Underwear Mandatory at Pediatricians

If it was a sick visit usually just my shirt came off but occasionally I would have to go down to underwear even as an adult. I think they sometimes want to screen you for other things like the first time I went to student health in college with a sore throat and the nurse told me to strip to my underwear. Then the nurse practitioner asked if I was sexually active and once I said yes she said an STD screening was mandatory. For physical exams I rarely remember ever being given a gown up until the last ten years and then it’s optional. So I don’t put one on.

@JulieB123

What happened once your panties came off? Can you explain in detail the genitalia exam?

@JulieB123

what happened once your panties came off? Can you explain in detail the genitalia exam?

@Marteen I'm sorry, but I really can't. It was far too long ago and it certainly wasn't my first external exam or my last, so I guess it wasn't really memorable to me. I'd assume that my labia were retracted so the doc could take a look at my clitoris and prepuce, urethral meatus and vaginal introitus. But there certainly was no internal component, or I would definitely recall that.

No I never had to strip at all at the doctor's office but I went so much I never really had any yearly physicals either. It was all EEGs and other neurological exams.

I don't even remember taking my pants or shirt off at the doctor's office.

In the 90s privacy was not something that doctors gave to patients, especially for annual check-ups

Many will not understand it but if someone lived in Argentina or has Argentine friends they will be able to know. The orders depended on the doctor, it could be half or totally naked. Also in groups of three mainly

In the 50's and 60's there was also no regard for children's modesty. I remember being weighed in the hallway while just wearing my underpants. I remember waiting in line for the scale one day while a girl by in front of me was weighed. We were really embarrassed when we recognised each other from school.

Common in UK also no privacy.

If my Pediatrican only examined me about the flu or something else I didn´t need to take off my jeans. If he wants to look at my whole body I had to do this….

That was absolutely my same experience… “strip down to your shorts…” then wait, sitting on the table in my tightie whites. From my first exam I remember around 5, until I got married and changed doctors at 21.

My doc would tell me to strip to my underwear leave the room come back after a few. He would come back apologize for the wait, lay me on a table examine my abdomen and instead of just bringing my underwear down to my knees or ankles he would take them completely off. So to answer your question, it was mandatory but my doctor would always take them off. When I went for my exam 16-18 he would tell me to strip nude, but I would stay in my underwear and he’d come back and would tell me to take them off for the exam.

Yes, at most pediatrician visits mom was told by the nurse to strip me to my underwear from the start. The nurse would leave, but it seemed kind of silly to me because they saw everything anyway when they took my temp or gave me my inevitable shot. A parent was always in the room, usually my mom, and would help by gathering and holding on to my clothes. Then I was marched down the hall in my underwear to be weighed and measured, without regard to modesty. I saw girls in their little flowery panties for the first time at the doctor, but, they also saw me in my plain white briefs. Back in the exam room, undies came down when it was time for my temp, then the exam was done in my undies. I only remember having genitals examined a few times, once at a school entrance clinic given at the school, which was a bit thorough, but the rest were done very quickly with just a brief look and feeling of testicles. Only one rectal exam ever at 13 when I was sick and had eaten red jell-o, which my dad thought was blood in my stool. At the end of every visit the pronouncement of a shot was about a 99% chance, whether a vaccine or booster or a medicine, they all went in my butt. Mom would make me take my undies off and lay on my tummy to “be ready,” which the nurses seemed to appreciate, until once at age 9 or 10, I was walked in on by another nurse with a mom and 3 kids in tow. It was awkwardly embarrassing to be laying there totally nude while the apology was addressed to my mom. After that I asked mom to not make me “be ready” any more, and would lower my undies when the nurse was ready to give the shot. At some point in my early teen years I stopped having to strip to my undies, but still had to drop my pants for the shot at the end!

I surely relate to the posts listed below. It was the standard then and likely today unless handed a gown. What registered the most from what was said was hearing your parent instruct you to “get ready” for the nurse or doctor. In my case it always meant to undress without any protest to my briefs. It also meant obeying when told to lay back and turn over for my RT. I hated that the instruction usually happened just before the nurse was about to announce that it was time for it to take place.

Just underpants here in germany initially usually and mostly they come off at the end for genital exams s far as I remember at least

Same experience here in Italy, just underpants from to start and then totally naked for the genital exam, I like this protocol.

I think it's used because a child can't describe accurately all symptoms and the Doctor have to check all body parts to understand if it's all ok.

This happened all the time until I was about 16. I was never nervous about it, although I wish my mother wasn't there. Until I was about 13 or 14, the doctor always pulled my briefs down to my ankles (the last time off completely). When I was 15 I pulled them down for my first hernia check. The (new) doctor pulled them off when I was lying down.

Yes ! It was exactly the same for me, and with 2 different pediatricians.

For physicals I would start in my tighty whities, or later, boxer shorts, but quickly end up nude.

For everything else - sore throat, ear infection, sprained ankle - it didn't matter what - strip down to my underpants.

And if it was more than a couple of months since my last physical the doctor would tell me to pull down my underpants and he would examine my testicles.

Growing up my dad took me to all my doctor's appointments. As soon as the nurse would come in and check the vitals, my dad would tell me I just had to strip my underwear and wait for the doctor. Never thought anything of it. I didn't notice it was weird until I was in college, and I did that, and the doctor told me there was no need.

If I was at the pediatrician for a physical exam, I always was instructed to strip to my underwear by the nurse who showed me back to the exam room. She would usually show me the exam room I would be in, then show me to the nearby bathroom and tell me to fill a cup with urine and leave it in the bathroom then go to my exam room and take all my clothes off except my underwear. She would come in a few minutes later and do all the pre exam activities with me just in my underwear- height, weight then blood pressure. She would tell me to sit up on the table and wait for the doctor and I would be left alone in the exam room, sitting on the table in just my white briefs For 10/20 minutes…. This was always a bit of a turn on as I was always wondering what was about to happen and how he would examine my genitals.