Amazing how a different pediatrician does Physical exams

I too also grew up in Massachusetts. During my teen years I went to a doctor in a group practice affiliated with a university teaching hospital. The time was late 70's early 80's. My yearly physical exams were very thorough. I had to strip to my underwear at the start of the exam, Eventually they came off for the genital exam. The level of nudity seemed to coincide with the reason for my visit otherwise. Bronchitis, remove my shirt and t shirt. A follow up on a broken hand did not require me to undress. Every visit I was at least weighed, measured and my vitals were taken and the doctor would discuss how things were going in my life. The broken hand? You should have seen the wall.

I don't think this topic is limited to just pediatricians. My last family med doc never had me take off a single piece of clothing the entire time i went to her. Physicals took 2 minutes and consisted of heent and listening to heart and lungs. Never anything more or less. My current family med doc is extremely thorough and looks at, touches, and/ or listens to my entire body. He checks out things that I haven't had checked in decades. Even a couple of things that I've never had checked before.

Just like every person does things differently, doctors are no exception. I also don't think it's just because of moving to a different state. I understand that all states might have different laws which will result in slightly different procedures followed during the exams, but I think most of the differences us patients experience are due to the differences between the doctors preferences and routines. Maybe it comes from the different education they received, their own personal experiences, their opinion of efficiency, or just plain personal preference. Who knows where the differences come from? But I do know that the different experiences from the different doctors are a big part of my medfet. It keeps things different, exciting, and unexpected! There is always an unknown, and I love it that way.

Was ridiculous because he would shift the gowns up and down to keep my genitals covered until the big reveal.

I love the phrase “the big reveal” to define the moment the genitalia are exposed! Another one I have used occasionally is “pants down ceremony.” Thinking of dramatic, silly phrases to describe that dreaded moment is entertaining.

My pediatrician had me down to underwear from the the start and then those came off for the genital exams but I had friends who got their exams fully clothed and clothing was removed as needed, some got gowns, some only had the front of their underwear pulled out for the genital exam, and some didn’t even get genital exams at all. I can’t remember any friends who said they were naked for the whole exam without a gown though. And this was all from people going to pediatricians in the same town!

I was from the start always completly undressed , my pediatrician was an older man.

Always just underpants at the beginning but naked at the end

My first pediatrician (male) it was underwear until the end, then entirely off to examine my vagina.

Second pediatrician (female) it was underwear until the end, then down to knees until I was 12, when it became underwear down to ankles. 15 and over they came all the way off.

Every doctor seems to approach it a little differently.

My first three pediatricians were in Seattle, in the same practice. The doctor I had seen until I was about 4 died, so my brother and I were simply transferred to one who was a little more thorough, and then when I was about 5 I saw my last one (same practice), who I saw because I was sick. He gave me a complete exam, and told me I would have to miss school) the next day.

From 6--15 I saw two different pediatricians, who had different approaches but were both equally good. My most thorough exam was when I was 12. I was called into the exam room alone, and told to strip to my underwear. The doctor came in, did the eyes, ears, nose, throught, and chest exams, as well as my reflexes. I then lay down while he examined my abs. He then pulled my briefs off so he could examine my genitals. At the end of it I sat up and put my briefs back on. He finished with the muscoskeletal exam.

I grew up in Massachusetts during the 1980's when I had a pediatrician. I had a younger brother , 8 years my junior, who would along with my mother accompany us to our physicals. I had a lady doctor who had her nurse escort us to the exam room and once the door closed she would change the exam table crinkly paper and then told my mother ‘have them strip down to their underpants’. Unfortunately the nurse not only did she not leave the room she stared at us while we disrobed. Then we were in our briefs for the entire exam. The doctor would not let us dress until both of our exams were completed. She then would explain why our bodies were growing and discussed the results. She would leave and as she did so she said something like ‘you can have the boys dress now’. This was my pediatrician when I was 13 and 14. When I was 15 and my little brother was 7 my brother told my parents that he didn't like being examined by a woman so we moved to a much larger practice and we got a male pediatrician. Unlike my old doctor this place had a huge waiting room. I was wondering how undressed me and the other kids would have to get. I would find out pretty soon. We had nice clothes on and a fresh pair of underpants because according to my mom ‘I want you to have clean undies when the doctor sees you’. We got weighed and got our BP and vision test in our street clothes. We were then escorted into the exam room and my mom said ‘why don’t you two start taking off you clothes, because you know the doctor is going to have you guys strip to your briefs' I replied that I wasn't going to take anything off until the doctor arrived. Once he came in he had both of us strip completely naked. He said ‘ have your sons strip to their bare skin, everything off including underpants and socks’. I was mortified as both my brother and I were whisked out of our nice clothes to not wearing a stitch. After the exam was done to both of us we were allowed to dress. On the way home my mother teased us ‘I guess you did not need clean briefs today’. The next two year I saw the same doctor but I was examined privately but still naked for the entire exam.

