Hi, thanks for your work on this forum! My problem is a frenulum that allows the foreskin to travel to just below the glans but no further during an erection. With an erection, my foreskin will 'sit' half way over the glans naturally. I can pull it down under the glands (but it will not stay due to the frenulum pulling it back up) and can go no further without tightness and pain. I am wondering if this is within normal range? I am going to try stretching but I wonder if this will make the frenulum more prone to tearing in the future by weakening the skin cells. I am not medically trained so this is just a thought I want to put out there before I start.

My issue is during sex (even with added lubricant) the act of entering is painful so that I lose all sensitivity and find it impossible to climax. The problem is not present during oral or masturbation it is just casued by the frenulum being painfully stretched during the initial entry. I know one might respond with 'take more time to enter' but my wife and I spend plenty of time on foreplay such that she is very wet, I also tend to make alot of pre-cum and we also use added lubricant. It doesn't help my wife is Asian and quite small...everywhere! Thanks in advance for any input.

While many men are just as you describe, I personally think the ideal is for your foreskin to retract further down the shaft. The frenulum can be lengthened if you are patient. The skin tissue will actually add cells, not stretch as you imagine, so thinning is not a problem. While initially, a stretching takes place, the little spaces created inspire growth of new cells to fill in the gaps. I suppose if you had no feelings in the area that you could do some damage, but it would hurt quite a bit, and hopefully you'd get a clue to back off. Gentle tugging is always recommended as you cannot hurry the growth process. Your job is to encourage it according to its natural schedule. Think of adding girth to your waist.

The tight little space you describe as being small is designed to expand sufficiently to allow a full term fetus to enter the world. Surely, you should have no difficulty in entry if you allow time for accommodation.

Thank you very much Jim for taking the time to answer not just my question but also keeping this forum going. I spent all day and most of the night going through previous posts and learned alot. I also came across the thread of the young fellow who performed surgery on his own frenulum! What the ....! My legs clench together just thinking about it. Although I can see how frustrating and painful it can be to have the condition and just want it fixed quickly.

Interestingly, when I was younger I did have mild phimosis and I guess 'instinctively' stretched it myself after my first few sexual experiences left me with the foreskin painfully stuck behind the glans. The frenulum didn't cause too much of a problem until with my new wife who is much tighter than my previous girlfriend.

I began stretching last night and I can see from the posts that this may take a while. I'm guessing a millimetre a week would be more than enough to expect.

Thanks again! Much appreciated.

But you do seem to be describing a degree of short frænulum (sometimes "medicalised" to make it sound like some disease by calling it "frænulum breve") which is causing you a problem. I can see that there are degrees of the problem such as yours which can cause trouble even if you take due care to use adequate lubrication, though the lack of same is mostly the basis of discomfort.

And this condition mostly goes with a foreskin which has not been retracted through childhood and puberty, particularly when the foreskin itself is tight and the fellow has not realised that it should be pulled back. If the foreskin retracts with an erection, then the frequent erections that occur during sleep would usually be sufficient to cause the frænulum to lengthen to a comfortable degree. So I suspect you have a story of not retracting (much) until late in life?

As in previous threads, this is the "exercise" we feel to be most efficient for stretching the frænulum.

My first thought regarding your concern about the possibility of tearing the frænulum is that it is not as catastrophic as is often made out, particularly when the corresponding occurrence in women is actually lauded by tradition! I have discussed this - and the pros and cons of surgical release - many times before as this Google search reveals, and this thread is quite a typically rollicking discussion!

It explains my point that in general, skin - including that comprising the frænulum - behaves in a manner which befits need and that if either torn, cut or stretched it will simply heal in due course and continue to function. In general, a healed scar is in the middle term, somewhat stronger than the original state, but it takes a while before to achieve this (so there is no advantage to surgery - it puts you "out of action" for the same time as for a tear) and in the long term eventually "remodels" to match the surrounds (so there is no benefit either in surgery to "make it stronger").

Stretching in the manner we recommend (short of causing significant pain or visible tearing) involves not the repair process of scarring, but the normal process of growth in response to tension, so will neither weaken nor cause loss of function as the process occurs - in other words, you can still use the body part during the stretching program. This is surely a major advantage over surgery!

Yes, your correct that I also had a degree of phimosis when younger. Going back about 15 years I resolved the problem myself, at least to the degree that I could retract over the head fairly freely, by stretching. This was before I had internet access and for some reason it was common knowledge to me that skin could be stretched (probably learned in biology class or from National Geographic! God knows). Of course, it was only a mild case so didn't take much time or effort. My frenulum may be another matter altogether because it seemes fairly thick and needs to be stretched a good 1cm or so minimum I think to be comfortable. I'll give it a good month or two and see where I get to. Thanks again to both you and Jim and your valuable input. Cheers, Darren