I have just joined because I was searching for a Phimosis forum, and this one seems cool.
At the age of 24 (am still 24), I finally realized that my foreskin had a condition known as phimosis. I figured this out on a wikipedia site because I was trying to understand the penis better. The original reason on looking up the penis was because I wanted to understand something. I thought I had a problem, but after a little research I found that I was okay. However, I stumbled across another issue which was rather confusing.
On the page, there was a picture of a circumcised penis and one un-circumcised. Both of the pictures were erect and both showed the glans at the fullest. I was confused but after a while it started to make sense. I soon realized that my penis could not do this and started searching around under "tight foreskin". It then became evident that I had Phimosis.
I tried to look back at my younger days thinking of if I knew this all along, and I remember parts of my life where I questioned the foreskin. I remember one time, when I was about 5 or 6 years old when I went to the School toilet. One of my friends was next to me and I was staring at his member because it looked so different to mine. I could not honestly tell you if he was cut or not because I didn't understand back then, but I asked him "Why does yours look like that?" His reply was "Pull it back". I tried to pull it slightly after I finished but I just couldn't, and after I left the toilet, I thought nothing more of it.
During my teens, I came across Porn (like anyone does when experiencing and understanding sex) and I noticed that their penises looked different to mine (and not because most of them are huge either. LOL).
Their head of the penis (glans) were always shown so I gathered that most people in the world are circumcised. I knew that I was intact, and because (to me) it seemed luck a minority thing, I gathered my penis was fine and the foreskin was meant to be tight.
Masturbation for me has always been fine. Obviously I never pulled down the skin to cause pain or anything. Basically, I never came across any problems during my experimenting. LOL. However, I always knew that I would have problems having sex with a girl. I always knew that my skin would be tight and could possibly hurt me, making sex fairly poor for me and my partner.
Still, here I am at 24 years old and when I finally realized I had Phimosis, I started searching on the internet for advice and guidance.
I knew circumcision would be a common solution to this, but I have grown fond of my foreskin, and if I do get it cut, I feel I will regret it for the rest of my life, even if it does "cure" my tight foreskin. Before I give circumcision the go ahead, I just searched for other ways, if possible.
The internet does has awesome potential in the home. It can help guide us to the right path, and give us more options and not just our doctors. I came across many pages on the net which talks about stretching the foreskin. I started to do basic stretching, and slowly I was getting results.
I had a very tight foreskin. I could not pull it back placcid let alone erect. In the beginning I could just see the tip of the head, which I believe is known as the meatus, and that is it.
However, after daily stretching, the opening slowly got bigger and bigger. After about 2 months, the opening was more and more visible. After about 4 months, I decided to go one step further and get some betamephasone (sp?). Over here in England, you have to see your doctor and get it prescribed to you. I decided to bite the bullet and go and see him.
I told him my situation, my research, and my results with the stretching. He started the topic on circumcision and although I wanted to end the topic, I decided to let him speak, as he is only giving me advice. After he finished speaking, I decided to end the coversation by being honest.
"I may have phimosis, but I can quite happily live the rest of my life with it. I will not ignore circumcision but I would like it to be my last alternative. I was slowly getting results with stretching and I hear this steroid cream helps it"
He agreed with me, and he then asked if he could see it. I had no problems with this because the doctor needs to be sure that I am speaking the truth and not prescribing this cream for other, un-medicated issues, etc.
With this, he prescribed betamephasone 0.01% to me, and quickly, I rushed to get it.
THIS CREAM IS AWESOME!! RESULTS HAVE INCREASED DRAMATICALLY!!
I know a lot of places on the net recommend 0.05%, but the 0.01% works just as good. I cannot say if 0.05% makes quicker results, but I am just letting you know.
------------------------------------------
-
Please guys, try the stretching first, and go see you doctor *if you have to) to get the cream. It is worth it and don't feel threatened about. I just went there and was honest towards him, and this cream gave fantastic results.
I don't think everyone will be able to cure phimosis by stretching, but most will in my opinion. Some people wil cure it faster than others. For me, I have been doing this for about 6 months (used the steroid cream for a bout 2 weeks now). I am sure th results would be even better if I started with the cream, but I did not want to rush it.
Remember, I was very tight to begin with. Now I can pull it behind the head in it's placcid state, and I can now pull it half-way down the head erect. The results are getting better and better.
I have joined this site mostly to help feed my views phimosis. To be part of a group of guys that are not afraid t discuss this and help each other.
Here are some site's I took onboard when in my early research stage.
http://www.embarrassingproblems.co.uk/peni
stight.htm
http://www.norm-uk.org/circumcision_altern
ative_treatments.html
I think the foreskin should be re-examined, as circumcision seems a logical choice today when it is not needed. I was uneducated, like many people who found out they have phimosis. Still, this is my view.