Just out of interest, how far back should the frenulum allow the foreskin today? In a discussion with some friends today they said it should let the skin go behind the head, and any further increases the risk to it snapping - and if it does snap fully a circumcision is required as the foreskin should not freely go all the way to the base of the penis. Is this true?

Ideally, your foreskin should retract comfortably to expose the entire glans while erect. Some guys are able to retract enough to flatten out the inner tissue as it glides inside out down the shaft.

If the frenulum "snaps" ordinarily it will heal quickly and require no intervention. Circumcision should never be suggested as the remedy, although a minor surgical alteration to the frenulum is often done.

By following the stretching techniques we've illustrated and described here, you can lengthen your frenulum, producing whatever level of retractibility you personally desire.

Is that what you want to know?

Except i don't quite understand what you mean when you say it will heal itself and minor surery can be had to correct it. Do you mean if the frenulum snaps it will repair so it is as if it didn't happen, or what? And what will the surgery entail? And lastly, if it does snap, it isn't an issue for the foreskin to expose the entire shaft?

Finally, about my original question, my frenulum allows my foreskin to get behind the head, but no further. I discovered the discomfort when i pull it back the wide part of the head is actually the foreskin - although it can slide back, and can come forward, it requires about another 2mm of stretching to be 'perfect'. But, is my frenulum 'ok' at this length?

If you rip the frenulum, it normally will heal if you allow it some time to rest. I highly doubt that it will heal in it's original form if the tear was substantial. However, the tear should heal if you are healthy and don't aggrivate the wound. Most likely, if it tore open, it will heal in a fashion that lengthens it. I know that's a hard concept to imagine.

There are a few different approaches to surgical alteration. One involves a rather sophisticated "Z" shaped cutting which reconfigures the frenulum to make it longer. Any surgery involves numbing the area, some cutting, addressing bleeding, dressing the wound, and healing time. Risks always run parallel with any invasion of the body as well.

I really can't answer your last question, but you can. How does it function for you? Has this presented a problem for you?

No, it's no problem, i was just wondering if it should be able to retract to a certain way or not.

If the frenulum is torn completely, how does it heal itself again? I've also read of people who have no frenulum, is this, as i was told, 'dangerous' and something that requires circumcision, or is it really not an issue if the foreskin can go all the way back by itself?

Let me tell you for starters that anyone who tells you "if it does {whatever} a circumcision is required as the foreskin should {do something or other}" is telling you loud and clear that they know absolutely nothing about anything - they are talking "through their hat" - trying to impress you with completely non-existent knowledge. In all seriousness, you might as well - it might be easier to - forget everything they tell you if at all possible.

Incidentally - do these particular people actually have foreskins anyway, or do they just happen to be - circumcised?

Secondly, I don't know if you fully understand what a circumcision is! In a circumcision, they basically cut off all, or at least most of your foreskin - all the way around (thus: circum-cision). That certainly does leave a section of the penis with no skin on it. Then they stitch the skin of your penis to whatever is left of the skin behind the glans, or head of the penis - again, all the way round. This is in terms of your penis, a very major operation - if you had some idea they just cut a little bit here and pulled a little bit there, then you were dead wrong. And as far as your fraenulum goes, any that happens to be in the way of where they do the cuts, is simply cut away - gone! It has no relevance, as far as the operation of circumcision is concerned.

The point is - whatever things may happen to your fraenulum - tears, healing, operations to "loosen" it - are totally trivial compared to a circumcision. To put that more clearly, if you can hack half the skin off the penis (which is literally the case) and get it to heal up afterward (as indeed it will, though it may take some time), then talking about whether a torn - or surgically removed - fraenulum will heal or not is a complete nonsense because that is so insignificant in comparison. Similarly, compared to a circumcision, talking about whether it is painful or bleeds if the fraenulum tears, is equally irrelevant.

