Hi I stumbled upon this forum and I thought it might be worth making a post.

Iam 29 and previous too two months ago never had a problem masturbating or having sex. My foreskin never retracted but it was never an issue.

I started to feel some tightness around the foreskin one night and I noticed the skin around the penis head had become smewhat thickened . Believing (wrongly I think now Iam a hypochrondriac) that I had paraphimosis. I rushed to hospital.The nurse there could not see anything wrong and then forceably pulled my foreskin all the way back .Which caused huge pain. Saying nothing wrong and sent me away.

After that my penis felt sore especially when I went running and looked a bit red.Went to the docs who gave me an antifungal cream.Redness still there after applying it. I went back and he referred me to a urologist.

Waited a few weeks .I went to see the urologist. He must have been with me about 3mins. Pulled my foreskin all the way back and told me I had a tight foreskin, a bit of scarring and a tight frenelum. He said I need a circumcision and a frenelum plasty. Frankly I am scared to death . I actually have a serious anxiety disorder and I might need to make special arrangements as there is no way I can take myself there for a cut even with a friend.I might well need to be drugged.As I was when I needed an x-ray and had to be taken by ambulance. I don't think the urologist had any knowledge of my 'history'.

I just wondered before going down that route esp with the knowledge that there can be complications .Are there any other options for treatment? I heard there is a cream and more minor operations. The urologist did not mention BXO. i would just like anyones input as believe me I am freaking out about this.

Many doctors don't know diddly about tight foreskins, and those who profit by cutting them often won't tell you remedies when it's easier to operate. Just don't go back to him.

Tell us what else is going on in your life. Have you taken antibiotics recently? Are you diabetic? Do you have unprotected sex with a partner or with different partners? Does the foreskin itch?

Perhaps there is a problem with yeast which wasn't controlled by the preparation you used. This is the most common problem and it can be treated. Even if it's BXO, that too can be treated. Circumcision shouldn't even be mentioned as a option at this point.

Please answer the questions so we can help you sort this out.

Hi thanks for the response. Some more info.


1 On the antibiotics front, I took quite a number before for various minor aliments. Penicillin for an ear infection , and another oral antibiotic that I cannot remember for very nasty infected leg which did not work so they had to give me a special antibiotic cream called fusidic acid. I also was on another cream for a toe infection called bactrim.You might wonder why all the infections but I have a very active job and am prone to these skin conditions. I also have had fungal infections of the groin before too that I needed medication for.My right hand is also intolerant to oranges and I need to wear plastic gloves or it blisters when I peel them!

2 on the sex area. Iam single and while I am sexually active I always wear a condom. And I also didn't have sex with anyone for two months prior too this happening.

3 Iam not a diabetic too my knowledge. Although I have not been tested by the GP's recently.

I had no symptoms of inflammation until the nurse totally retracted my foreskin as A+E . That was when it became red and more tight. Since then the GP tried canesten and when that did not work and oral antibiotic.They must have thought it was balanitis. Yes before the painful retraction I had no symptoms. I saw a different GP today a female one.Who said a circumcision is no big deal ,her son is cut etc. But I've like my penis the way it is apart from my anxiety and I don't understand why the doctors in a national health service are so keen to chop bits off me when from reading this there are other options. I mean even the nhs website suggests a steriod cream that they have not mentioned.

When the nurse did what she did, that must have caused much of the problem, but it should have been gone by now.

Your bouts with antibiotics hint that a yeast infection may be present. The drugs can wipe out natural defenses against the yeast. Have you used soap for cleaning the tip of the foreskin or inside of it? Soap does the same thing, so if you're using soap, quit. A simple home rememdy which helps to repopulate the essential bacteris is to apply yogurt to the area. Get some with live cultures and get it inside the opening. You could use a dry condom to keep things tidy.

Circumcision is no big deal to a female doctor. It is to the one receiving it. The operation itself is a cakewalk compared to many surgeries, but the effect it quite damaging. While you could still perform sexually, you'd lose the subtle interaction of the nerves of the frenar band and inner foreskin as they interplay with those of the glans. It is believed that more than half of the nerves which impart pleasure from the penis are located in the foreskin. To lose that sounds like a bigger deal than your doctor knows about. If her son is still quite young, he has no idea of his loss.

