Conditions
Phimosis
A tight foreskin is most commonly diagnosed at an early age, as 95% of 16-17 years olds should be able to retract their foreskins fully. Its medical term is ‘phimosis’ and this comes from the Greek world for ‘muzzle’, which means that men’s constant references to their ‘weapon’ might not be far from the truth…
A man should be able to retract his foreskin over the head of his penis, but if he can’t this can have a discomforting effect when having sex, and can lead to hygiene issues as it becomes difficult to clean the penis effectively. Treatment of the condition has most commonly been circumcision, but this has recently been replaced by use of a topical steroid cream, which when applied for 4-6 weeks can often reduce the constriction of the skin enough to fit the foreskin over the head. There are also ways to permanently stretch the skin, either manually or through use of embedded balloons. If these methods are not affective, then it is possible to have surgery called Preputioplasty, where a dorsal slit is made to relieve the tension, without having to remove the whole foreskin.
Comments and Questions
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I'm 55 and I don't know if it's my imagination, but over the last 12 months my foreskin seems to be getting tighter. Is it possible at my age, that this change can happen now? Thanks Paul
For ages i had a tight foreskin, and had never pulled it back, i noticed this at the age of 16 and thought nothing of it, then a couple months later after trying to stretch it over the head i got to a point where it felt weird and even hurt a bit, for about a year i kept it to myself and the worse mistake i ever made was trying to self diagnose. i look on the internet and with it being the internet all sorts of stuff came up and scared me into thinking stuff like circumcision would never happen or "i would never do that" but after telling on of my parents who they had heard of phimosis just said its common and go to the doctors, you dont have to tell someone but it helps, anyway i told my doctor what was wrong and straight away he said what it was, he prescribed me some steriod cream to use in the bath , and even though this worked a bit and does cure many, mine was still very tight, a few weeks after of trying the cream he suggested me to surgeon who went through circumcision with me , at first i was scared and nervous but this procedure is done hundreds of times a day and completely safe, i agreed and a month later had the surgery, when i went in the hospital i was nervous but once i was put to sleep and woke up again i didn't even know it had been done. and like any surgery once i took the dressing off in the bath the next day it didn't look normal it was swollen and a bit bruised with stitches but it sounds a lot worse than it was and didn't hurt at all with the painkillers he gave me, and its been 2 months and its so much better! still have a bit of healing to go but it looks and feels better and a load off my mind, i would recommend this to anyone worrying about phismosis the quicker you go to the doctor the quicker its over , don't wait a year like i did!
i am 28. after i have had sex ive been getting about 5 tears on the inside ov my foreskin. they take about 8days to heal. this has been happenng for the past 6 months. my foreskin keeps getting tighter everytime and now its too tight to pull my forskin back, ???????????????
I'm 28 years old and have NEVER been able to pull my foreskin back. I know I need to go to the doctors about this, but I don't want a circumcision...! Is there something like a "half" circumcision I can have?
i habe this problem! ive had it for a few years now and ive been to embarresed to go to the doctors about it. do you just go to your local doctors and make an oppointment to see a doctor? or do you have to ask to seea special doctor? hope you can help me?
Have the same issue mate. Glad I'm not the only one haha. Im goin to book an appointment at the doctors and suggest you do the same :) may as well get it checked because it's only gonn get worse!
Hi , Im 16 going on 17 and recently i have been quite sexually active , A few weeks ago i discovered some discomfort when puling my penis back , Now its become quite sore and hurts when puling back ALOT ! Also my foreskin has little splits in it and when stretched as far as it can go i notice i have like a white ring about half way up my shaft, I wash everyday and try putting cream on it but its not realy making things any better :s im worried can anyone help ? Thankyou
It depends what cream you are using! You will need to goto the drs for std check and also so they can prescribe you the correct medication that you will need! This condition is often connected to thrush so perhaps speak to your girlfriend also
im 18 and cant pull my forskin back at all, i am worried it will hurt when i have unprotected sex, any advice??
I'm not sure about how it'd be unprotected, but it's fine with a condom.
I am 14, nearly 15 and I am generally a young developer. I have no underarm hair and my voice hasn't broken and I haven't had a growth spurt yet. I have pubes on my testicles but not on the area above my penis. When I wank I produce semen and I can get pleasure normally, but my foreskin barely goes past the japseye or hole of the penis. Is this normal? Or is it just because I haven't developed yet. I also only have a 3.5 inch penis. Could this be something do do with it? PLEASE HELP?
If you have a tight foreskin like me do not pull it over the head unless you know it will go back, i pulled mine back to clean it and could not put it back, usally it does but sex the night before made it swollen abit, pulling and yanking to get it back over didnt work and resulted in a major swelling so last night i went to the doctor and he tried to pull it back but the pain (20mins) was unbearable so he sent me straight to A&E they said it wouldnt hurt but i have never screamed in pain ever until last night, even with the n02 gas i was screaming in pain, any way its back and and a little bit saw, surgon said i had to got back to the gp when swelling goes down to talk about options, it hurt that much i dont want to go back :-( when i came out of hospital i thought the chopped the forskin off cos of the pain, but its still their
im 13 i have a tight foreskin i cant pull it back and im too embarrassed to tell anyone what should i do?
You just have to man up and get it looks at, I wish I had wen I was ur age, although not sexual active I worry about it a lot. Hope you are braver than me.
I suffered from the same condition in silence until I was 17 when i secretly went to see my GP, do something now and see a doctor, you wont regret it but you will if you wait in silence. There are many ways to correct it, do be scared or embarrassed there are thousands of people in your position, take care and do the right thing, see someone
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