Recommended age to start checking for foreskin retractability?

[NPAmy]

How old should an uncircumcised male patient be before you check for foreskin retractability at well-child check-ups?

[rac1, ASN, BSN, RN]

Ask the child/teen first, if it is fully retractable. THen ask them to do it. I feel like this is such an invasive measure. And it is true that some males are not retractable until their teens.

I have 3 sons, we did not circumcise them. I find it appalling that some doctors don't know not to retract a 2yo's foreskin.

I make it a point to talk about this before clothes come off/exams begin now. I had one (South American) doctor drop his jaw after I told him the story of how a young doctor retracted one of my boys without asking me or him. He then tried to lecture me about how that is not necessary, blah blah blah...ya I know, preaching to the choir......

So, personally - not retracting at all - asking, then watching to see if it is retractable, yes.

[SydneyKidney]

I'll repost my comment from a similar post:

So, I asked a friend of mine (who's a pediatric urologist, and probably the smartest woman I know) about this topic, and she said that she recommends retraction should be regularly checked during physicals, BUT not until the boy is 12 years old, and even then, the retraction should be incredibly gentle. Following this advice, I've actually discovered foreskin and/or hygiene problems in several patients that they either were too embarrassed to mention, or didn't even know they had.