I was born in Europe but now reside in the US. As such, I had physical exams performed by medical practitioners in Europe and in the US. I totally agree that European doctors often retracted my foreskin half way, just to examine the meatus, and always returned my foreskin back to its original position. The retraction was done slowly and I was always warned by the doctor before he was about to retract my foreskin. Occasionally, my foreskin was retracted just to expose the coronal ridge.
In the US, the doctors that examined me always retracted my foreskin very aggressively, in a swift motion, and with no advance warning. The head would be revealed completely during each of the physical exams that I had and my foreskin would always be pushed as far back as it could possible be uncomfortably stretching the frenulum and exposing the inner foreskin layer in its entirety. Always, the head, the frenulum and the coronal groove were thoroughly examined. The common part of the examination would be applying pressure to the tip of my glans and spreading the meatus. Often, after fully exposing the glans, my foreskin would be returned to its original position, but then the retraction process would be repeated as aggressively as it was done the first time. I never had an experience when my foreskin would be pushed back over the head after it was retracted.
Interestingly, when examined in the US, foreskin retraction was always done at the beginning of my genital exam. Then, the doctor would proceed examining the shaft of my penis, scrotum and testicles. If at any time during the examination my foreskin rolled back forward to cover the head, the doctor would push my foreskin back well beyond the corona.
I totally agree that an aggressive retraction of foreskin to expose not only the head but also entire inner layer of foreskin is highly desirable and indeed necessary.