It is very different from one doctor to the next. I had been with 4 doctors from childhood through late adolescence. Only the first one somehow managed to examine me without making me undress. Sadly he died when I was 8 and we used another doctor til I was nearly a teenager. He required me to undress to my briefs and would yank them down to do a hernia exam. The third doc was not anyone who should have seen teens. He was completely clueless and had the nurse in the room while requiring one to be completely naked! The last one who I saw until I went to college was more civilized but had me strip to my briefs and subsequently removed them when it came time for my genital exam. He also gave me my first rectal exam!

Once I was out of high school, the standard exam using the university clinic was to be naked in a gown. The exam was like all the rest including a rectal. My current physician doesn't require a gown but I am bare once he completes the abdominal exam. It doesn't seem like forever but it is embarrassing to have him check my penis and testicles while I lay on the table and then stand and spread my legs for him to conduct a hernia exam. For my annual, he does a rectal exam with me lying on my side and then the DRE with me bending over!

Around age 8, we switched pediatricians. The first doctor had a large office, and wasn't so great. The new pediatrician, was old-school, and had his office in his home, and made house calls, which was common practice in those days. I never had to strip off my clothes, or have my temperature taken rectally. He worked alone, without a staff, and wore a tie and jacket, not a lab coat. His physical exam, which had to be done every school year, consisted of listening to your chest, looking down your throat, and asking if you had any ongoing aches or pains. And if you needed bloodwork, he would do the finger prick only. No needles. Because of his great care, I was never afraid of going to the doctor as an adult.

With Dr Nash there is never any exception - male patients are required to fully strip for their comprehensive physical exam. No shyness as Dr Nash will examine you from head to toe.

A question to the first guy who post ed a message about “amazing how a different pediatrician does physical exam”

I find rather funny that this old woman doctor requires full nudity only for boys and apparently even for male teenagers at least until 16 age according to your relation while she gave a gown to the girls but I am not surprised.

In the old times many doctors were thinking that boys did not need a respect of their modesty, they might not be too bashful and shy towards nudity, so it was easier and convenient to examin them in the nude while girls needed more respect of their modesty.

It was true for a male doctor as well as for old women doctors, may be even more true with old women.

I guess that you were lucky that your mother left the examination room the first time at your ask because it seems obvious that the woman doctor would have never asked her to leave but at least she did not require the presence of the mother.

Or may be it was because she was entered in the room with you that the doctor had let you keep your clothes for the first part of the exam, who knows?

And I presume that it was embarrassing when a girl classmate knew that the boys were examined fully nude and could tell it to the boys to tease them like did the girl classmate of one of your friend when she was waiting to be examined after him, she knews it since she had a brother, may be she had heard her mom tell it or she had been present in the room for his examination like it could be at that time ?

I think when it comes to modesty both male and female should be stripped for an examination

A question to the first guy who post ed a message about “amazing how a different pediatrician does physical exam”

I find rather funny that this old woman doctor requires full nudity only for boys and apparently even for male teenagers at least until 16 age according to your relation while she gave a gown to the girls but I am not surprised.

In the old times many doctors were thinking that boys did not need a respect of their modesty, they might not be too bashful and shy towards nudity, so it was easier and convenient to examin them in the nude while girls needed more respect of their modesty.

It was true for a male doctor as well as for old women doctors, may be even more true with old women.

I guess that you were lucky that your mother left the examination room the first time at your ask because it seems obvious that the woman doctor would have never asked her to leave but at least she did not require the presence of the mother.

Or may be it was because she was entered in the room with you that the doctor had let you keep your clothes for the first part of the exam, who knows?

And I presume that it was embarrassing when a girl classmate knew that the boys were examined fully nude and could tell it to the boys to tease them like did the girl classmate of one of your friend when she was waiting to be examined after him, she knews it since she had a brother, may be she had heard her mom tell it or she had been present in the room for his examination like it could be at that time ?

I know I wasn't the only case, as I have read others experiences similar to mine. One was where a guy posted about how he was examined together with his older sister, and nurse had them both undress, but only required him to remove his underpants for getting the height and weight, but let his sister keep her undergarments on. He was allowed to then put his underwear back on, but his sister was also given a gown to wear. He was speculating that the nurse wanted to see how he was developing, as when the female doctor came in, she commented to him that nurse told him he was developing, so she made him remove his underwear before the exam started.

