Hi I am 23 and have some questions. I have no problem retracting my foreskin when soft and when erect I can not retract mainly do to what I believe to be frenulum breve.

First is it possible to have no frenulum? For me it seems like the foreskin is attached directly to the gland or that its extremely short. I do not believe that any stretching will work, a urologist I saw suggested cutting it or circumcision. I have not done anything yet but I do not want a circumcision and think that cutting the frenulum is the way to go. I have read that their is so post to be a lot of pleasure with the frenulum but for me it just feels tight and rubbery with no sensitivity. What is the exact name of this procedure, I believe its a frenuloplasty but I get confused with all the stuff I read online. Frankly it seems like a very simply cut that would solve so much.

Secondly the skin at the tip of the foreskin is a rougher harder ring. It seems like scar tissue to me and when I saw the urologist he said he noticed a little scar tissue. I am not sure how this scar tissue appeared I cant really recall any times where I caused too much damage to the area. I have been trying to stretch this ring for 3 weeks now for 20min 3 times a day without the aid of any creams. I am not sure if I notice any difference, perhaps it too soon to tell, but can scar tissue be stretched? I assume it can its just more difficult.

some pictures

It does appear that your frenulum is indeed quite short. Normally, there is a thin web. Your description of having the foreskin directly attached to the bottom side of the glans is accurate. However, it's just a variation, so you're not a freak.

This can be stretched, using the usual method we recommend. It can be done without the aid of medicines too if there is no skin disease. The tightness and hardness you mention could indicate some yeast problem, so treating that might facilitate the stretching. Three weeks should produce noticable results, so something else is going on.

Yes, scar tissue can be stretched. Little kids undergo all kinds of surgeries which leave scars on their little bodies. As they grow, the scar do too. A prime example is circumcision. When done to babies, scarring is minimal, but it is also done to young lads whose deveopment is not complete. The scars created grow right along with their penises.

Its not that I don't notice anything from the stretching I guess I could say it does feel more loose, I just cant tell if its my perception and wishful thinking. After a day of stretching it would feel a bit tight in the morning so progress was hard to document.

How exactly can one get a yeast problem and can it be cured with household remedies? I can tell you that I am a virgin and can only remember one time where their was something odd. When I was around 10-14 I remember going to bed without my pants on, because I was a crazy pubescent boy with a erection. I woke up 30mins later to discover a very sore red area on my gland that just appeared, it seemed like blood right underneath the surface of the gland. Throughout the following week it sort of rose up and bleed out through the skin. After that it went away and felt normal again so I never brought it up to anyone. Then I started to notice wight patches of what seemed to be dead skin that I could peal off in the previous red area. This was years ago as I am now 23 and I no longer notice wight patches on the gland anymore. I recently thought this might be BXO as some of the symptoms seemed to match like the tight ring at the tip of the foreskin but after looking at pictures of it have decided that it could not be that. Anyway back to my point could I have gotten something from the mattress? Is yeast something that never goes away and can it be completely cured? How can I tell if its yeast or just scar tissue?

Thank you in advance for answering my questions.

No, the mattress isn't at fault. There are a couple of ways besides sexual contact to have a problem with yeast. The most common is the use of soap on the inside of the penis. Everything inside your foreskin is really mucosa, not skin. It's the same stuff which lines your mouth and nasal passages and other orifices. In a healthy state, the mucosa is inhabited by friendly bacteria whose job is to keep the enemy at bay. When you wash with soap, you wash away the bacteria and prevent the normal and natural line of defense. Because yeast is present nearly everywhere, including your body, it takes over the territory. A second cause might be the use of an antibiotic which killed off the bacteria.

You can find medicines at any local pharmacy, right on the shelves. Most are in the women's intimate section, but you can also the preparation for athlete's foot. Lotrimin is one easily attained brand. Apply it to the affected area, including the inner chamber of your foreskin. Continue for at least two weeks. Forget about fastidious hygiene. You can rinse the accessible parts in the shower with clear water. Dry off what you can. Change your underwear daily, and what is soiled should be washed in hot water and if colorfast, some bleach. Wash your hands before handling your penis. Avoid soap on the penis, even the outside for now.

Progress is slow, so it's a bit unfair to expect full retraction very soon. What you are doing in stretching is creating little gaps between existing cells. Their natural inclination is to get back in place. When you persist in separating them, they eventully give up and create new little buddies to take up the slack. This could take a few weeks before noticeable. The slight slack you notice is normal and indicative of progress.

Well now, a photograph certainly is descriptive!

As I say so often here, you have two concerns here. You need to stretch both the foreskin opening and the frænulum. When you mention difficulty retracting when erect but not flaccid, that does tend to suggest that you do have a significant problem with tightness of the foreskin opening. What puzzles me here however is your story of the "incident" aged around 12 because you describe a sore area on the glans and if you were having difficulty retracting, then I have to wonder firstly how you managed to examine your glans - clearly you had to retract to do so but if you could not retract with an erection, how did you manage this if you woke with an erection, and how do you surmise that your glans could have rubbed on the bedding if your foreskin could not have been retracted with an erection? Are you perhaps suggesting that at that time you could retract normally but now cannot?

So you do do have a somewhat short frænulum, and you demonstrate it pulling the glans down when you put it "on the stretch". This is not quite as much of a problem as you may think because when flaccid, the glans is easily moved about but when erect will more likely resist this, so it follows that if your foreskin (opening) was loose enough to retract easily, you would even with the tight frænulum, be able to retract with some "bunching", as in this picture - though it must be noted that this picture actually illustrates a normally retractile foreskin at a particular stage.

