A little back story; mid twenties and can retract my foreskin when flaccid however not when erect. Have always had very tight foreskin and began retracting my foreskin everyday to clean the glans (NO SOAP!) while showering over a year ago. Reason why I never did it before was because I couldn't! This leads me to where I am at now. Recently out of nowhere I began feeling somewhat of an irritation "inside" my foreskin. Now whenever I pull my foreskin back there seems to be slight redness and inflammation on the ridged band, but only the right part of the band itself, closest to the frenulum. Went to get it checked out by a urologist and he concluded that everything looked fine and no yeast infection, which is what I believed to have had, but he couldn't determine the irritation I am feeling. Question now is what can be done to treat this? Surely stretching may help, but at this moment couldn't stretching make my condition worse?

There is, without a doubt in my mind, something wrong with my foreskin. Can any cream/ointment be applied to treat for irritation? I've considered hydrocortisone as an option but I am not sure how safe it is when applied to that area? I've read online about betamethasone however the doctor wouldn't prescribe it when I brought it up due to reasons of weakening the skin and/or other reasons the Dr pulled out his a$$.

Some people are just ignorant, and obviously you got a doctor who is. A simple Google search would have shown him that Betamethasone is used on little kids, and it works! Don't fret, you'll do fine without it.

I think it's yeast. Who knows what the cause might be. You didn't mention unprotected sex. Any symptoms of diabetes? You can try an application or two of plain yogurt with live cultures to see if rebalancing bacteria might help. I'd also try a yeast medicine for a couple of weeks.

Were you thinking of hydrocortisone because of the itch?

The doctor charges about $80 for seeing you, but he can charge $500-2,000 to circumcise you. Guess which one makes the payments on his BMW.

I figured hydrocortisone would relieve the irritation on my foreskin, which IMO, is being caused by my tight frenulum.
What the urologist was really concerned about, was my tight foreskin. He pointed out that when the foreskin is retracted my penis' shape is similar to a bottle or a figure 8. The band is literally squeezing the bottom of the corona.

Obviously I need to start stretching. Can anyone upload before and after pics of successful stretching practices?

And is it normal for guys with (mil)phimosis to have a sore dick after sex?

If you don't wash with soap, and you're clear of yeast, there should be no itch. Some medicines can create an environment in which yeast thrives. Normal foreskins need nothing.

The whole idea of stretching it to prevent the hourglass effect. The urologist should know this. A very closely related medical specialty uses skin expansion in the cases of women who lose their breast to cancer. The practice of expanding skin is quite well known by ALL doctors. Once you have stretched the frenar band, that squeezing effect will be gone. The ideal is to allow full retraction but still have some snugness to allow the foreskin to interact well with the glans during sex.

We don't have pictures here. I think someone posted some a few years ago on the net. If I come across them, I'll put them up.

Normally, a really tight foreskin would cause no problems in sex.

I think you can have all sorts of reasons to become sore after sex and the question is - which part is actually sore?

As I so often point out, the most common problem is failure of lubrication, and the question is - what about your partner? Is she getting sore also? You are using condoms,are you not?

If you can masturbate and not get sore, ask yourself - what is different about what you are doing?

Paul you bring up some valid questions. I always use a condom and my partner never gets sore. Lately because of my irritated foreskin I have been using lube. Last night is a good example of what I'm talking about. Foreskin was feeling fine for the past few days, had sex last night and since then my foreskin has been bothering me. The same area I mentioned before, the ridged band, looks red and inflamed.

I can still retract my foreskin when flaccid right now but just feels sore.
Any clue to what is going on?

I want to also point out that the redness and inflammation seems to come and go, whether I have sex or not.
Is there an anti-inflammatory cream that could be applied on this area?

I still think it's yeast. Have you started treating for yeast yet?

As Jim suggests, low-grade Candida or "Thrush" does seem to be an option, particularly as you can in fact acquire it from a young lady with minimal contact (such as "fooling around" before the condom goes on).

And I trust you are persisting with the stretching as well?