In addition to the loss of nerves, the glans becomes de-sensitized by being constantly exposed. Over time, this can lead to sexual dysfunction in some men. While not all report such a loss, it none-the-less happens to some degree in all. For some, it is devastating. If you were to investigate reports from real men who have undergone circumcision as adults, AND who had normally operating foreskins, they overwhelmingly report great regret over their decisions.

I find the attitude of many health care "professionals" to be questionable, but what in the lives of most people isn't nowadays? We've come to believe (as a society) that truth is relative to one's perspective, so your doctor's truth can be quite different from the way men perceive it, can't it? I believe the human body doesn't require a lot of fine tuning to work as designed. You were born with a foreskin for a reason, and for that reason, you should try to keep it.

Hi

went to the docs today and saw my actual GP rather than one in the practice. He is far more open minded and because of my anxiety issues and also some other symptoms he wants to try a few other things.

I have been having pain behind my testicles and water problems and pain ejactulating which none of the other doctors listened to so he wants to try me on some other medication and cream first he also took a urine sample which wasn't taken. He also isn't happy that my previously unretractable foreskin which was not causing me any sexual problems was forceably retracted by a nurse. He thinks if the pills and cream do not work I might need further tests before a cut.

So obviously Iam worried what else it could be urinary stricture etc but Iam pleased someone is finally listening to me and is not just talking about going under the knife.He also said that there are other surgical procedures not just a full circumcision if this or steroid cream doesn't work

So I feel a bit better now.

If I were you, I'd have him focus upon the urinary tract problem and not your foreskin. Even he sounds somewhat knife-happy. The tightness problem can be solved through stretching. On the other hand, your pain and urination problems need medical attention. Did the doctor suggest that redness could be related to a urinary tract infection?

I think he is suggesting their might be a link between the redness on my foreskin and rhat I might have a urinary infection or even prostatitis. He started to think that when I mentioned difficulty controlling my pee stream and pain behind the testicles and pelvic pain, and actual penis pain that you normal don't get with a simple tight foreskin . I mentioned that to the female GP and the urologist and they never said anything.

He has put me on antibiotics called Trimethoprim which seems to be used mainly for urinary infections and a cream called bactroban for my foreskin.He also noticed discharge underneath that isn't just smegma. I did a water test too that I get back next week. I mentioned those symptoms six weeks ago to a different doctor and again they never said anything . I will be very angry if they have missed something .

He does seem less knife happy than the others saying lets make sure there is no infection first and then see how you are. But he did say that being late twenties means stretching will do little as I never retracted my foreskin before ever. (for some reason I could have sex fine without it retracted which he was surprised about ) . I will insist on trying a steroid cream and stretching if this doesn't work. Because up until six weeks or so ago I have hadno problem at all with my foreskin so I'm very reluctant to have surgery until I have exhausted other options.

The last time I looked, older people were still gaining girth from extra pounds. They don't seem to have trouble stretching their skin to accommodate the fat! Remind him of this fact.

You age will have no effect upon your success. Success depends wholely upon your dedication to follow the advice and nothing else. The first advice is to clear up any infections, and your doctor is correct in that approach. The second advice is to stretch. That means doing it no less than twice per day, daily until the job is done.

It might be of some interest to mention exactly which part of your penis feels sore, especially as this is pretty much the only symptom you initially mentioned that suggests the need to do anything!

OK, I note you mention pain behind your testicles, which obviously has no connection whatsoever with your foreskin, "water problems" which tells me absolutely nothing because of course, the term is meaningless (or is this just the same as "difficulty controlling my pee stream"?), and pain ejaculating. The perineal pain (behind the testicles) and the pain ejaculating are indeed common indicators of prostatitis which is most often associated with some sexually transmitted infection (STI), so no doubt you have been tested for this with a swab from your urethra and/ or a specimen of the very first bit that you pee after "holding out" for as many hours as possible.