I had a male doc and for most exams it was remove my shirt only. He would lift the waste band of my pants and undies to check my lymph nodes but that was it. A friend of mine went to another male doc who made him strip to undies and those came off at the end. I wish I could have experience that exam…

I only had one pediatrician the entire time. He was thorough, and each exam included full inspection and palpation of penis (which was completely erect every time) and testicles. My dad was always in the room as well. I think it would have been cool to have different doctors and not know what to expect.

(My questions and doubts and your answers) Did any of them have a medical check-up at school and at their pediatrician the same year? Was any of them checked by two or more pediatricians or never the same pediatrician for all the check-ups? What differences were there between the medical check-up at the pediatrician and the medical check-up at the school? In all the check-ups were the same parts of the body checked, in the same order and in the same way? Did it influence you that it was a female pediatrician or a male pediatrician, in the sense that a male pediatrician can be aware of how impressionable it is to pull down a foreskin (because he has a penis) and, on the other hand, a female pediatrician can simply retract the foreskin and can examine it "more academically"? Do you remember your examination rooms? What was the moment like before entering, what protocol was there until you sat down or stretched out on the stretcher? Were you attentive to whether they prepared the medical instruments such as the tongue depressor, the gloves...? Guys think about their penis a lot when they have to go to the pediatrician and it's not just the penis that gets checked out, but the penis is a very private part.

This is so true. I had three doctors from childhood through adolescence. The first one, a very nice man, never had me undress. He tended to defer to his nurse for things like a rectal temp and shot. The next one was far more insensitive and had me undress completely, as ordered by the nurse, who took a RT if you even sneezed. He did a rather thorough exam from my perspective that involved a genital inspection, palpitation of my penis and scrotum, and hernia examination. He also had this nasty habit of making me lean over and would spread my butt cheeks wide and ask me to pulse my anus. I think it was a precursor to some day receiving a DRE. Lastly the doctor who followed me throughout high school was also very thorough but when it came time to evaluate my penis and scrotum, he had me naked and also introduced me to a rectal exam. Once in college, the doctors at the health center routinely did a rectal and DRE. There are times now when my doctor asks me to lift my hips up from the table so that my briefs come off that I vividly flash back to these earlier exam. Somethings last in our minds forever.

I also recall that during my school years that guys rarely discussed going to the doctor. If your friend or someone you knew had the same doctor, it was like finding gold. For me, it meant living vicariously through him and thinking, “Oh I wonder how he felt when getting his penis examined or his anus inspected let alone shots?” Most of them time, any question or curiosity was met with a shrug. The best was if a friend or someone was at the doctor's office when I arrived. This was more common in college and for our sports physicals. Then the anxiety was more palpable. If you had to share an exam room, which I did when having to see a sport's doc for my back along with a teammate, there was no privacy; two naked guys having the doctor inspect and always doing a hernia exam!

Thanks for this fun reminder!

@ADPETXG77

In your relation of examination by a friend who was examined together with his older sister and a nurse told them how to undress, I don't find surprising the fact that the nurse required full nudity for weigh-in and height of the boy and not for the girl who could keep her undergarment on.

It was rather common to require full nudity to weigh a boy, it was frequent also at school exams or group exams. In a certain way it was logical, a boy removed all his clothes so that his underwear -a brief at that time -was put with the other clothes rather than on a chair or on the floor if he had to remove it later during the exam.

And I presume also that the double standard between boys undressing and girls was also frequent, boys being naked and not girls. In the past it was rather considered as unconvenient to give to a boy a gown, he could stay stark naked like boys might do ..

But what is a little surprising is that the nurse proceeded to the exam of the older sister in front of his brother instead of telling him to go in the corridor or a waiting area until the exam of his sister was finished which was frequent, the medic persons thought that a brother could be examined naked in front of his sister while they thought that he could not be present when his sister was examined even if she did not remove all her clothes.

Besides she was older than him, so the nurse thought that it was convenient to let her see her brother in the nude. We don't know how old he was and how old was his sister ? It was less embarrassing than if she had been younger !

Anyway, he could be lucky that she let him put his underwear back on even if he stayed in underwear without gown rather than standing naked all the time after the weigh-in which could have been possible !

Most of female nurses were not much concerned by the privacy of boys! it seems to me that they were also more longer in age submitted to rectal temperature.