You could use an anti-Candidal preparation - one that is marketed for vaginal use - or you could try the Zinc and Castor Oil I mention (frequently) in other threads which is an excellent soothing preparation with some anti-Candidal action as well. I would suggest the latter. It will help with lubrication while stretching, and as it is essentially a vegetable rather than a mineral oil, I believe it is reasonably condom-compatible as well.

Jim/Paul: So what are my best options if I treat this condition as a yeast infection?
I keep reading about Canestan cream and I do have generic clotrimazole cream for athletes foot laying around. Can I apply this or do I need one intended for vaginal use? Or are they the same?

Also if I apply hydrocortisone, should I use the cream or ointment? Thinking of this as an alternative for stretching my super tight ridged band.
I would like my foreskin to eventually be normal and not an "hourglass" as stated in an earlier post. LOL.

And to Paul; I've spent a good amount of time reading this forum and have noticed you recommend "Zinc & Castor Oil Cream" in every thread in which a person is describing discomfort. Unfortunately for me, and anyone living in the US, this cream is pretty much nonexistent here. Even my good friend Google cannot find an online retailer to sell me this highly praised product.
I've read about your explanation of the so called "branding" towards this cream in North America in numerous threads, I hope you do not give me this answer when I ask you this:
Is there anyway for you to give us US residents an appropriate link to a legit source to purchase this product? I do not trust Ebay for medical uses.

Thank you both for the responses. You two do a great job in assisting everyone here, may I ask what you two do for a living? I assume you both have medical/urological backgrounds? Please do not tell me you both are unemployed online trolls!

Our concern about the clotrimazole offered for "Athlete's foot" is that some fellows here have reacted unfavourably to it. We presume that the vaginal medication is more appropriate to the area under the foreskin.

You perhaps have not read back enough to note that Hydrocortisone is essentially useless as far as assisting stretching is concerned. And all the steroids carry the concern that if Candida is the problem, they make it worse even though they may calm down the irritation, so you would need to use an anti-fungal in addition, but would not be achieving much.

The correct steroids for stretching - preferably in the ointment form - are by no means whatsoever an alternative to stretching - they may assist somewhat,

I do realise that the Zinc and Castor Oil is not popularly marketed, and as such very difficult to locate on the "net". There is an interesting technique which you might tell me whether you have tried. I believe you have things called "Drug-stores" in the US, some of which contain things called "people" behind a counter where you present prescriptions from your doctor in exchange for medications in general.

Have you tried the unusual approach of physically approaching one of these people - perhaps in a few different drugstores - and saying "Do you have plain Zinc and Castor Oil cream"?

Hopefully my last question for now.

When using an anti-fungal cream to treat a yeast infection, can I still stretch the foreskin? Or will I just make things worse by stretching and then applying cream to the irritated area?


I did ask a pharmacist yesterday about the cream, he just mentioned zinc as an alternative.

Whatever you choose, you need to do it now. Either will calm down the irritation.

I suggest trying a few more places to see if they have the plain Zinc and Castor Oil. My experience here is that not all have it, and few in the economy bulk quantity (500g) that I was wanting recently for serious nappy care!

It certainly will not present you stretching.

If you have "Thrush" to the extent that the skin is very sore and tending to crack, then stretching is not practical. If it is simply mild irritation, then you can persist.

I keep reading online about "thrush" as a clear symptom of a yeast infection. Isn't thrush similar in appearance to that of smegma?

Something I noticed earlier today while stretching is that the glans seems to have some "flaky" skin. Normal?

The classic description of "Thrush" is "cottage cheese". Sticky, difficult to scrape off and red underneath when you do. Lesser degrees may be dry and a little flaky, and the skin may tend to split or "fissure".

And itch.

Smegma is generally firmer - it is after all, just skin that has built up, softened a little and not worn off evenly. It would peel rather than scrape off.

See what I suggest.

Did you say the "urologist" could find nothing wrong, but suggested he remove the whole of your foreskin for a nondescript irritation?

You wouldn't want to ask him about the treatment for "Red Eye"!