Phimosis – My story so far

Isn’t the internet a wonderful thing?  Phimosis is one of those subjects you couldn’t really bring up in the pub, amongst strangers and in all honesty, for most people who suffer from it, it’s not the sort of subject to even discuss with family and friends, or even a doctor.

So, what is Phimosis?

<a title=”Phimosis” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phimosis” target=”_blank”>Wikipedia</a> has the following entry:

Phimosis is a condition where the male foreskin cannot be fully retracted from the head of the penis. The word derives from the Greek phimos (φῑμός, “muzzle”). As most boys are born with a non-retracting foreskin, the term is confusing because it denotes both a normal stage of development, and a pathological condition (i.e. a condition that causes problems for a person). This confusion is particularly pronounced in regard to infants. Conflicting incidence reports and widely varying post-neonatal circumcision rates reflect looseness in the diagnostic criteria. Phimosis has become a topic of contention in circumcision debates.

It is normal for a baby’s foreskin not to retract, but as the child grows the foreskin is expected to become retractable. Some have suggested that physiological infantile phimosis be referred to as developmental nonretractility of the foreskin to more clearly distinguish this normal stage of development from pathological forms of phimosis.Different management is appropriate. In other words, there are different degrees of phimosis, and treatment may vary on the degree of phimosis.

Basically, in layman terms, it’s a condition which means the foreskin cannot be pulled back, over the glans/head of the penis.  This can happen in varying degrees, some people can pull the foreskin back while flaccid, but have difficulty while erect.  Some cannot even pull it back while flaccid.

The end of the foreskin develops a tight ring, phimosal ring:

<img class=”size-medium wp-image-274″ title=”Phimosis” src=”http://www.dontdamnme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/fig6-300×242.gif” alt=”Phimosis” width=”300″ height=”242″ />

Phimosis

My own foreskin was pretty tight, when i first realised it wasn’t the norm.  I was in my early 20s and a virgin, so it had never really been an issue and, as most pornography is American, populated by men sporting circumcized penises.  I also wasn’t in the habit of looking at other men’s genitalia, as part of my normal life.  My realisation came thanks to a French porn film (and people say pornography isn’t educational!), where most of the men were uncircumcized, and having their foreskins pulled back for some eager temptress to suck on like it was the secret to happiness itself.

I immediately (don’t join the dots, you owe it to yourself) began to try and retract my foreskin, with absolutely no success.  Even at that point, i wasn’t overly bothered, i figured that some men probably could, others couldn’t.

I turned to the friend i knew i could rely on (usually to scare myself shitless!), Yahoo Health!.  I can’t remember the full details, but i would imagine i searched for ‘pull foreskin back’, and was greeted with a lot of hits.  It didn’t take me long to find “Phimosis”, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I realised i couldn’t even pull my foreskin back while flaccid, which was frustrating, in all honesty.  Here i was a virgin, in his mid 20s, too shy to talk to girls, and now i was having to face the fact that even if i ever did manage to talk to a girl without feeling my cheeks blush like the bottom of a bound woman in an S&amp;M special, which led to a relationship and later a sexual endeavour, i now had a freak-cock!  And not even in a good way (a la King Dong).

I read some info on various forums, websites and the like, and popular consensus seemed to be that the condition didn’t actually need circumcision, even if most doctors would recommend it anyway.  So, i set about trying to stretch mine.

I didn’t have a great deal of know-how, and in retrospect i wasn’t really doing enough to get any decent results, but after only a few weeks of taking the time to pull my foreskin back as much as i could, until it hurt slightly, and holding for a few minutes, i was already seeing results.  I found that by stretching during masturbation (i know, disgusting behaviour, but i was young and didn’t know any better) the effort needed was less, and it made it semi-enjoyable.  Soon, i was able to retract my foreskin while flaccid, which impressed me greatly, until i brushed my hand against my newly exposed glans.

Another thing i hadn’t known about the condition, was, because the foreskin had always been in a forward position, and my glans had never been exposed, it wasn’t really used to contact, other than the nicely lubricated inside of my foreskin.  I immediately lost heart, what was the point of having a foreskin that retracted, if my newly exposed penis couldn’t be touched without great discomfort and pain?!

I went back to Yahoo and quickly found this was a known side-effect of Phimosis.  And, better still, could be cured, over time.  Immediately, i went back to work (i was still young, you know the excuse by now) and followed the instructions i had found.  I didn’t really get anywhere, i couldn’t get past the discomfort, and to be honest it put me off trying to touch the glans at all.

It was at this point, i started trying to do things my way.  <em>Clearly those other people didn’t know my own predicament, so their advice would only help me so much</em>, i thought.

I continued to pull the foreskin back, but laid off touching the glans, in fact i went out of my way to avoid it at all costs!  I was still seeing improvements, and it wasn’t long at all until i was finally able to pull my foreskin back behind the head of my penis.  I was pretty elated, until i noticed a white, flaky substance around the glans, and behind it.

I again searched on the internet and found that this substance was the dreaded “smegma”.  Apparently it could be washed off, but when i poured water over it in the bath, nothing happened.  It was clearly a build-up of smegma that had happened over years, and pouring some water over it wouldn’t be enough to rid me of it’s presence.  The fact that i couldn’t touch my glans, nevermind rub it fervently with a wire brush (which it seemed was needed!).

I decided to just go for the easy approach, over a longer period of time, and continued dipping the little fella in the bath, pouring water over it, and generally being a coward, with retards to touching the glans.  It did seem to help a little, and to be honest there wasn’t a great deal of smegma in the first place, it was just very visible against the healthy purple backdrop of my newly exposed glans.

I continued to do these things, stretching the foreskin, when i remembered to (i’d achieved my goal and there was no longer need to obsess over the situation), including in the bath, for a quick sprinkle of water and nervous breakdown, should i accidentally brush against the glans, even through the water.

