[ ARC forum 2 ]
Apparatus.
As an answer to: Paul B. written by Will at 27 Dec 2001 14:14:09:
Greetings Will.
> The Japanese seem to be somewhat more realistic in their approach to phimosis than the anglo world.
As, and you have yourself noted it, does the vast majority in Europe.
> It seems to be accepted as a quasi-normal condition that one can either accept or change.
Sounds eminently sensible. Despite the eponymous(?) Professor Cox' theory, there seem to be no shortage of men with phimosis who nevertheless do not care (and may not even realise) as they pursue a perfectly adequate sexual "career" and have a family, in much the same fashion that circumcised men do.
Somewhere in here, from your quoted site, is probably a pretty good dissertation on foreskin function and problems, if one could but read it!
> ... references to it, from cartoons to websites which sell appliances directly for the condition.
> Saphit is one of these that turned up in an English search for the word phimosis.
A most fascinating site indeed. This 
rather uncomfortable-looking device seems to be their primary product, functioning to keep the foreskin retracted (Charles would be rapt, surely!), but the tongs on one of the link sites are evidently for intermittent stretching.
> None of the Japanese sites have any English, so you have to click on the links to see what's there.
So your Japanese is much the same as mine? (:-)
> With Saphit, the opening cartoon is somewhat telling
Only somewhat. Seems to be distinctly Japanese "discreet" humour.
> but they show a number of appliances in their links.
Notably this, apparently mail-order firm.
> If you pop an email off to them, ... but it .. more or less tells you to piss off.
Just like their Web page. It's highly amusing to compare their relaxed and unashamed cultural xenophobia with all the "PC" media hype we are presently suffering about attempts to deflect hordes of "asylum seekers" (a curiously "British" term it seems - in America the more plain term "illegal immigrants" seems to be readily accepted).
> Maybe you as a bonafide MD could get through.
And maybe not. I doubt they'd be any more interested in any foreigner/ infidel/ scum etc., than they ever were.
Anyway, the sort of appliance I have in mind would appear to be somewhat different, and I would hope both more effective and (necessarily) more comfortable, being for continuous use but better rounded. It's not at all high on my list of "must do" things, but many thanks for the contributory research!