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deleted letter - Dear Gustavo



Written by Robin at 27 Jun 2005 17:47:35:

As an answer to: Re: phimosis: my story and questions written by Gustavo at 25 Jun 2005 15:14:44:

Letter deletion due to inaccurate and dangerous misinformation– biased opinions – with no refs.

Dear Gustavo,

I don’t know if you read this posting from Will, - if you were interested in its information then please go to the anti circumcision sites which are prolific on the internet.

Nick is answering your questions (very hard ones!) on the basis of the most comprehensive collection of studies ever made – I guarantee this. – and I collected ALL material and have discarded NONE … (except for biased opinions without any references).

I could tell you for example that Will has only one reference study from Paul Fleiss for what he says on the function of the frenulum – my site includes this study and 23 other ones.

On reading your thread I notice a little difficulty over terminology. This is hardly suprising! The medical profession has little established terminology. For example the words phimotic ring were first used or published by Campbell and then Cuckow in the late 1980s.

Thank you both for using my site for reference, and I find this quite amusing, but I believe you are both using different versions. In the newest version I try to bring present usage into a coherent whole, and rather than attempting to define phimosis in terms of phimotic ring, I accept that many inaccurate diagnoses will also refer to frenulum breve or adhesions as “phimosis” … So, I decided to use phimosis as the umbrella term (ie. Exactly how it is used colloquially and commonly) meaning narrow or tight foreskin – and then go on to define the different ways this can occur.

I found it interesting that it took you one month to start stretching your pinhole phimosis. … normally it is reported to start working within a week, and even without steroids should start working within ten days … I suspect this is because of your balanitis (LSA) … I suspect that you could have a secondary phimotic ring which will require double patience to stretch … and it sounds like you are already running out of patience.

I have seen and heard of any number of mechanical devices for stretching a phimotic foreskin, it is possible that something here might work – however it is more likely that you will be conned by someone making money. – Manual sensitivity when stretching appears to be an important factor – with a machine you could too easily force the ring and then rip it (making it scar and rejoin even tighter)

(You say you don’t see any whiteness in the phimotic ring, - some studies report this others don’t, - you read and quoted my personal description – the medical studies on this subject are linked clearly from this file phimosis_research.html (excuse me but exact references aren’t possible cos Im offline and on holiday, so it means youve gotta do the foot work yourself) – there are around 10 studies which I base my conclusions on).

The idea that the phimotic ring is composed of dead skin cells – is only postulated, and yes this is my idea, from my experience of the insensitivity to sharp touch, from many personal reports and then from Clemmensen who in 1988 (? I believe , but its holiday time !) conducted the most recent most comprehensive histological (cellular) study and defined fibrotic and lichenoid structures for the first time.

( you may be interested to note that this revolutionary study is ignored by both the anti circumcision and pro circumcision movements .. again one can see the funny side of this – the anti circs don’t like it because it shows that some forms of ring need surgery – the pro circs don’t like it because the study shows other forms of ring don’t need surgery – welcome to the wacky world of circumcision online).

Ok so now Ive got to this point, my regular advice - without studying a persons personality or being in touch with them (as Nick is with you) – is that your ring will be hard to stretch it will take twice as long and will close again twice as quick – and sometime soon you will get fed up of the whole procedure – I would be considering a partial circumcision or other minimal ways of surgically removing the ring.

There is however one important consideration. Have you also got frenulum breve? My only indication is that you say “I noticed that pulling underneath was more productive for retraction” and maybe, just maybe this could also be hindering retraction.

So Nick is leading you correctly as far as Im concerned (he gave you refs to help diagnose possible frenulum breve … etc etc.).

Note that Clobetasol Propiate is meant to be more successful for stretching lichenoid rings than betamethasone.

If its influencing your sex life? This is a question of what you get used to, and/or not knowing what you are missing. … Some men go through life with pinhole phimosis – one is able to penetrate and masturbate without pain or much apparent difficulty except with washing … and now lubricated condoms, … well one of the reasons mankind has survived is our adaptability, -- this adaptability is worth you thinking about.

Lastly, Ive told ya once, not to pull yer foreskin back or perform a “more than full retraction and directly pulling stretched the phimotic ring skin … “ I did this with a full erection for 5 minutes approx. and haven’t forgotten it since, it has permanently damaged nerves at the base of penis, causing symptoms which are similar to penis fracture which is typically caused by such head on pressure. DO NOT DO THIS. ---

And do not pay any attention to the naïve advice on the deleted letter to “pull it back until you feel real tension … pull it back as far as possible and hold it in the stretch. Whilst having a wank, alternate stroking forward with a stroke back as far as possible and hold it there”.

To stretch the ring it needs a bigger circumference to expand it, and this is most pleasurable and natural to do – repeatedly - over the coronal ridge of the glans.

Thanks for your time

Robin




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