Every now and then the foreskin would tighten up again, if i hadn’t worked it much, and i’d have to re-apply my efforts.  Like i said, my foreskin was still tight, it did pull back, behind the glans, but that’s it, and it sat there like the waistband of my trousers after an unhealthy feast at the Christmas dinner table, promising to tear should i eat even one more morsel.  I was reasonably pleased with it though, i’d still gained a fair bit in the whole process.

At the ripe old age of 26 years old, i managed (to the shock of everyone, especially myself) to find myself in a relationship with walking, talking, living woman.  I even managed to lose my virginity to her, in a very special (at the time – Bitter?  Me?  Damn right! ) way.  It was the first time i’d put my foreskin to the use, and to be honest it didn’t really cause me any difficulty, with regards to penetrative sex, probably helped by the fact i always wore a condom.

The main problem i did suffer was during oral sex (not that it happened too often – Leave it Paulie, leave it.  )  It was still a very pleasurable experience, but obviously there had to be a certain amount of caution, as contact with the glans would just be too uncomfortable and almost painful.  So, the best way to do things was always to keep the foreskin forward, during sexual contact, should it be hand relief, oral, or penetration.  It worked well, and that sex thing turned out to be quite a fun experience.  As was the relationship, at first, but that’s a story for another time, probably to be written from my prison cell, in a crayon held between my teeth, due to my arms being restrained by the straight-jacket. 

Recently, at the riper and indeed older age of 33, i decided to tackle (fnar, fnar!) the situation again, as over the years, and without any real inspiration (having chosen to stay clear of the wiles of women and as a result, sex) to drive me, my foreskin had gone back to being quite tight.

Being older, and disproportionate to the years passed, slightly wiser, i decided to research things a little better this time.  Looking for pictures, forums, websites, success stories, and the like.

I realised that the best way to stretch the foreskin was, in part, to begin by doing what i had already done.  But, and this is where i’d fallen short, i should also be pulling the foreskin forward, to stretch the skin in general and make it more pliable, as well as using my fingers and thumbs to stretch the tip of my foreskin, while flaccid:

<img class=”size-medium wp-image-277″ title=”Stretching foreskin” src=”http://www.dontdamnme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/stretch.jpg” alt=”Stretching” width=”86″ height=”129″ />

Stretching

I’d never done this before, and almost instantly i began to see the difference.  The process was much faster this time, taking a matter of days to get results, and a few short weeks to achieve full retraction while flaccid and retraction behind the glans, while erect.

One little note for anyone reading this and thinking of trying it, there is a condition known as Paraphimosis.  This happens when retracting the foreskin behind the head of the penis, while erect, and the foreskin gets stuck there and can’t be pulled forward.  The foreskin gets stuck in position, and as blood continues to pump into the head of your penis, it expands, making the foreskin tighter still.  Apparently the best way to deal with this is to apply pressure to the head of the penis, forcing blood out and back into the shaft, then pulling the foreskin forward again.  If you can’t pull the foreskin forward after a prolonged period of time, i’m not actually sure how prolonged, you should seek the assistance of your doctor, or take a rather embarassing trip to A&amp;E, with a storker in your hand, trying desperately not to let the by-now ballooned and still overly sensitive glans come into contact with anything, including clothing, and asking if a doctor could help you with your penis!

I read about this, and had a few instances where the foreskin did get stuck, seemingly, and the glans did swell and make it more difficult, which of course had me worrying!  But after a minute or so, even without the squeezing of my overly sensitive glans, which in all truth, scared me more than phraphimosis, i was able to push the foreskin forward again.

I had taken note of a cream i could ask my GP for, a steroid based cream which would help with the process should i find it difficult, but with these results i realised i wouldn’t need any help.

I began using baby oil to help make my foreskin more moist and pliable, and was surprised to say the least, that i was soon able to retract the foreskin further, even while erect!  I was so elated that i tried to find ways of sorting out my over-sensitive glans.  A quick purchase in Boots the chemist and i was ready to nervously touch my glans through the silky moistuer of KY liquid lubricant.  I was still very sensitive, no change there, but the more i worked on my foreskin and the further i was able to pull it back, while erect, did have an effect on my glans and soon i was actually able to touch it without wishing for instant, untimely death.

As i write this now, i’ve hit a new snag, another known side-effect of Phimosis, and possibly even the initial reason for the condition, a tight and/or short Frenulum.  The Frenulum is the tendon-like piece of skin that attaches the foreskin to the glans of the penis.  When it is tight and/or short, it serves to pull down the front of the glans, during erection, and if really tight/short it could well be the reason why the foreskin never pulled back in the first place and stayed in front of the glans, allowing the foreskin itself to form an phimosal ring.

Apparently the Frenulum can be stretched too, but it’s a longer process, and more difficult.  I’ve not been doing it long and so far i can’t really notice a difference, but i’m going to stick with it, as it’s certainly the better option, compared with having the frenulum snipped (with real life snipping apparatus, containing blades!).  Frenulumectomy even sounds frightening, mind you, any word that ends in “ectcomy” usually means bad news for any self-respecting man or woman.

So, after all these years, i now have a mostly functioning foreskin, which pulls back along the shaft of my penis, while erect, and only really limited by the frenulum, which pulls down the front of my glans, should i tug too much (oeer!).  My glans, although still sensitive, can now be touched with the aid of lubrication, and should in time, go back to normal, if i keep exposing it (not in public though, Mr. Police officer was very adamant on that point, after agreeing to let me go with a caution) and touching it when my nerve allows.

All i need to do now is deal with my issues regarding women, love, trust and not forgetting, actually finding a woman willing to let me have penile contact with her, without the often-resultant court case.    If only all of life was this simple.