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The word '''hygiene''' comes from Greek, and it means "the protection and promotion of health." It has been mis-understood to mean ''cleanliness''. Keeping the body clean is only part of what it takes to be healthful. In some cases, excessive washing can actually cause health problems.<ref name="birley1993">{{Construction SiteREFjournal |last=Birley |init=HDL |author-link= |last2=Walker |init2=MM |author2-link= |last3=Luzzi |init3=GA |author3-link= |last4=Bell |init4=R |author4-link= |etal=yes |title=Clinical Features and management of recurrent balanitis; association with atopy and genital washing] |trans-title= |language= |journal=Genitourin Med |location= |date=1993-10 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=400-3 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1195128/pdf/genitmed00029-0074.pdf |quote= |format=PDF |pubmedID=8244363 |pubmedCID=1195128 |DOI=10.1136/sti.69.5.400 |accessdate=2023-12-19}}</ref>

The word '''hygiene''' comes from Greek==Victorian usage== Victorian doctors falsely believed that thinking immoral or impure thoughts could cause neurological disorders such as feeblemindedness or epilepsy. They also believed that [[masturbation]] would cause one to think immoral or impure thoughts that would cause brain damage! Therefore, and it means "the protection [[foreskin]] and promotion of healthmasturbation were viewed as unhygenic." Keeping the body clean is only part So when a Victorian doctor spoke of what it takes to be healthful. In some cases[[circumcision]] being hygienic, excessive washing can actually cause he meant mental health problems, ''not'' physical cleanliness.

Misinformation abounds regarding the hygiene of the [[intact ]] [[penis]]. In the [[United States]], especially, doctors tend to be ignorant, misinformed, or simply uninformed concerning the hygenic hygienic care of [[intact ]] men and childrenboys, and this happens for a variety of reasons. As of yet now, America is primarily a country where circumcision is [[United_States_of_America#Prevalence_of_circumcision| prevalent]], and thus [[intact ]] male genitals are unfamiliarto many Americans. Many American medical doctors, are ignorant of the subject because they are themselves [[circumcised]], wives to circumcised men, and/or mothers to circumcised children. Additionally, care of the intact male genitals is rarely mentioned in medical school. The [[foreskin ]] and the proper care for [[intact ]] genitals tends to be absent in pediatric literature.<refname="osborn1981">{{REFjournal |last=Osborn |init=LM, |author-link= |last2=Metcalf |init2=TJ, |author2-link= |last3=Mariani |init3=EM. |author3-link= |etal=no |title=Hygienic care in uncircumcised infants. |trans-title= |language= |journal=Pediatrics |location= |date=1981;-03 |volume=67: |issue= |pages=365-7 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/hygiene/osborn1/ |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=7243473 |pubmedCID= |DOI= |accessdate=2020-06-07}}</ref>

This this article provides factual information to help medical personnel and parents understand the proper care of the penis in its unaltered state.

One of the most common alibis justifications cited for non-theraputic therapeutic [[circumcision ]] of a boy is that it is supposed to facilitate hygiene. However, according the "Circumcision Policy Statement" produced by the "Task Force on Circumcision" appointed by the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], which was published in ''Pediatrics '' in 1999 and reaffirmed on September 1, 2005, "there is little evidence to affirm the association between [[circumcision ]] status and optimal penile hygiene".<refname="aap1999">American Academy of Pediatrics: Circumcision Policy Statement; {{REFjournal |last=Task Force on Circumcision" |first= |author-link= |etal=no |title=Circumcision Policy Statement |trans-title= |language= |journal=Pediatrics Vol |location= |date=1999-03 |volume=103 |issue=3 |pages=686-93 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/statements/aap1999 |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=10049981 |pubmedCID= |DOI= |accessdate=}}</ref> ==Care of newborn, infants, toddlers, and boys==Boys are born with a non-retractable [[foreskin]].<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Simpson |first=Errol T. |init=ET |author-link= |last2=Barraclough |first2=Phillip |init2=P |author2-link= |etal=no |title=The management of the paediatric foreskin |trans-title= |language= |journal=Aust Fam Physician |location= |date=1998 |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=382-3 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/hygiene/simpson1/ |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=9613002 |pubmedCID= |DOI= |accessdate=2020-05-28}}</ref> Retraction cannot be done because the tip of the foreskin is too narrow to pass over the [[glans penis]] and/or the inner foreskin is fused with the glans penis by a [[synechia]]. Noattempt should be made to retract a boy's [[foreskin]].3 March 1999Attempts to retract a non-retractile foreskin will injure the boy. Caregivers should wash the outside of the [[penis]] as one might wash a finger.<ref>{{REFweb |url=https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/for-parents/care-of-the-intact-penis/ |archived= |title=Care of the intact penis |trans-title= |language=English |last=Geisheker |first=John V. |author-link=John V. Geisheker |publisher=[[Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.)]] |website= |date=2016-03 |accessdate=2020-05-28 |format= |quote= }}</ref> The [[foreskin]] is self-cleaning, ppso no further cleaning is necessary. The first person to retract a boy's foreskin should be the boy himself.<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Wright |init=JE |author-link= |etal=no |title=Further to "the further fate of the foreskin" |trans-title= |language=English |journal=Med J Aust |location= |date=1994-02-07 |volume=160 |issue= |pages=134-5 |url=http://www.686cirp.org/library/normal/wright2/ |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=8295581 |pubmedCID= |DOI=10.5694/j.1326-6935377. (Statement Reaffirmed Sept1994.tb126559.x |accessdate=2020-05-28}}</ref> The information provided by supposed authorities regarding when the [[foreskin]] of a boy becomes retractable is usually wrong. 1The foreskin may be become retractable after a few years, but it usually does not. Thorvaldsen & Meyhoff (2005)conducted a survey of young men in [[Denmark]] where boys are preserved [[intact]]. They found that the average age of first foreskin retraction is 10.4 years.<ref name="thorvaldsen2005">{{REFjournal |last=Thorvaldsen |init=MA |author-link= |last2=Meyhoff |init2=H |author2-link= |etal=no |title=Pathologic or physiologic phimosis? |trans-title=Patologisk eller fysiologisk fimose? |language=Danish |journal=Ugeskr Læger |location= |date=2005-04-25 |volume=167 |issue=17 |pages= 1858-62 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/thorvaldsen1/ |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=15929334 |pubmedCID= |DOI= |accessdate=2020-05-28}}</ref>This means that many boys' foreskins become retractable even later. ==Penile care for adolescents and teens== By the onset of puberty, most, but not all boys, have a retractable [[foreskin]]. Boys with a retractable foreskin should retract and wash their foreskin when they bathe. Excessive washing and use of soap, shampoo, and body wash on the [[mucosa]] inside the foreskin should be avoided because it dries the oils from the [[mucosa]]l tissue.<ref name="birley1993" /> Warm water is sufficient for cleaning, which should not be done to excess. {{SEEALSO}}* [[Foreskinned]]* [[Immunological and protective function of the foreskin]]* [[Intact]]* [[Penis]]* [[Preputial sac]]* [[Retraction of the foreskin]]* [[Uncircumcised]] {{LINKS}}* {{REFweb |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/hygiene/ |archived= |title=Penile hygiene for intact (non-circumcised) males |trans-title= |language=English |last= |first= |author-link= |publisher=Circumcision Reference Library |website= |date=2004-08-08 |accessdate=2020-05-28 |format= |quote=}}