This is a great forum. I've noticed some post on doctors, thought i'd ask a few more questions.

I have what seems like a fairly straight-forward case of nobody-told-me-it-was-supposed-to-do-that phimosis.
I've gone from being able to barely see the very very tip of the penis to pulling it back about three quarters down the head in about a month, although my frenulum is REALLY tight and i don't know quite what to do about that other than keep on keeping on..

My biggest frustration is that all my information is coming off the internet.
I've seen two urologists so far and though they're both very nice, neither will discuss anything other than circumcision or dorsal slit.

More frustrating is that i originally saw them over penis pain and it seems the general philosophy is to not diagnore ANYTHING dealing with the penis if they can't retract the foreskin to examine under it ("go remove your foreskin so i can diagnose you").
So i've been dealing with about 2.5 months of pain and avoiding sex over it, although that pain seems to be receding.
One also declined to prescribe the steroid cream. Said he only did that for newborns..

Anyways, I guess I'm looking for ways of gaming the system so that i can actually talk to a doctor about this.

Is it possible to find a urologist who can help, or are they united about prefering circumcision..?

Honestly it makes me a little queasy that the internet says one thing and all doctors i can find say another (especially when involving mini-me ).
Seems like a reversal of trusted sources, eh?

has anyone had any experience with doctors being pro-stretching?

thanks,
Mike

I don't have your answer. I suspect that as older physicians retire, a lot will change in attitude among the masses of them. Many of the new doctors now practicing come from non-circumcising countries, so that will have a big effect.

Do you suspect the pain is related to your foreskin?

The frenulum can be independently stretched by doing this:

Could anyone else chime in on the urologists vs. other doctors thing?
I did see urgent care first, but honestly the doctor there was completely suprised almost that it was possible to have a functioning penis with a non-retractable foreskin. He thought it would be painful for me to even have an erection..

On what was (and still is to some degree) causing me pain...
I was getting pain right below the ridge on the penis (i believe this is the botton of the head, right?). And it was swelled (not amazingly so though), although neither doctor could see any swelling. Seems like if i masturbate, or am fooling around with a girl, that new outcropping is getting hit and hurts afterwards.
When this first started, i also got pain at the tip and a lot of drippage.
Two factors i think contributed to this was i was working a desk job for the first time in a while and my "standing" dress pants were WAY too tight for 8 hours of sitting. And i was going through a very horny period and was mastubating a lot.
Anyways, this is residing a little as i'm doing the stretching, but still seems to not be completely gone. The docs seemed to believe this was phimosis related. (although honestly neither one ever used the term phimosis).

The pain was definately not related to the frenulum as this was before i started stretching. (honestly i wasn't really convinced at all that it was related to the phimosis either)..
Although now the frenulum does seem to hurt a little after i stretch, although this goes away pretty quick.
I'm stretching by retracting because i haven't quite figured out the grip and pull method yet (i think i'll do another post with a question on that).

The frenulum stretching method shown above does not seem to be stretching me particularly well.
When i retract, i can feel the darn thing stretch (it lets me know, let me tell you), but not when pulling forward.

Also, does anyone have any links for pictures of what the frenulum is supposed to look like?
I'd like to get an idea of what is normal tight and what should cause me to worry (in my case the foreskin seems almost directly connected to the penis underneath).

thanks much guys, this is extremely helpful.
-Mike

Here's an example of a normal frenulum:

About the urologists and other physicians: Urologists are specialty physicians. That's all. Their specialty deals with urinary body parts, and male reproductive parts, generally speaking.

I do share your terrible frustration with "doctors" but wow! At least we have the Internet! Of course, having said that, I have (at least) two specialists locally who are not pro-circumcision, understand the treatment for Lichen Sclerosis (which is clearly not your problem) and would be quite happy to (and one being a dermatologist indeed does) prescribe the (correct) steroid ointment where this is indicated.

The other fellow is a genuine urologist and indeed performs occasional circumcisions - where that is the specific request of the patient, such as to fulfil tribal expectations (though he confides, these people probably suffer a vivid imagination).

Of course, I am in a different country; you are in the USA where the tendency is to go directly to a "urologist" for any problem with the penis, not realising that they are primarily surgeons - "cutting doctors" and have limited competency in non-surgical areas. Here you would go to a "real" doctor first so you would at least have a chance of more helpful management, if not the specific knowledge for which you were hoping.

Perhaps you might explain under what circumstances you were having the pain? A tight frænulum almost always accompanies a foreskin that has never retracted because of course, it has never needed to stretch before and this might indeed be a cause of pain (once the foreskin begins to retract). The exercise Jim illustrates is the answer.

Incidentally a urologist who "only prescribes steroid cream for newborns" condemns himself with his own mouth. Newborns simply do not have phimosis; one can "never say never" but it is quite uncommon (almost abnormal) for a newborn's foreskin to be retractile nor need it be for the first few years of life (or even until puberty), so someone who refers to prescribing steroids for "newborns" is implying that they find "phimosis" in newborns which means they are trying to retract the foreskin of newborns which means they either are medically incompetent or - a paedophile? That is a rather nasty concern!