Hi,

Didn't find anything about this particular information when searching, so I decided I should ask.

(Actually, the search function seems to not be working at all, I looked for "foreskin" and didn't get any results).

Anyways... I'm 22, and I have arrived recently in the UK with great expectations and a frenulum too short. Stretching didn't do anything, so I'm considering having a frenuloplasty. I'm concerned about the financial and logistic aspects of the problem, having no real problem with the surgery itself. Since I still don't have any private health insurance, I suppose I have to go to a NHS surgeon ? How could this cost me ? I'm not completely familiar with the health insurance system in the UK yet, so if anybody can answer that... as it seems that several people on this board live in the UK.

Thanks for your help, and for setting such an interesting forum to help people with this problem.

You haven't indicated any problem with some of the usual symptoms of infection, so there is no reason why stretching will not alleivate the tightness. When tension is applied to tisses such as what the frenulum is composed, it will grow. Try doing this:



Hold the skin in the stretched position for a good five minutes, and do it no less than twice per day. In addition, after you pee, stretch the skin each and every time. Also, retract to the limit at this time also. The combination of those simple maneuvers will have a great deal of effect in a short time. Be cautious not to use so much tension that pain is created. If there is pain or cracking, that's an indication that we need to consider treatment for yeast.

Quite frankly, I consider fraenuloplasty - on an adult - to be an "office" procedure with few costs other than the consultation, similar to removal of a mole or such; however that might work in the UK - I think you are "covered" somehow even if you are a recent "import".

The simplest - and generally perfectly adequate - procedure involves a needle and thread with no "cutting" at all (other than cutting the thread).

Now you might understand that I am not totally opposed to fraenuloplasty, because I don't believe the fraenulum contains sensation in itself. On the other hand, I believe that - in an adult - it really shouldn't be necessary.

People tend to post here - as you have - saying that they've tried stretching and it "didn't do anything", but experience with people and problems leads us to question in far greater detail - what do you mean by stretching - was it what Jim has illustrated, how often and for how long (on each occasion and overall), what was it feeling like?

Stretching a fraenulum is no doubt, a slow progress, but as explained in great detail before, a short fraenulum is not an impediment to sex - including intercourse - unless you have poor comprehension of sexual technique. Rather, it gives you an unusually sensitive indicator of whether you are being gentle enough for your partner.

Thank you Paul and Jim for your answers, helpful as usual.
I did try stretching the way Jim described it, apart from the fact that the duration was shorter (not five minutes). Which is why I will try again for one month starting, more seriously and following your guidelines. I haven't made my mind about the surgery anyway. But even so, I thought having some practical info about the operation in terms of cost could be helpful.

As for the short fraenulum being an impediment during intercourse, well it does make intercourse rather painful. Not that I would pretend having a great sexual technique, but I can't see what I could do about that.

Let's stretch, now.

Please do all of the exercises, and you'll find results will come.

Hi Paul and Jim. I have been to this site before, and I have had great success with stretching my foreskin and frenulum in the past. I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where the majority of males are circumsized (although I hear from physicans that infant circumsicion has dropped to about 50% in Ontario, and about 10% in the rest of Canada)and my family physican is less than sympathetic towards my problem and has advocated circumsicion. Anyhow - I'm not sure if I didn't adequately stretched things the first time, but the frenulum almost seems if it is 'shortening' again. There is no infection. I am working to stretch out the frenulum again, however it seems different this time. On the underside of my penis (in the area of the frenulum) there seems to be a discoloration of the skin, a darkening of sorts and continues all the way down my penis. The pattern on the underside of my penis is almost that of a skunk's back, except in this case it is dark down the middle and lighter (normal) on each side. In addition, if I stretch out the frenulum as described on this thread, and touch the underside of my penis where the dark coloured stripe is, under the skin it almost feels if the frenulum is if you pulled an elastic band apart and touched it (or perhaps a guitar elastic). Hopefully you can invision what I am talking about. There is no pain. I trust that the discolourlation is just blood vessels or something, and I should just continue?

Is the discoloration new?

The discolouration is new. It seems to be getting better now, but it is definately srtill noticeable. The discoloured line follows the frenulum, and continues all the way down the underside of the penis. I don't remember it being there the first time.

There is a division line which runs down the penis and the scrotum. It's called the raphe. Perhaps it's a difference in the pigment of the raphe.

Have you done anything recently which could have caused some bruising?

Hello there Andy.

Re-telling one of my favourite stories, but the body and your skin in particular, does have a surprisingly effective "re-tightening" mechanism of which a good example is the lax skin that many women have immediately after the birth of a baby, but which does actually tend to "take up the slack" over a period of some months. And the same thing happens with people who lose large amounts of weight by aggressive diet control (including gastric banding procedures).

Sometimes even the breasts "tighten up" a little after weight loss, though in that case, there is something working against it - the continued pull of gravity on the remaining bulk.

So in your case, we do not find this entirely surprising - you probably will need to do some more stretching, and you no doubt will need to continue it for longer after you achieve the "desired" point of function, and it may well appear at this stage, that the skin has "toughened" up a little, as it may have appeared before you started the stretching, because the "growth" to which Jim commonly refers, as a result of the stretching has not continued to be directed in the "stretching" direction.

The main point remains, not to become discouraged with the process - the fraenulum clearly is a rather finickity piece to stretch - it is difficult to be sure, but equally do-able and I hope you will agree, the method is easier than many others.

As to the colouration of your median raphe, that is a little curious. While it would not particularly surprise me if the stretching process caused some pigmentation of the skin that was undergoing stretching, clearly the remainder of your penis skin is not being stretched, and this would have no connection at all with the stretching process - and bruising is pretty unlikely. If you were to take a look at the area around your anus with a mirror, I suspect you may find this also to be pigmented, because it tends to "chafe" from rubbing together, and the pigmentation - if you are prone to it - is a result.

The usual causes of this pigmentation, apart form being vastly more prominent in darker-skinned people, are hormonal, notably (the first) pregnancy in women. That is clearly not relevant to yourself; there are others related to adrenal gland malfunction, but I really would not advise concern about these if you are otherwise perfectly healthy.

I'd put it down to a novelty (and suspect it was actually there before ), and suggest you just keep on with the stretching.

Thanks Paul and Jim. When I 'injured' my frenulum before, it made it more 'resitant' to being stretched once it healed. I will keep stretching - I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't causing any damage, or making my job more challenging in the future I am still however convinced that the colour is different than before, or the pigmentation of the skin as you call it. But if neither of you are concerned then I'm sure it's nothing. Thanks!

The word is GENTLE. As you stretch, there should be no pain. Live by that rule and you should be fine. Remember that you are not in a race with anyone else.