Myth #1: You need to pull it back to clean. The idea that parents should be attempting to pull back the foreskins of their children is a dangerously pervasive myth. Why? The foreskin of a child’s penis is typically fused to the head of their penis by a protective membrane (you can think of it as the penile version of a hymen). This membrane doesn’t dissolve until an average age of 10 years. Trying to pull the foreskin back before the membrane is gone can result in pain and trauma, bleeding, scarring, and sometimes paraphimosis, a medical emergency.