Hi,
I'm 29, and hoping you guys can help me out,

I've been reading these forums for awhile, having been a long time sufferer of a really tight frenulum and I'm scheduled to go in for a frenectomy in a week, but I wanted to share my problem first. I've been doing stretching exercises off an on for a long time (over years) and it's enabled me to fully pull back my foreskin, but I've never been able to stretch the taught Frenulum.

It's so tight that the head of my penis leans toward it when I'm erect and all along it is sensitive but not pleasureable at all, during sexual activity, which I have been active in, as well, for years. As a result oral sex is not enjoyable at all for me and often, any stimulation during an orgasm is too much and makes it unenjoyable.

I've included some pictures to illustrate my situation. I'm looking for honest advice about whether or not I should not get the frenectomy, as I would like to avoid it if possible, but have also had no real results stretching my frenulum, although I've been able to stretch my foreskin. I'm just really scared of the complications of a frenecomy, but my Urologist really wants to do the procedure, and says it will really improve my sex life, and allow my erection to be straight and full

htto://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/585/img0450dz.jpg

There's a lesson here. Don't use Imageshack; it is run by sexual perverts who believe (along with it seems, the media) that any illustration of genitalia will cause mass public rioting, rape and pillage and the end of the American Way.

Part of the problem appears to be that when you post any pictures, they are automatically displayed on the "front page" of the website for people to ogle, so they get complaints and feel an urge to censor what they do not comprehend. Photobucket apparently does not do this, so your pictures are only seen by those you wish to see them. Sorry, but that's how society operates - to everyone's detriment.

If you have seriously attempted stretching as we describe here - not just randomly - then I probably cannot help you further. Such a procedure would be an "office" procedure, certainly does not justify an operating theatre or hospital.

Please do come back and describe your experience.

I thought I'd add that I'm pretty ridiculously scared of having complications to the procedure, but I have to admit that I need to do something about this. Based on the pics, do you think I can stretch the frenulum more than the rest of the foreskin I already have?

You aren't being forced to undergo surgery, so if there is a lack of confidence presently, don't do it. Your frenulum doesn't really need much work on it. What have you tried so far?

I've tried pulling my foreskin away from my body like the illustration you commonly suggest, but it doesn't seem to really put enough on the frenulum to do much. I will admit that I never did it for more than 15-20 minutes a day when I was working on my foreskin, but after a few months that at least let me pull it back all the way. That was while I was still in highschool, like 16-17 also. If I tried a much stricter regime of daily stretching, could I expect better results? I don't want to remove the feeling in the area of my frenulum, from what I've read it's supposed to be the most sensitive and pleasurable area.

Really, my primary issue is that My erections can never be full, it always feels like it's pulling against it somewhat painfully and unable to fully engorge, and oral sex is completely unenjoyable since it's so taught and sensitive. Could I solve both these issues if I somehow manage to stretch just the frenulum?

If it were my decision, I'd cancel the surgery. One can never be certain beforehand of the outcome. An "oops" is always possible. Then what? You certaily have valid cause for remedy, but you already know you can be its facilitor as well. What is stopping you?

Certainly more effort will produce results. How many times a day do you pee? Each of those times affords opportunity for tugging. Set aside at least two dedicated sessions of ten minutes each. You'll be amazed at what happens.

to what I have posted below, is that you probably do not need to stretch the frænulum much in order to feel less of a "pull" with an erection, so it may be worthwhile just concentrating on it for a while.

It may be a mistake to expect it to be entirely comfortable to pull your foreskin back firmly. I don't think that is actually always comfortable for anyone, though holding a certain degree of tension can of course, be a pleasant form of stimulation in itself. Excess "drag" during sexual activities of course generally reflects a problem in approach resulting in lack of lubrication.

On the other hand(!), I think that the worship of the "sensitivity" of the frænulum in (some) popular mythology is excessive. Its sensitivity largely is not intrinsic, but in the fact that it concentrates the tension on the foreskin into one small area adjacent to the urethral meatus and that can as you describe, actually be excessive.

Some areas of the glans are a little more sensitive than others, the corona (back edge) for example and the inside of the meatus (and much of the urethra) certainly is sensitive as it is not normally exposed to any contact - the same reason that men experience "excessive" sensitivity of the glans if they have not previously been able to retract the foreskin.

And the frænulum is a midline structure, which means it simply is not going to contain any important nerve or vascular connections. So I am not particularly concerned about major "damage" or indeed "complications" arising from surgery on it. My general view then is that it is much preferable to work by stretching rather than surgery, that one should be able to achieve results in a period of time comparable to that it would take to adequately and fully comfortably heal from surgery, and that if one goes for "surgery" of any sort, then the simplest and least - tying the frænulum - should be the primary choice.

... as has Jim - is that those pictures look absolutely normal. There is a little pulling down of the glans - if you manipulate the foreskin to do so. That is, unless you pull the foreskin back tightly, you are not actually pulling on the frænulum (pictures such as on Wikipedia tend not to include the fingers pulling the foreskin back tightly).

I should be a trifle surprised if this presented a significant problem whilst wearing a condom, while oral sex (fellatio) is often misunderstood, particularly where the lady is used to roughly manipulating a circumcised penis - it is actually quite difficult overall to perform oral sex pleasurably. It is something that is more of a "turn on" that she is pleased to do it, than a really practical form of stimulation.

Nevertheless, you are the judge and if you determine this is a problem, so be it. If you have followed what we advise here - and not just some random advice from elsewhere such as pulling the foreskin back - and it doesn't work, perhaps a frænulotomy is for you.

Generally, the simplest and least complicated (least prone to complications such as infection) procedure is to simply tie the frænulum with a suture and allow it to part by itself. This takes all of five minutes in the doctor's office and the majority of that time is waiting for the local anaesthetic to take effect. If you choose to forego the local anaesthetic - it will hurt a little of course, but is so straightforward that it may not really matter - then about one minute longer than it takes for the Betadine® to dry.

As you would know already if you have researched this matter, some people actually perform this on themselves with reasonable safety. I don't advise that as any competent doctor can do it so easily in their office and will have the expertise to do it correctly (adequate tightness, correct nylon suture material, correct knot tying) so that it works first time. And of course, rather than dividing the frænulum, some men simply have it pierced and wear an ornament in it.