In fact, there is no actual need to pull the foreskin back any distance beyond the glans; the only functional problem is that the frænulum may be excessively sensitive to being stretched - if it is dragged back by lack of lubrication during intercourse - a problem which should be more correctly managed by more attention to ("technique" and) lubrication (either by ensuring the lady is actually finding the experience pleasurable, or by using an "artificial" lubricant). Nevertheless, we would agree that you should do the stretching of the frænulum as well as the foreskin opening.

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Again, we are disturbed that a urologist would be so brazen as to suggest cutting off the entire foreskin as a possible "solution" for the problem you describe and to undertake a hunt for the apocryphal "scar tissue " in an attempt to scare you into his deception. I presume from this account and from your implication that you went to see a "urologist" instead of a more competent (or should I say, ethical) doctor in the first instance, that you are in fact American. The absolute absurdity of suggesting a procedure which necessarily produces a gross amount of scarring, as a "remedy" for "a little scar tissue", is almost - or indeed quite literally - unbelievable!

As Jim mentions, the presence of scar tissue is almost irrelevant to the problem you describe, since you describe no injury or progress of tightening (or do you?). The problem with scaling may well have been an indication of a "Thrush" (Candidal - yeast) infection which if there are any indications of such activity (specifically, itch, scaling, fissuring) should be treated in the first instance with an antifungal such as clotrimazole (Lotrimin®) and if persistent with the addition of Fluconazole (Diflucan®/ Canesoral®) weekly by mouth on a few occasions.

As to the disease correctly called Lichen Sclerosis, and erroneously called "Lichen Sclerosis et atrophicus" (because it actually causes excess scarring which is not atrophy), this is historically but deceptively called Balanitis Xerotica Obliterans ("BXO") when it affects the foreskin. This name is deprecated because it implies that this is a particular disease of the foreskin whereas in fact it far more commonly affects the female genitalia (and is there only but very rarely treated by circumcision). It is most unlikely that this would be present in your case if only on the basis of probability and that you do not give a history of progressive worsening of the condition. I do hope that your mention of it - by the inappropriate name - indicates nothing more than that you have been "surfing the net" and found the usual mish-mash of confusing rubbish and that this was not another part of your urologist's ploy?

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All this is simply with a view to helping you focus on the reality of your problem. Yes, you have a short frænulum - and a tight foreskin - but no other evident problem. Stretching is the most appropriate way of managing the latter and an achievable way of remedying the former and it is certainly an excellent sign that you have started on this immediately. I have to warn you that it will take time and effort so that you do not become discouraged. You do not expect to see improvement day to day or even each week - if you do, well and good but do not expect that to keep happening; the process often seems to exhibit "fits and starts".

It would not be entirely unreasonable to have the frænulum - and only the frænulum - surgically dealt with, though I can see no reason at all that you should be in any hurry. At your age, there is no reason that this restriction should significantly limit sexual activities (whether "solo" or mutual) - we have exhaustively covered this matter in other threads - and I am sure that it has not limited you to date. If you were however to seek a surgical solution, I would emphatically recommend getting a competent doctor to perform a simple "tying" of the frænulum as a strictly "office" procedure - that is, it absolutely does not require admission to a "day hospital", involves no cutting but simply the placement of one or two sutures (stitches) through the frænulum, tied sufficiently tightly to effectively crush the part over which they are tied. This would generally (though it can be done without) require a tiny amount of local anaesthetic but causes minimal discomfort when this wears off except when the crushed tissue having completely died and healed underneath, is at the point of separation. It is actually quite possible to remain sexually active during most of the healing process, unlike the other "surgical" options.

wow first of all thank you for the lengthy response I extremely appreciate the effort and all the knowledge

To clear up the incident as a child...when I was that age I did not pull my foreskin back when flaccid (I only started doing that during my mid teens around 15/16 i guess). When I had an erection only the upper section of the gland was exposed and that was the area affected. Everything that is normally covered by foreskin is fine and has always been fine. I never thought much of it because at the time I did not know the foreskin was so post to be able to move so freely. My foreskin opening is loose enough to pull back when flaccid is just gives that choked looked and I worry how tight that might feel with an erection. I cant really say how tight it does feel because I have never experienced it due to the frenulum. I think a little more work on that will be enough.

As for the urologist, frankly the appointment was quick and he did talk a bit fast. I knew the issue was with the frenulum and all I wanted was some options for dealing with that and not the foreskin. His words were "a circumcision or cutting the frenulum", I was not about the be tricked into a circumcision by no means. I wish he had elaborated more on cutting the frenulum but I was nervous and I know its my bad for not questioning further. I did ask him if their was any way of lengthening the frenulum and he did flat out say no which I found odd. I came away from the whole thing not liking him. Thank you for the "tying" of the frenulum suggestion, I will do that if I go with a surgical solution. He mentioned nothing about Lichen Sclerosis, That was just my ignorance and overreaction I realized it was not that before the appointment and I apologize.

I was only concerned with scar tissue because after a day of stretching it would feel tighter in the morning then loosen up again after a session of stretching and was concerned if scar tissue was causing the morning tightness. However I know now that seems to be normal of the process. I don't even think it is yeast because it does not itch, I think its just really dry skin.

Again you have my deepest thanks for all your info.