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→Non-retractable foreskin of infancy and childhood
From a medical standpoint, an otherwise symptom-free [[phimosis]], even after dissolution of preputial adhesions, does not require any treatment before the child enters [[puberty]]. The widespread notion that full retractability has to be achieved by a certain age, derives from obsolete assumptions and studies which only covered children's development until they entered school, but not beyond that point.
Even though the data from [[Jakob Øster]]'s studies have been known for more than half a century,<ref name="Øster1968">{{OesterJ 1968}}</ref> some check lists for school doctors‘ examinations still erroneously refer to normal, healthy [[physiological phimosis]] as an abnormality.
In most cases, only watchful waiting is necessary, not surgery or other treatment. Parental reassurance is the only treatment required.<ref name="shahid2012" />
By age 10.4 years, about 50 percent of [[intact]] boys have a retractable [[foreskin]]and about 50 percent do not have a retractable foreskin.<ref name="Øster1968"/><ref name-"thorvaldsen2005">{{REFjournal
|last=Thorvaldsen
|init=MA