The tip of my foreskin looks sort of like a cauliflower ear of some boxers, with the opening about the size of a pencil eraser. My doctor suggested circumcision, but I don't want any part of that!! what are my options?

You don't have to accept the doctor's recommendation. Just say "No."

Why were you seeing the doctor? Do you have a problem with retraction? Tell us more, and we'll go from there.

I saw the doctor about a yeast infection which has caused the phimosis, I could retract my foreskin all the way back before this happened, but now not even a start without pain!!

Hopefully, you got some medicine to treat it. You must also determine what has caused the problem. Did you have sex with someone who gave it you? Do you wash inside your foreskin with soap? Have you taken some antibiotics? Unless you know why this happened, you could get it back.

This does seem to be a pretty typical question, and a typical description of the effect of Candida (yeast; "Thrush") infestation.

Causes: As Jim suggests, if you have a partner with a heavy yeast infestation, that would be an obvious cause. Not all people, women or men, develop symptoms, so she may not even be aware of it.

But you did not mention your age. If you are overweight and middle-aged or beyond (or indeed practically any age), developing a Candida infestation demands that diabetes be excluded by a blood test (since a negative urine glucose test means nothing). If your doctor diagnosed "yeast" and did not arrange this test, that verges on malpractice. Frankly, we are of the opinion that for him to suggest circumcision is in itself, incompetence or worse (unless the diabetes simply cannot be controlled).

Treatment: If the infection is severe enough to cause contraction of the foreskin, it needs to be treated methodically. As well as making sure your partner is treated (whether or not you think she was responsible for the Candida in the first place; it does not matter), you need to treat it for a number of weeks to allow the skin to heal and then stretch it back to normal. You should use the clotrimazole (Canesten®/ Clonea®/ Lotrimin®) or miconazole cream at least every couple of days (but daily to start), and could consider also using Fluconazole (Diflucan®/ Canesoral®) weekly by mouth on a few occasions.