this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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I can't imagine most first time parents innately know what a baby's penis is supposed to look like, is it really that obvious?
Yeah, it's pretty obvious.
It tends to happen the most with other atypicalities, but even when it doesn't, it just doesn't look right. Humans have certain proportions, ratios, and we can usually tell when someone is off by a fairly small margin. Genitals are no different in that regard.
You might not immediately think "micropenis", but you'd be able to tell things weren't normative.
Now, it might be pretty easy to shove that aside and assume it would grow later on, and they do. They just don't grow to normative proportions, they stay micro, just not the same size as they start.
Just another anecdote, but I have 2 boys. I can't tell if one has a micropenis and the other has a macropenis. One looks smaller than proportional, but not "micro?" One looks, well, otherwise. They are both huge kids otherwise.. Maybe they are both near other sides of average, but I'm not spending time trying to figure that out.
Well, if they're much past infancy, there's only so much that could be done until they're adults anyway. Afaik, the kind of hormonal treatments to cause growth work way less past the early years. After that, it tends to need surgical intervention to change, but that's just based on the last time I was reading up on it, which has been about a year at this point.
That being said, it's worth talking to their doctor because the underlying causes can cause other problems that would be better detected early.
It's a really simple thing to have checked, it's just measuring the penis and comparing that to charts. No trauma involved, no complicated procedure, and unless it does point to a formal diagnosis there's no further action needed.
It's one of those things where knowing can give everyone involved time to prepare for anything down the road.
what if you live in a region that outlaws hormonal treatments for minors
Afaik, nowhere has tried to ban that kind of treatment, only the ones for transition.