For those used to this blog covering the subject of my Social Anxiety, this post title about phimosis (basically an overly tight foreskin) may come as a surprise. Well it did to me too.
I was reading some articles online recently, when I came rather randomly on a story on a man who hadn't had sex due to the pain he associated with it.
Whilst I've always blamed my Social Anxiety for my lack of sex, this article resonated with me, and I read on. Yes, I've always been concerned that sex would be painful, and this article made me realise, my foreskin maybe the reason for this assumption of mine.
The article helpfully pointed out that a mans foreskin should comfortably (without pain) be able to stretch over the head of the penis, when erect as well as well flacid. Oh bugger, mine doesn't do that!
I had to go to the Doctor for another matter, so tagged this on the end... "oh, if you've just got a couple more minutes...". He obliged, confirmed this may not be something we needed to deal with, but suggested getting circumcised.
I'd already read enough online to know this was a common challenge, but that steroid creams exist that *may* be able to help. I pointed this out and he did some quick research before prescribing me Hydrocortisone cream.
OK, so I know many say this cream does nothing, but I'm going to diarise how I get on here.
For anyone wanting try this cream by the way, it doesn't need a prescription in the UK, and appears to be cheaper to buy without one too!
I'm lucky enough that my foreskin will, with a bit of effort, stretch without pain over the head of my penis when flacid. I've therefore been "exercising" the skin by applying the cream, and stretching by getting a slight erection. I'm sure this isn't recommended as you don't have the control your fingers give, but I feel it's a more even way to stretch, and I was struggling to get my fingers in a holding a stretch.
After a couple of days of stretching with the cream now, I think I'm stretching more than I was initially. How much of this is the cream, versus what would happen without it, I have no idea. At a cost of £9 for the prescription though (around $12), I'm not going to worry about it!
I'll look to post here over the next few weeks, as I'm led to believe by others that I should see results in that time. My only challenge is finding the time. I'm likely to do more stretching at the weekend (30 minutes in the morning so far). Week days however maybe a rare stretch. Let's see how I get on!
I'm lucky enough that I could pull my foreskin back when flacid, so that's exactly what I've been doing each day in the shower, and then leaving it like that while I finish my shower, shave, clean my teeth and get dressed. I then put myself back to normal before leaving the house in the morning.
Whilst I don't believe this has resolved things completely, I'm confident things are better, and there's no longer a white stretch line on my foreskin when pulled back .. so this approach has definitely been successful for me! Unfortunately the lack of white stretched skin line probably means I'm not getting any further benefit from this approach (the skin has to be stretched well to encourage the skin to expland, so I need to find a way of continuing the stretching further as it still does pull back when I'm erect. I'll update on that when I have a chance to find what works or doesn't!
If you can pull back without serious discomfort, I think this approach is a great first step. The jury's out on whether it can resolve things completely, but I've definitely seen significant improvement, even if its not where I need it yet... so I'm happy to say this is certainly helping reduce the issue for me... exciting times!
I was reading some articles online recently, when I came rather randomly on a story on a man who hadn't had sex due to the pain he associated with it.
Whilst I've always blamed my Social Anxiety for my lack of sex, this article resonated with me, and I read on. Yes, I've always been concerned that sex would be painful, and this article made me realise, my foreskin maybe the reason for this assumption of mine.
The article helpfully pointed out that a mans foreskin should comfortably (without pain) be able to stretch over the head of the penis, when erect as well as well flacid. Oh bugger, mine doesn't do that!
Seeing a Doctor about my phimosis
Long story short, I wasn't comfortable going to a Doctor for this alone, but wanted to sort this out, as it could be another part of the puzzle in getting me confident about a relationship.I had to go to the Doctor for another matter, so tagged this on the end... "oh, if you've just got a couple more minutes...". He obliged, confirmed this may not be something we needed to deal with, but suggested getting circumcised.
I'd already read enough online to know this was a common challenge, but that steroid creams exist that *may* be able to help. I pointed this out and he did some quick research before prescribing me Hydrocortisone cream.
OK, so I know many say this cream does nothing, but I'm going to diarise how I get on here.
For anyone wanting try this cream by the way, it doesn't need a prescription in the UK, and appears to be cheaper to buy without one too!
First impressions
Well I'm not ready to upload any photos of down below yet, though I did take a couple at the start to compare with.I'm lucky enough that my foreskin will, with a bit of effort, stretch without pain over the head of my penis when flacid. I've therefore been "exercising" the skin by applying the cream, and stretching by getting a slight erection. I'm sure this isn't recommended as you don't have the control your fingers give, but I feel it's a more even way to stretch, and I was struggling to get my fingers in a holding a stretch.
After a couple of days of stretching with the cream now, I think I'm stretching more than I was initially. How much of this is the cream, versus what would happen without it, I have no idea. At a cost of £9 for the prescription though (around $12), I'm not going to worry about it!
I'll look to post here over the next few weeks, as I'm led to believe by others that I should see results in that time. My only challenge is finding the time. I'm likely to do more stretching at the weekend (30 minutes in the morning so far). Week days however maybe a rare stretch. Let's see how I get on!
2 months later
Well I'd love to say that I've stuck at it, but I gave up on the cream after a couple of weeks as I wasn't confident it was helping.I'm lucky enough that I could pull my foreskin back when flacid, so that's exactly what I've been doing each day in the shower, and then leaving it like that while I finish my shower, shave, clean my teeth and get dressed. I then put myself back to normal before leaving the house in the morning.
Whilst I don't believe this has resolved things completely, I'm confident things are better, and there's no longer a white stretch line on my foreskin when pulled back .. so this approach has definitely been successful for me! Unfortunately the lack of white stretched skin line probably means I'm not getting any further benefit from this approach (the skin has to be stretched well to encourage the skin to expland, so I need to find a way of continuing the stretching further as it still does pull back when I'm erect. I'll update on that when I have a chance to find what works or doesn't!
If you can pull back without serious discomfort, I think this approach is a great first step. The jury's out on whether it can resolve things completely, but I've definitely seen significant improvement, even if its not where I need it yet... so I'm happy to say this is certainly helping reduce the issue for me... exciting times!
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