I'm 14, my parents never told me to retract my foreskin, and after some recent research I found out a lot of people are taught it very young.
I was a little worried that I hadn't yet done this so I looked into a few exercises which I've been doing over the past few days. I'm making progress and am about half way down my glans.
A few question.
1. Is it normal for me to not have started this yet at 14 yo
2. When should I be retracting it (cleaning? Peeing? Etc)
3. Is it normal to feel a bit of discomfort, maybe a little pain at first
4. Is the piece of skin going from the slit in my glans to the back of my foreskin normal
5. finally, how should I go about retracting it, it seems to be working at the moment but I don't want anything to go wrong.
Hey guest excellent questions:
1) you are not too old to start retracting your foreskin. I have lots of teen patients who I have to explain this too as their parent and teachers never told them it was important....
2) you can retract your foreskin whenever you want but it's most important when in the shower to remove smegma that builds up under the foreskin. Remember to not use soaps or body wash when cleaning because if they are not rinsed off well they can dry out and cause irritation to the glans(head) of the penis and your foreskin. Also if you get soap in the opening of your penis it will burn.
3) if you're foreskin is a bit tight it is normal to feel some discomfort when stretching and retracting but it shouldn't be painful. If it's painful you may be stretching too hard or could have an infection. Once you can easily retract your foreskin it should be painless.
4) the strip of skin is called your frenulum and is normal. It helps pull your foreskin back over the glans when not erect.
5.) when retracting just gently pull back/slide the foreskin down your penis. Pull until you either see the entire glans (there will be a rim or ridge at the end called the corona. The foreskin should be able to retract all the way behind this..... if it's tight just pull back as much as you can until you feel a good stretch but not too much to cause pain. Hold for 10 sec then relax and let the foreskin slide back to its normal position. Repeat. 5-10 times as long as not painful.
this usually is easiest after soaking in a warm bath or shower for 5-10 min. And best done when your penis is soft (flaccid) then once you can easily retract the penis while soft then you can try semi-erect and the fully erect.
the most important thing to remember is to have patience as this takes time. Also your foreskin must ALWAYS slide completely back and completely cover the glans (head) of your penis when done stretching.
if the end of the foreskin gets stuck behind the glans or does not completely cover the glans it can cut off the blood flow to your penis the foreskin will swell kind of like a doughnut and get painful this time s called paraphimosis and is an emergency that you have to go to the hospital for....
hope this helps let me know if you have questions I would be happy to clarify or talk more.