I'm 25, I'm pretty sure I suffer from phimosis, I can retract my foreskin while flaccid without any trouble whatsoever but while erect I can barely get it half way down the head, maybe 1 cm.. if I really force it I can get down past the whole head, but its extremely uncomfortable and borderline painful.. and there's no way I could ever get fully retracted and 'inside out' if you know what I mean. Its never really messed too much with my sex life but I'd like to correct this since its possible.

I've never done any stretching exercises, should I start with that first before trying betamethasone? Given my circumstances what would be the best way for me to stretch my foreskin? pulling it back when i pee isn't going to do much since there's no resistance when flaccid.. I was thinking of just going ahead with the betamethasone since there don't seem to be any ill sideaffects, it seems to work and it works fast. Is there any benefit to not using it and going the much longer and potentially unsuccessful route of stretching without the cream?

If you suggest just going with the cream right off the bat what concentration would you reccomend?

thanks

Let's wait for Paul to comment on the strength of cream to use, but meanwhile, get busy stretching. I believe you can get the job done without using drugs, so you could save the trouble of acquiring a prescription. Afterall, that's the way that all guys who can retract normally have always solved it, isn't it?

Since you have a good deal of space in the opening, you should be able to grasp each side and pull. Here's an illustrations that shows approximately what it should look like:

correction, if i retract the foreskin while flaccid then get an erection, this is what my penis looks like.
i can completely uncover the head but can't retract to where the foreskin is 'inside' out, instead it just bunches up very tightly around the base of the head.

it feels tight but its not painful but thats pretty much as far as i can go, if i 'flex' my penis i can really feel the tightness. i can slide the foreskin back up and down but its definitely not smooth and when i get an erection the foreskin doesn't automatically retract to that position. to get it like it is in that picture would require effort. i think my frenulum may need stretching more than anything else, can betamethasone help that process too?

thanks

Seems that our posts were "blind" to each other. I daresay the only way that you would have the skin "bunching" as you describe and not able to retract further would be that the fraenulum prevents this and I am sure if you are mentioning this, then that is indeed the explanation. In fact, a tight foreskin and tight fraenulum generally go together (because of course, the fraenulum does not get stretched naturally if the foreskin is not retracted).

If you read back, then you will find our recommendation for this (that is, a convenient method to put stretch on the fraenulum - it's pretty straightforward). I can only say that the fraenulum is a bit "trickier" to stretch, but the principle is exactly the same and I would expect that the betamethasone would be useful in the same fashion and to the same degree.

Whether the foreskin should "automatically" retract on erection, seems to be very much a matter of preference. Insofar as we subscribe to the concept that the foreskin's function is to retract - and re-cover if thre is significant friction - during thrusting in intercourse, then it is the ability to do this specifically during intercourse that is more important than whether it retracts on erection (and/ or stays retracted) so that providing it will retract easily on thrusting, it is perhaps better (easier to "pop it in" in the first place) if it does not retract "automatically".

This may be a side issue - a little "rant" here, but it has to be contrasted with the claims of the circumcision fetish lobby that it is "important" for the corona (rim of the glans) to "feel" the vagina rather than foreskin, supposing that it somehow feels different (it is obviously more a matter of what they imagine they feel), and even more absurd, that the corona "stimulates" the vagina (which in point of fact, is quite numb - feels virtually nothing inside).

There is also an element of "macho" here - despite the fact that most men will masturbate more often in a lifetime (particularly at "each end") than they will have intercourse, and that couples also frequently find it more effective (and particularly for women) to "masturbate" each other, many people feel that intercourse is the only "real" sex and deny their interest (both sexes) in masturbation or "mutual" masturbation which you must obviously realise, is far and away more pleasant with a foreskin!

OK, let's take it point by point.

You can retract perfectly fine when flaccid, but it's too tight/ painful when erect. That means you should be able to get (while flaccid,) two fingertips (one from each hand, fingernails together) inside, feel the tight "band" in the foreskin, and pull the fingertips apart firmly, not intending to tear the skin (which isn't actually easy anyway, unless you have a skin disease).

Please read back - this is in quite recent messages anyway - for further details of how long, how often, etc.

"Its never really messed too much with my sex life" - not surprising. In fact it would be surprising if it had, unless a} it was "close" enough to pull back from thrusting in a tight vagina (or whatever ...) - and - b} your girlfriend wasn't getting wet (lubricated) enough because you weren't doing things right, and it was getting pulled back as a result.

You must understand that to stretch your foreskin, you must in fact - stretch it! Betamethasone (and similar preparations) assist this process by weakening the collagen matrix (support) in the skin, allowing you to stretch more effectively. Nevertheless, stretching is what makes the foreskin looser and if you don't do that, nothing is likely to happen/ improve.

If you use a preparation, then you need to identify that tight part and apply it to that tight part and as far as possible, nowhere else, nor use so much that it wipes off onto any other part of the penis. You need a tiny amount and generally you pull the foreskin back (against your glans) until the tight part has been pulled to the outside of the foreskin, then put it on that tight part, all the way round.

You are quite right, pulling it back when you pee isn't going to do much except insofar as you get an erection when you pee, as little boys do. Once you have it stretched, then this will however help to maintain and of course, monitor its looseness.

One reason that betamethasone should perhaps not be used as "first resort" is that it can have side effects, specifically the increased risk of a Candida or "thrush" infection of the foreskin as it suppresses the skin's normal immune processes.

If used for an extended period of time, it might result in a form of dermatitis associated with skin thinning (atrophy) though since that thinning is the very effect you want, if you apply it only to the tight area, the desired effect should occur before any such skin thinning would become a problem.

I have previously referred to the concept of "mastery". As with playing sport, I, or we believe that achieving the objective without resort to "artificial" assistance is a particularly affirming experience, encouraging you ever so little more to approach the next problem in "life" with a positive attitude.

Now if you do in the event, chase up the steroid preparation, I suggest 0.1% in preference to 0.05% as - it's likely to be more (rapidly) effective, and ointment in preference to cream as on standard dermatological principles, this has better skin penetration, better "moisturising" effect (especially applied to skin wet after bathing, and do not use soap anywhere under your foreskin if you have any type of problem at all, including this one) to maintain skin flexibility, and less uncontrolled spread (if it feels "sticky" or "gooey" after you have rubbed it on, then you used too much).

Did I miss anything?