Could this damage my penis?

Hi Matt,

It won't hurt anything but I do understand that it can feel a bit uncomfortable.

Work on loosening your foreskin.  It's normal in most 16 year olds for it not to retract fully but, you need to work on loosening it.  You can either spread the skin with your fingers OR get an erection and pull down a bit on the shaft skin, to force the head to stretch the foreskin.

It can still be that you're recovering a bit from the surgery.  As I indicated in an earlier post, it does take time for the skin to heal and become "elastic" again.

A little time and some effort is all it needs from the sounds of it.

Hang in there.

Dan thank you very much, you've replied on many of my threads which is much appreciated. I don't seem to be getting many replies on here. I'm definitely still recovering from the surgery because the frenulum area is very swollen/nasty looking and I think I can see an undissolved suture there. I'm quite worried, my skin had never previously been very elastic at all, and I can foresee being trapped with the same problem. After masturbation when the head is moist from lube and the foreskin has been stretched, it becomes a hundred times easier to retract when flaccid, however the next day when the area becomes dry again, the tightness reappears, completely destroying my elatedness having thought I had made progress. :(

I'm definitely willing to make the effort but I'm just losing confidence completely. When I get an erection it feels tight like the head is being strangled, and at that point I could just never imagine being able to glide the skin over the head like you're meant to be able to!

Matt, I can't stress it enough, at 16 it's not uncommon for the foreskin not to slide, and many guys can't even retract their foreskin either.  In most cases it will, if you work at it.  It just takes time for the skin to stretch.  In your case, it needs to heal first too.

Since you say it is still swollen and you see some sutures, just give it some time.  Skin on the genitals is very thin and the tissues vascular (lots of blood vessels) so it can take time to heal.

I know how hard it can be to wait but it really needs to heal.  Then you can work on stretching.

Check out this thread.  Maybe it'll help.  You aren't alone.

https://www.steadyhealth.com/17_and_cannot_pull_open_foreskin_all_the_way_t255547.html

 

 

 

Dan - thank you very much, you've once again helped me get a great deal of stress of my chest!

It's quite unfortunate that the function and development of the foreskin doesn't play a part in boys sex education. It really ought to be, given the number of people who end up worrying about this issue! It's just as well the internet has some extremely helpful people like yourself.

Matt

Oh I meant to ask you another question, there seems to be one more suture left but it's sort of hanging off at one point. Is this normal? I previously masturbated gently with a sex toy (I penetrated it gently) there was no pain but was that a bad thing to do at this stage? I'm worried that might have damaged it or something :/

There are different types of sutures, some that dissolve.    If the others came out on their own then it may be that it's getting ready to come out, which is normal.

By now I don't think you'll damage anything, it should be healing nicely by now, just go easy on it.

They are dissolvable sutures - that's great, as I say there is no pain related to the surgery sites.

I have one more question regarding the use of the sex toy - as I mentioned before, after I'm lubed up and I've pulled it back a bit (after getting an erection) it seems very very tight in this one spot, I can't really move it back or forth at all, which is what I think causes the discomfort when I orgasm, because it's restricting the flow. I'm just worried about paraphimosis, would I know if I was putting too much pressure on it, enough to force it back? or could it happen by accident? As I say I'm being as gentle as possible, the sex toy isn't tight and I'm using a loose grip and lots of lube.

It can go back by accident Matt. If it does you need to be aggressive in getting it back or it can lead to a trip to the ER.

I think if you try "stretching" it though you'll see an improvement shortly, the more your stretch the sooner it will happen.

Again, this is very common at your age.

Hang in there.

Hi Dan,

It's been a month and a bit since I last discussed how things were going. Im very worried just now, the operation looks to have healed up completely (apart from still a little bit of redness/swelling on the tip) - however, my foreskin is still very tight. The frenuloplasty was successfull since I can pull back my foreskin (very slowly) when flaccid and there is no more restriction. However when I have an erection it is just as bad as before the operation. I have been stretching it back gently and naturally through masturbation and I can never see any progress whatsoever. Sometimes I get it back just a millimetre or so more, but by half an hour after masturbation it returns to it's initial tightness. Given I masturbate loads and I'm not even seeing a little progress, is really getting me down and I'm seriously considering just asking to get circumcised when I go back for my check up in two months or so for a final end to the pain. I can't even put a condom on without pain and I always lose my erection, and masturbation isn't really pleasurable any more, which is nasty for a 17 year old (you know what your libidos like when you're that age!)

Hi Matt,

I'm sorry that it isn't progressing as quickly as we'd hoped. All I can say is "keep stretching." You have two months so maybe you'll see an improvement. Try stretching it, not just masturbating. Do it in the shower under warm water it'll help soften the skin some. Again, the more you can the greater the improvement.

Circumcision is an option. I would truly consider it as a last resort.

Good luck Matt. Keep me updated.

Hi Dan,

I am scared right now to be honest, the operation area is still quite swollen, in fact where the frenuloplasty healed up there is a bump (not sure else to describe it) which is rather painful to touch. I'm really worried, could it be my fault that the operation didn't heal properly? I was really good and didn't masturbate for between 3 and 4 weeks, and when I started I didn't hurt myself or anything, although it was a little uncomfy at times. Im not sure if this swelling could be restricting my foreskin still, or stopping the skin from growing?

By the way, I've started stretching other than just when masturbating like you said. For some reason I can't really do it when Im in the shower, I find my skin only gets softer once I have come out the shower and the skin starts to dry. Other than that it gets more pliable once I've stretched it a little bit and put some steroid cream on it.

Anyhow I stretch as follows - when I have an erection while masturbating I pull it back gently until it stops going back basically, and then just a little bit more so that it feels a bit tight. Then I hold it there for about 30 seconds. And I do that many times during the session. The other way I stretch is when I don't have an erection, I put two fingers in the opening, roll as much f/s as I can over my fingers then stretch laterally to the point of discomfort (I also put a bit of steroid cream on the places I can manage) I also stretch it upwards a bit.

BTW I can retract easily when flaccid after stretching or masturbation when there is alot of moisture. In the morning when it's a bit dry down there, it is quite hard and uncomfortable to pull it back. I would say I'm nowhere near pulling it back with a full erection, Im sure it would go a bit further than Im pulling it but since it's so tight I dont want to risk pulling it back too far.

I so do not want a circumcision, I wanna keep my foreskin :( I think the check up is this month. Do you think when they look at it, if it's not healed will they help me out or will they just offer me a complete circumcision full stop? I know I still dont have to get circ straight away if I dont want, but still. If I did choose to get a circ, would it be terrible? Or do you think it would be okay really?

Thanks for your help thus far!