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Tight Foreskin - Any other words of advice?

Written by Anthony at 20 Nov 2004 17:10:04:

Any advice any of you can provide would be appreciated.

I a 26 year old male, living in Toronto, Canada have had a tight foreskin my entire life. I have seen a number of doctors, and at this point am a little skeptical regarding the attitude of the medical profession towards this 'flap of skin' and don't really know what to do. Let me recount my long winded story:
1.When I asked the first doctor (my family doctor of 17 years or so) about circumsicion - he cut me off and said he was totally against it, that he wasn't circumsized, his three sons weren't and that is absolutely unneccessary only an f'ing idiot (verbatim) would consider such a thing. When he finally let me speak, and I told him the reason why I was asking, i.e. tight foreskin, he immediately apologized, as he thought that I was considering it because I was dating a jewish girl at that time. I suggested he perscribe me a steriod cream, specifically Kenalog which people had success with one some message boards, of which he promptly wrote and also wrote me a refferal to a urologist (who I would never end up seeing) and said that unfortunately I would most likely have to have a circumsision as all of his patients with a similar problem have had to resort to that as the steriod cream didn't work.
2.On to the second doctor - my new GP as I moved across the country. This guy has a serious attitude problem, however, is hands down the smartest doctor I have ever been to. When I explain to him the problem - he looks at me with this look of distain and bitchyness and says "Please, It not like you need it (foreskin) for anything." and wrote me a refferal to a urologist.
3. Doctor #3 - The urologist. A very nice old man with a good sense of humor, who could probably do a circumsicion with his eyes closed. I drop my drawers, he retracts the foreskin and awknowledges that it is tight. I tell him I have been using steroid cream and it has made some difference but it is still tight. I ask him about a dorsal slit - which he says that he refuses to do on young people because it looks horrible and that if I opted for surgery that it would have to be a circumsision. He tells me to continue the Kenalog now twice per day for the next 30 days - then come back and see him. I follow his instructions and it seems to make a difference. When I see him the second time he is in an extreme rush. I drop my pants - he looks for one second comments and comments on the difference and says the steriod cream should do it and that if i had anymore problems to come back to see him. The next time I see my GP he hands me a copy of the letter written to him by a urologist which describes my condition and his treatment which includes "The manual retraction and the steriod cream has made a difference to the patients foreskin, which should do. He is not keen on circumsision. Time will tell."
4. I go back to my GP a week ago and ask him if there is anything else I can do and there had been improvement but it is still tight. He perscribes me a stronger steriod cream, called Halog, and says that I should try it to see if it has an effect. He also explains that he doesn't understand what my problem is - and why I just don't have it (circumsision) done. I responded by telling him that on most of the pro-circumsision message boards it said that recovery can be between 4-6 weeks, and there can be serious complications. He felt that it would be more like 2-3 days, and complications would be minimal, and that the people who would post things on a website might not represent the normal population, and that there are likely many people out there who have been indifferent who don't talk about it through internet chatrooms.

To be honest with you I have been doing research for the last two years and I have yet to come to any sort of a conclusion. I do not want to have a circumsision and am hoping that something will happen that will allow me not to. I have heard so many differing opinions from Doctors and have been on hundreds of websites/message boards that at this point I really have no idea what to do. My biggest fear is a huge loss of sensitivity (as I have experienced a loss of feeling in other parts of my body as a result of surgery) and the fact that I think that as males we are all born with foreskin for a purpose. I have this discussion with my friends, and it's about a 50/50 split between those who are and aren't, and the ones who are say not to worry but awknowledge that they don't really know because it was done to them at birth. Further complicating my siutation, I also have a tight frenulem which none of the doctors seemed to be concerned with. At this point I have almost resigned myself to the fact that I am going to have this done, as at this point I don't know what else I can do. Any advice from people who have had successful stretching, or a recent successful circumsision without loss of sensitivity or even unsuccessful would be appreciated.


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