And indeed, a STI might cause a bit of irritating discharge from the urethra which may also be be associated with posthitis (inflammation of the foreskin). It would however, be very stupid to consider this as a problem of the foreskin, as the problem in that case is the internal infection which needs to be accurately identified and treated. Unfortunately, if prostatitis is a result, the prostatitis is in fact, quite "challenging" to treat.

So clearly, there is no plausible reason whatsoever that you would somehow "need" two thirds of the skin cut from your penis, and to refer in any way to circumcision notwithstanding "further tests" is complete nonsense suggesting incompetence and/ or mendacity on the part of the medical staff. I seem to have to keep repeating this simple observation because it is so ridiculous that surgery should ever be mentioned when no problem exists that implies such a need.

Now, a "urinary tract infection" refers to an infection in the bladder and possibly the ureters and kidneys that feed it. This is generally a separate matter from prostatitis, but again none of these conditions - except for a STI - are evidenced in the foreskin. If the foreskin were the only problem, yeast or chemical irritation from soap are the likely causes.

If you have "discharge underneath {the foreskin} that isn't just smegma" (so that doctor did retract your foreskin to observe this?), then the more plausible possibilities are - there is a STI which requires proper identification and correct and adequate treatment; or it is yeast ("Thrush", Candida); or - it is in fact smegma. I doubt Bactroban would be effective against any of these (certainly not according to the Product Information I just reviewed).

I cannot imagine on what basis he claimed that "being late twenties means stretching will do little" - indeed I think he simply imagined something in order to have something to say. There is absolutely nothing in medical practice which suggests this. Being surprised that you could have sex fine without your foreskin retracted again suggests to me that he really has next to no understanding of the subject.

Sad to say. This is immensely frustrating. I don't really like to be so critical, but to the extent that your description is factual about what the doctor(s) said, there are just so many outright lies, myths and ignorant suggestions that I cannot approach it otherwise. I'm sure these doctors have treated many people with all sorts of problems, and their patients have in the overwhelming majority of cases survived and been restored to health - eventually - but this is often nothing more than a tribute to the robustness of the human body, genitals included.

The fact that your (recent) GP said her son is circumcised, tells you something very important about her.

She may certainly have considerable competence in many areas. Sadly, this is not one of them!

Read. Read through the forum here; one "thread" after another on the first index page, when you have carefully and methodically read all those (all ten of them, and I do not mean glancing at them and deciding they do not apply to you), select the "Next" link at the bottom right corner for the next index page, read all those, then the next index page and so on. If you get to a hundred threads (which might take you a few evenings reading), give it a break.

In the process, I venture to say you should have a very good idea of what this matter is all about, what the real treatments are, and importantly, what you do not have, such as paraphimosis.

It is most important that you learn about this condition before you ever approach a doctor, because they have clearly detected your ignorance. What you describe about this "urologist", if you have described it correctly, suggests you could be taken for a ride. Why? Well, a circumcision and a "frænuloplasty" are rather antithetical - the latter is a procedure to release the frænulum by lengthening it, whereas in a circumcision, the frænulum is not lengthened, but removed! The only reason I can imagine that they would be offered together, would be to enhance the fee charged.

Had you actually read up on the forum here, you would not be asking the questions you do. Once you have read up on it, you will understand that there is no reason whatsoever to consider any surgery, but you can then come back and tell us what you think may be your actual problem and why. We can then take it from there.

Thank you for visting this site and your attempt to help out. I'm sorry that I cannot approve your post with the link you provided. The owner of that site is someone for whom I have absolutely no respect. Paul and I were regular contributors to another site he owned but never moderated. We actually made some terrific progress in getting people to hear us out about stretchin as an alternative. We made some enemies in the camp which does not allow for such forward thinking, and the owner eventually returned to agree with them in spite of the success we had demonstrated. His lack of respect for us prevents anything he says from being posted here. BTW, his original site eventually failed, and he attempted offering a smorgasbord of other boards, most of which also folded. The thing to learn from this is that the truth always wins.