May be like he thought if the nurse had required him to strip completely it was because the nurse wanted to see how he was developing to tell it to the female doctor when she arrived, but in my opinion it was rather to comply to some rules of procedure which mentioned that boys might be weigthed stark naked. Such rule inspired by army regulations was frequent at that time.

And I presume that after the female doctor made him strip again in the nude during his examination.

He did not say if their mother was here ?

@Nick321

you seem to have a great experience of physicals with rather thorough doctors who required often nudity for their examination from head to toes including rectal inspection and DRE once in college. You do not say if the doctor at at college were all males like your doctor at high school ?

And you have not related really how were performed your sports physicals and college exams, were they performed in group or one by one with a little privacy ?.

And why did you have to share an exam room with a teammate to see a sport's doctor for your back without privacy being both naked while the doctor was performing his inspection and always doing a hernia exam which was rather normal.. Was it the doctor who had decided that you might be inspected together to win time ? or the coach ? or did it happenened accidentally ? or was it regulary exams ? at my time, a group exam was more likely to happen than an exam wit an other guy .. I had a group exam in a gym during school years in presence of Pe teachers to check my spine and balance. All the boys of a class was undressed all together.

Anyway, all these thorough exams left vivid memories to you, and you had fun to remind them even if I presume that you found them embarrassing when you wezre young.

I am like you, I like to think now at my teenager's exams and draft exams that I had disliked at their time but I was stupid to be so bashful and modest, it was not important to be naked even in group even in front of nurses and female doctors. Life learned you what is important and what is not !

@MotherLauraSpain

It is difficult to answer to your question at least for me because all my school exams -each year of school from elementary school until last grade of high school and even university were so different of my exams at a doctor's private office, at school they were group exams at least for undressing ( all a group of 15 boys half a class was instructed to strip until briefs and to wait for more than one hour to be examined one by one. Almost all the school doctors were women and thre was also female nurses ( the permanent school nurse and a nursing student for a training course) present during the examinationn, not at a doctor's office where I was rather examined by male doctors. At school, we were generally instructed to remove our briefs even for the weigh -in which was seldom at a doctor's office but I think that the requirement of nudity was more to apply rules of examination procedure for boys at school than a decision of a woman doctor, it was like at draft exams, we were naked because it was required under regulation at the army to examin draftees in the nude.

As regards the fact that a doctor pulled down herself a foreskin or let you do it yourself, it was more a question of age, at middle school, the female doctor did it while at high school and university she instructed you to do it generally, but some did it always whatever was the age of the student , especially the older ones, or when you seemed to reluctant to do it . I do not believe that thre was a difference according to the gender of the doctor.

Two different pediatricians.

Birth through 11 - stripped down to my briefs at the start, then off - not pulled down - for the genital exam at the end.

New pediatrician because we moved, 11 through the end of high school - stripped down to my briefs or boxer shorts but was told to remove them to be weighed and then stayed nude until the end.

Both doctors would have me strip to my underwear for visits that were not physical exams. Sprained ankle, sore throat, ear infection - didn't matter, strip down to my briefs or boxer shorts. It seemed like they wanted to be prepared just in case I needed my testicles examined. lol

Never saw a gown for a physical exam until well into adulthood.

No one mentions having a parent present during their physical exams.

Based on what I and my classmates/teammates/friends experienced, it seemed to be required until 16. For most of us it was our moms who came to the doctor with us since back in those days most moms were stay at home moms and dads could not take off from work to do this.

No one mentions having a parent present during their physical exams.

I never had a parent in the exam room with me during a physical. I received sports physicals when I was 10, 11, & 13. All from different male and female doctors. My mom was in the room with me for sick visits, all of which were prior to my first sports physical at 10 yo.

I was always stripped to my underwear by the 6 pediatricians I saw between ages 4 (earliest memory) to 15. All were male, gentle, and efficient. Once I was stripped, the doctor would come in and go over my history w/my mother. Then I would sit on the table for the HEENT exam, and reflexes. The chest & lung exam was always done both sitting and lying. The genital exam had me lying down, with my briefs pulled down to my knees. This was up until I was 12.

At 12 I went to a new doctor, and since I was now in adolescence, the exam was much more thorough. I was again stripped to my briefs, but this time my mother (both parents at 12) were told to leave the room while he examined me. This was the first time I had the standing hernia check. I remember the exam when I was 13 much more clearly: again striped, the doc interviewed me alone, then did the complete (minus rectal) exam. I recall be nervous this time (I didn't like him), and he used indirect relaxation suggestions, wheich helped. I was in a trance state when he performed the abdomen and genital exam. I heard him say “Now I'm going to check your plumbing”, and I opened my eyes to see. “Relax”, he said, and I felt my eyes roll up, and my eyelids closed. I was awakened simply by his saying “All done. Open your eyes!”.

