[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: Help

Written by Paul B. at 14 Dec 2001 18:53:25:

As an answer to: Re: Help for infections written by Ben(noname) at 14 Dec 2001 16:19:40:

Ben, you have cautiously avoided Jim's and my questions as to whether this started due to an excess of masturbation, but your ready agreement suggests to us that it was, and that would be quite OK.

> Before I have to admit I didn't know much about hygiene.

Well, I'm inclined to ask "What's to know? - you pull it back, and you rinse it with water when you have a shower", but I'm happy to have clarified the details.

> I've never had sex either it's not that kind ;).

And so we gathered. Point is, Richard is taking the cautious line that you perhaps should see a doctor just in case especially if you make comments like "half of the infection has gone away." It would be a lot more reassuring if you had said all indications of infection had gone away.

Anyway, the point remains that beyond sexually transmitted diseases, the vast majority of infections you are likely to get around the foreskin are self-limiting or treatable by over-the-counter medication from the pharmacy (drugstore). While a doctor's opinion is nice, women suffer much more than men from this problem and it is considered quite OK for them to self-diagnose and use this medication (on the basis that if it doesn't get better, they should see the doctor).

It sounds like you don't at this point need any medication, but if you did need something soothing for minor irritation, I usually recommend Zinc and Castor oil which is sold as "nappy" or "diaper" cream for babies with nappy/ diaper rash. (I have to make that bit multi-lingual! ;-)

> AJ why did you have to come in here and be like that?

You have to read back carefully through the posts on this page (or older; I recommend you do indeed read them all!) to understand AJ's problem.

> They were just trying to help! They don't seem anti-circ to me.

Well, quite frankly, Jim, Richard and myself are quite strongly "anti-circ". The reason is that as previously explained, many doctors have the "If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem you see begins to resemble a nail" approach to problems with the penis and foreskin and will tell you that your problem is going to come back again (which indeed, it might do!) unless you have a circumcision.

What they fail to mention, either because they (are themselves circumcised and therefore) have no idea of how useful a working foreskin is, or because they have found the procedure very profitable; is that there are substantial disadvantages of circumcision.

We think we need to get in early in the discussion, to point that out.

> It you really need a circ then you get one! It's that simple!

You've picked up the jargon eh?

You would think it should be simple, but in fact it's not. Almost all of the reasons cited as "needing" a circumcision have a far simpler and less traumatic alternative remedy. For example - recurrent "infections" (I quote that, because it may not be infection, but rather an irritation or dermatitis from soap and such) - instead of circumcising, you identify and remedy the cause of the problem.

The common "need" for circumcision is a foreskin that is too tight to pull back over the head - what everyone asked you about at the start. Well, this is preferably treated by simply stretching it. Stretching works - there are thousands, who knows how many - presumably millions, men who have had the problem and cured it by stretching, but there are also many who have either chosen not to do this, or have not approached it in the right fashion (there are, as with anything else, certain techniques and principles that it helps to know) and consequently state with their own "certainty" of opinion that stretching "does not work".

And that's where AJ comes into the picture. As he tells it, he had this problem, but he didn't want to do the stretching - it takes time and patience. He saw a doctor who told him what he wanted to hear - that stretching "doesn't work" anyway, and recommended a circumcision.

Now of course, if you have a tight foreskin and opt for surgery, the obvious approach would be an operation to make it loose enough to pull back normally, which is called a "preputioplasty" or a simpler form, a "dorsal slit". This procedure however is far simpler, less traumatic, shorter healing time and - not claimable for anywhere near as high a fee as a circumcision. Doctors don't recommend it - it "doesn't work".

So as the story goes, AJ had his circumcision and swears by it. He's "fixed" now, so his advice always is, that everyone who has any problem should go see the doctor and if the "doc" recommends a circumcision, go for that without question so they can be like AJ (or is that rather, so that AJ can be like them?).


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