So, let's get back to the fraenulum, and what it does. Basically, the foreskin is a tube of skin which when you don't have an erection, slides forward over your glans, or penis head. When you have an erection and the penis gets longer, it "takes up" the "slack" in the foreskin, which unfolds to provide an even cover over the penis. Well, the fraenulum tends to "get in the way" of this, but its "purpose" is relative - it appears to be a way of "telling" the foreskin to slip forward again when the erection goes.

Precisely how tight it is appears to depend largely on what you've done during childhood - if you have been pulling your foreskin back (to pee, to look at what's underneath, to play with it simply because it's rather fun to pull it back and forward again and again,) since a young lad, then you've probably caused your foreskin to stretch out. If you have rarely pulled your foreskin back at all, then it is likely to be quite tight. And as such, by persistently stretching it as we advise here, you can lengthen it so it is more comfortable and so you can pull your foreskin further back.

Also, if you do pull it too hard, you can rip it, in which case it will do exactly as any other piece of skin does if you tear it, it will heal to whatever state it sits most of the time - that is, if you let the edges come together and stay there, it will heal together again; if you keep the edges separated, it will grow over that way. There is a process whereby the scar tissue shrinks as it heals, so if you did tear it, you would have to make a point of stretching it out frequently to make sure it healed "longer" than when it tore.

It is always interesting to consider how similar the foreskin is, to a woman's hymen insofar as it may be torn during sex - indeed, it is an "expected" thing for a woman's hymen to tear and regarded as normal, even desirable so no-one worries about how it will heal (let alone birth injuries), yet men obsess greatly about whether their fraenulum might, or did tear.

Really, significant painful stress on the fraenulum usually indicates you would be doing something wrong - generally, having intercourse without sufficient lubrication or excessively rough handling. It is pretty unlikely to happen during masturbation - though some men do report it and again the advice is no different - undertake a process of progressive stretching until it is loose enough for comfort.

Have I made this adequately clear and covered all your points?

Thanks for posting Paul. Just to say, no they weren't circumcised, one had cut his frenulum during intercourse but not completely, which is how the discussion started as he asked if it had happened to us, and said if it completely split it requires a circumcision, which i disputed. The other person there agreed with him, and knows another guy who was told by his doctor he needs a circumcision because his foreskin is tight and it got forced back during intercourse, i am unsure if it cut or split the frenulum, but either way that is what the discussion consisted of. I mentioned that circumcision wasn't necessary, and that he could simply stretch his foreskin, they insisted this wasn't true so i let the issue rest as i didn't really want to engage in an argument. And, as you mentioned it, i do know what a circumcision is, yes.

On to the other points - yes, you answered my question on whether a circumcision was needed if the frenulum completely tore. My opinion before this discussion was that if it did break, then it was no big deal and it meant nothing more than the foreskin would just uncover the entire penis. However, another point i am unsure of is if the frenulum actually splits and becomes detached from one point to another, does this again heal? Surely it would have to be in contact with the other part to heal, so what if they are not in contact? Does it re-build, or are you simply left with no frenulum?
One other thing too - if you are left with no frenulum, how does that affect wearing a condom and the foreskin gliding over the head during intercourse?

This isn't an issue that relates to me personally, as i have my frenulum, it is just a point of interest in what happens, and in case it does ever happen to me, i'll know what to do.

Do you think it might be possible to get your buds to visit us here? Regarding your in depth questions, I defer to Paul

I doubt it Jim, neither have the internet and i don't think they'd be that interested in visiting anyway.
No sign of Paul yet...

Out of interest, is there a certain length the frenulum should be optimally? From the guys i was having the conversation with the other day, i got the impression theres allowed the foreskin to get behind the head and that was it. Is this 'normal', or should it ideally go further? Is it more likely to tear at a longer/shorter length?

Like I said before, everyone is different. Whatever works for you without causing pain or difficulty is your ideal. I think what causes tearing is carelessness or impatience. In the heat of the moment, he gets carried away with vigorous motion, or he gets going before the time is right, not allowing for needed lubrication.