc.


----------



## KMK_Mama (Jan 29, 2006)

We just had this problem with my grandfather who is in the nursing home at the local VA hospital. The nurses there were so rude to my grandmother. He got an infection, probably because of improper care and they told her what a nuisance his foreskin is and how much easier it would be if he was circumcised. My grandmother was so upset and even called me to ask if I would reconsider and have Keegan circumcised!?!?!?! Uhm no. I went on to explain that it was not a foreskin problem but a nursing staff problem and she agreed that they were not taking care of it properly. The excuse they used was, "they just have too much to do and would rather not deal with it."














:


----------



## carriebft (Mar 10, 2007)

*makes a mental note to move the hell out of the USA before this type of care is necessary*

I wouldn't want to lose part of mine or my husband's genitals







:


----------



## Lauren82 (Feb 26, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KMK_Mama* 
We just had this problem with my grandfather who is in the nursing home at the local VA hospital. The nurses there were so rude to my grandmother. He got an infection, probably because of improper care and they told her what a nuisance his foreskin is and how much easier it would be if he was circumcised. My grandmother was so upset and even called me to ask if I would reconsider and have Keegan circumcised!?!?!?! Uhm no. I went on to explain that it was not a foreskin problem but a nursing staff problem and she agreed that they were not taking care of it properly. The excuse they used was, "they just have too much to do and would rather not deal with it."














:










That's terrible! Unfortunately I saw a lot of young nurses and aides act very immature about cleaning genitals during bath/shower time and just do it half @ss or not at all.


----------



## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

Old people can get medical problems with *any* of their parts, it's one of the sad parts of getting old. You should have seen the shape my GM's feet were in the last few years she was around, but none of her care providers ever complained that they should have been cut off when she was born.


----------



## My2Matthews (Aug 9, 2004)

I work on a floor with a lot of elderly intact male patients. The only problems I have ever seen had to do with a nurse or nurse's aid that left the foreskin retracted after a bath, no one ever caught it and it led to paraphimosis. That is not the fault of the foreskin but of improper care. And I have to say that I once missed it on one of my patients. I had him one day and during my assessment noticed that he was circumcised. I didn't think much more about it (except to think, poor guy! lol) About a week later I heard his nurse that day had to call a urologist because his foreskin was stuck behind the head and very swollen. So this man's foreskin was left retracted for over a week. He was too elderly and debilitated to do anything about it. Very sad!


----------



## GoodMomma (Aug 6, 2006)

I worked in a nursing home for a little over 4 years (before becoming a SAHM) so I took care of a lot of elderly men and NEVER once had one resident that had any problems being intact. Now the elderly women were the ones getting UTIs.


----------



## mamasophy (Mar 15, 2007)

This comes up in circ discussions often from pro-circers. My mom is an RN for 50 years who now specializes in nursing home and dementia care (consults on the running of nursing homes). She has also given lectures to MDs on geriatrics. She says that she's never heard of foreskin being a problem in elder care - it's the lack of overall care that leads to all sorts of problems, not the circ status of the men (most of that generation are intact unless for religion). She actually laughed at the idea, saying that was absolutely ridiculous and just an excuse for substandard care. Women are harder to keep clean! And my mom used to be pro circ (not any more) - even back in the day she never blamed the foreskin for any problems in elderly men.


----------



## jessjgh1 (Nov 4, 2004)

Reminds me..... I need to print out that brochure and stick it in a few mailboxes where I volunteer, before I stop working there.

Jessica


----------

