Hello,

I'm a long time reader, first time poster. I am 30 years old and have been struggling with phimosis for some time now. Initially my foreskin opening was so tight that I could barely see any of my penis through it. I first heard about stretching exercises through your forum in February. I have been doing the stretches (both the frenulum one and stretching with two fingers inside). I got to the point where I could just barely pull the foreskin back over the ridge of the glans. At one point, I ended up getting it stuck and watching my glans balloon up (paraphimosis?). After struggling for about 5 minutes, I just barely managed to tug the foreskin back over. I took it a bit more slowly from there and lost a bit of ground, being unable to get my foreskin back over my glans.
Initially I had been doing the stretches for about 4 minutes each, twice a day. However, I stalled out there and decided to try holding the stretch for about half an hour. I got into this routine for about a week and noticed that my foreskin was a fair amount looser (e.g. I could no longer comfortably urinate with it forward) though I couldn't quite get it back behind the glans due to (smegma?) buildup.
I was following this for about a week and the ridge of my penis started to have a dull ache. I stopped the stretching exercises for a few days, which takes us to where I am now. I have noticed also a swelling of one of the lymph glands in my groin region. I am worried about the buildup behind my glans being infected. I can't clean behind it because my foreskin isn't quite loose enough for me to get it back (and though I might be able to force it, I'm worried about paraphimosis), but my penis is aching (it's not unbearably painful, more scary than anything else) and I can tell that there's a lot of buildup back there. Moreover, the buildup is relatively solidthis is an understatement, it bonds like cement!just rubbing it with my fingers under running water won't remove it. I tried to get it off with my fingernail, but it seems too sensitive. Now I am wondering how much of the ache is due to a possible infection and how much is due to my cleaning efforts.
There is no unusual discharge, burning when I pee or itching, though part of the outside of my foreskin is sensitive (but that my be from rubbing up against my jeans?). I am considering if I should just go to the hospital and I'm quite scared of getting a circumcision done. I feel like I'm having a nervous breakdown over this.
Please help.
Does this seem indicative of an infection? Is there a way of softening that buildup? What can I do?

Try using olive oil to dissolve whatever is in there.

So, I ended up trying to treat it with some Polysporin right before I went to bed last night and when I woke up, the pain was all but gone. It's hard to get anything on the spot (let alone give olive oil time to dissolve something, or really clean) because, when my foreskin is pulled back that far, it is very tight (even when flaccid) and my glans starts to balloon almost immediately. For instance, in order to get the Polysporin on a spot even close to the ridge, I ended up having to put it on the edge of my thumb and just quickly smear it once I had pulled the foreskin back as far as I could.

Did your foreskin ever retract? How long have you been battling this problem. How did you decide on Polysporin?

There is a possibility yeast is the problem. If you've ever used soap to clean the inside, it's a very good chance it is yeast. The solution for that would be a product normally marketed to women for yeast infections.

My foreskin never retracted, no. I've been doing the stretching exercises since February, but otherwise I've been dealing with phimosis my whole life (for most of it I didn't even know that I had it). I decided on Polysporin because I've seen it recommended for infections under the foreskin in a number of internet forums.

How would I know if it is yeast or not?

You could treat for yeast, and if conditions improve, that's what it was. Otherwise, you'd have to get some testing done. It's faster and a lot less expensive just to try treatment. Doing it will cause no harm. Simple, over-the-counter preparations are readily available for women or you could even use that for athlete's foot. Some ingredients work better than others, so it might take some experiementation to discover what is best.

What concerns me is your description of the mess inside. Ordinary smegma is generally easily removed, especially with an oily substance. Just don't use soap.

Ah. I got this message upon returning from the clinic. After that last message, I ended up cleaning behind there by first compressing my penis until it was completely flaccid, then pulling the foreskin back and wiping and picking at the buildup (and repeating this process) until it came loose. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. I had never cleaned behind there before and was quite happy to have done so for the first time. (This was also the first time that I've seen my glans exposed.)

Afterwards, I went to the clinic, which I was a little scared to do (my family doctor had mentioned that I would need to get a circumcision due to my phimosis and I was worried that the clinic doctor would as well). I explained to the doctor there that I had phimosis, that I was treating it by stretching it and he simply said, "you're doing the right thing." Upon examination he explained that I had an infection on the tip of my foreskin and that he would prescribe some cream for it (Fucidin H/Ketoderm AA) that I was to apply twice daily, over and under the foreskin, and use again, should anything pop up. He then said that I should clean behind the foreskin twice a day and keep on with my stretches when it was comfortable to do so. He also mentioned that if the infection got worse, I'd need to get oral antibiotics.

I was very relieved that the doctor didn't call for a circumcision. However, the infection has sadly gotten worse, so I'm giving it until tomorrow morning and if it hasn't subsided by then I'm going to get the oral antibiotics. I'll keep you posted.

What country are you in?

I'm in Canada.

After seeing another doctor at the walk in clinic, oral antibiotics were prescribed for the infection. Novo-Trimel DS. I'll let you know how that goes.

If it's yeast, the antibiotics will do no good, but he should know. As he has told you to wash inside twice per day, be sure not to use soap in doing so.

Went to see the doctor to discuss the results of a urine test (not the cultures, just the cell counts) and there was no sign of an infection. However, since we last spoke I've been getting a fair amount of discomfort/pain from what seems to be my prostate area. The doctor diagnosed this as prostatitis. This will end up with me on at least three weeks of antibiotics and I'm considering asking a doctor if I shouldn't be taking fluconazole to prevent a thrush infection (and clear out any possible yeast infection from my prostate). This is turning into a fairly hepatoxic cocktail though, so I'm not sure.

I am getting a bit curious about the context here.

Generally speaking, prostatitis is, or is the result of, a sexually-acquired infection and your reference to a "walk-in clinic" does suggest that it was in fact, the STD (STI) clinic or whatever other euphemism they use for it.

Which is actually fine - by and large, but by no means exclusively, they would tend to have more experience of genital problems than the family doctor and quite certainly the fact that they were not promoting circumcision indicates a greater competence related to a deeper awareness of normal and desirable sexual function.

So I am wondering just what is the sexual context to your problem - at 30 I might well expect you to be sexually active and it would be interesting to know how this relates to the unretractable foreskin? As I so often repeat, I would expect that a tight and completely unretractable foreskin would in fact represent no great sexual limitation, since the majority of circumcised men seem to find their lack of a functioning foreskin "satisfactory" since they have known no better and basically have no way of knowing.

Although the Polysporin would appear to have great popularity in America (and presumably Canada) as a result of heavy marketing, the use of topical antibiotics (and particularly without prescription) is frowned upon in medical practice. The Fusidic acid/ antifungal combination you were prescribed however, does make sense as the former is not exactly an "antibiotic" but a more general antibacterial.

You have not answered Jim's concern - the use of soap (or any similar substance) in your situation would certainly have made the situation rapidly worse rather than better, so I do hope you did not interpret the instructions to "clean" under your foreskin in that fashion.