When I was 15, I wet to my last pediatrician (in Texas). This pretty much followed the order of the one at 13.

No one mentions having a parent present during their physical exams.

Based on what I and my classmates/teammates/friends experienced, it seemed to be required until 16. For most of us it was our moms who came to the doctor with us since back in those days most moms were stay at home moms and dads could not take off from work to do this.

We must have had a similar policy. I went to the same pediatrician for all my well child physicals through age 16. I always was in just my white briefs for the exam, so most times at the end while I was lying on the exam table, he simply pulled down the front waistband of my briefs without asking me first.

The only variations were at 13 when he did a full skin check, so he told me to lift my bottom off the table, and he pulled my undies completely off, and then at 14, when he used an orchidometer to mesure my testicles. That time, he told me to lift my bottom off the table, and I expected a repeat of the previous year, but he only lowered my undies down my legs, not completely off, and then pulled a set of large wooden beads on a string out of a drawer. I had no clue what he was going to do with those, and though he never did me the courtesy of explaining things to me, he did explain things to my mom, so I got to hear what was going on when something was new to her, like the orchidometer.

I think the two things were related – his talking only to my mom and not to me and his lowering or removing my briefs without asking. I'd not today know all the details of my delayed puberty (Tanner II at 14, III at 15, and IV at 16) if he had not been explaining my (lack of) development to my mom as he was showing her my penis and testicles each year. I also think his exposing my genitals without asking was to keep me from asking if she could leave for that part. It never would have occurred to me to do so, because I was so clueless/compliant as a kid, but based on the experience of a friend who transferred from out of state at 15, and who definitely would have asked for his mom to leave for the genital exam, this was the doctor's strategy to keep moms in the room to see their sons' development. My friend told me that his recent exam was the first time his mom had seen his penis and testicles since he was 11, so clearly his doctor before he moved to my town did that differently. My friend was not the late bloomer I was, so while at my exam at 16, I had only learned to masturbate to ejaculation a few months earlier, my friend was already sexually active at 16, so he had to talk to the doctor about condoms and STDs in front of his mom. I had been so conditioned to the exams happening the same way every year that I never felt embarrassed about her seeing my penis and testicles all the way through age 16, but if I had kept going to that doctor long enough to have to talk about condoms in front of my mom, that likely would have been embarrassing for me.

OMG I know I’m such a lurker but I love reading these! So fascinating what happens to you boys!

Growing up in SE Asia, I have a few “different” pediatricians. Let me explain:

1. I have my annual check-up done by our family pediatrician. Male, around 40s, with a private practice about 20 minutes drive from our house. His check-up are always fast & non-extensive/intrusive. Not even lifting up your shirt to place the stethoscope disk. He required you to remove shoes & socks prior to stepping on the scale/table though. Nothing memorable.

2. We have a next door neighbor who is a medically licensed midwife that has her own practice. She often help women in our neighborhood give birth, but also our “on-call” physician when we were sick in the middle of the night. Lovely lady, also around her 40s. Her exam room has a table with stirrup & surgical-grade lights attached on the ceiling. I've been examined by her a few times, always asked me to strip down to my underwear. She was our neighbor for a few years. I remember during the day I would visit her just to chat & ask her about different equipments (when there's no patient). I think that was one of the reasons I got into medfet.

3. We have annual physical exam at the school - Elementary & Junior High age. Usually a doctor from the local hospital would be hired out for the week/month and do an annual exam to all the students. Usually you go into the nurse office in pair, first name basis, regardless of gender. One year in 8th grade, was sent with one of the girls in my class (who I had a crush on) for the annual checkup. We walked to the clinic/office together, they set us up on 2 different exam tables, with curtains covering from the neck down - exposing our faces so we can see each other. I saw her flinched and closed her eyes during the exam (probably checking on her newly developed breasts & genital). I‘m sure she was staring at me when the doctor & nurse lowered my pants and checked on my exposed penis & balls.

2. We have a next door neighbor who is a medically licensed midwife that has her own practice. She often help women in our neighborhood give birth, but also our “on-call” physician when we were sick in the middle of the night. Lovely lady, also around her 40s. Her exam room has a table with stirrup & surgical-grade lights attached on the ceiling. I've been examined by her a few times, always asked me to strip down to my underwear. She was our neighbor for a few years. I remember during the day I would visit her just to chat & ask her about different equipments (when there's no patient). I think that was one of the reasons I got into medfet.

What were the exams like with that midwife neighbor?