Health For Men Nov 2007

The foreskin is one of the most sensitive parts of the male anatomy, and problems with it are rarely, if ever discussed in public. I had never been able to fully retract my foreskin, which was never really a problem until I became sexually active. Indeed I wasn’t fully aware that the foreskin should be able to retract. Sex was painful and I initially thought that this was how it was for everyone - I couldn’t work out what the fuss was about. This wasn’t enjoyable – this was painful!

I then began to notice a few tiny tears and so laid off sex for a while. When I started again,, the pain was worse. I started to make up excuses for not having sex, I couldn’t tell the truth that it was painful and that I didn’t enjoy it.

I started to look on the web, which as ever, provided conflicting information, some solutions for a tight foreskin suggested using soap or retracting the foreskin by force, both of which I later discovered are absolute no-no’s, some suggested masturbation (which held a certain attraction), some had stretching devices which looked like medieval torture implements .and worryingly a few sites mentioned full circumcision under general anesthetic. A nurse I spoke to suggested that this was a possible solution.

I didn’t like the sound of it at all. I rather like my foreskin.

Increasingly concerned and confused, I made an appointment with my doctor, who also suggested that circumcision was a possible course of action and referred me to a Urologist (a dick doctor). The Urologist thankfully was a bit less ready for surgery. He explained that all males are born with a non-retractile foreskin which helps to protect the head of the developing penis. The foreskin often does not become retractable until puberty but for some men it never becomes fully retractable. This condition, he explained, may affect up to 5% of uncircumcised men. So why had I never heard of it before?

Well, the simple answer is that people don’t talk about it, and in the States because of the high rate of infant circumcision people don’t know that much or have forgotten all about foreskins, whether retractable or not. Masculine pride prevents people reporting penis problems, and when they are reported circumcision is often is the answer because it’s all they know how to do.

So now we knew the problem, was circumcision the solution? Thankfully not! In my case some simple exercises were all that was required and I was referred to a book with the pragmatic title of "Cure Your Tight Foreskin". My Urologist advised that it may take a while before the foreskin would become fully retractable - but the good news was that I could keep my foreskin! "Thank you very much", I said and shook his hand like a long lost friend, just managing to restrain myself from hugging him.

Two weeks later, and I was gazing at the head of my penis, which my newly retractable foreskin had just revealed for the first time ever in my life- and what a magnificent specimen it is!"

Because in the U.S. there is a lack of awareness about the foreskin and its intricacies, circumcision is usually the immediate response from the medical profession. As an alternative, "Cure Your Tight Foreskin" proves that the medics aren’t always right by showing how to cure a tight foreskin without surgeons or surgery.

Reproduced by kind permission from DPC Publishing