[ ARC forum 2 ]
Written by Ivan at 21 Dec 2004 16:23:22: Re: My foreskin is tight... very tight
As an answer to: Re: My foreskin is tight... very tight written by anon at 20 Dec 2004 22:53:12:
>i have a dry foreskin and tiny cuts appearing, i heard its like thrush and cream soon clears it up.
I am amused by Jake's response, but I think you are wanting to know what to do about it. The answer is that you do the same thing about a yeast infection (that is what 'thrush' is) that a woman would do for a yeast infection - get a tube of Lotrimin (or whatever the OTC yeast treatment is where you are) and follow the directions. Get the cream rather than the suppositories because, well, you don't really have an appropriate place to stick the suppository for the purpose :-P It's pitched to women because they get yeast infections far more commonly than men, but it's the same treatment for essentially the same condition (and you know it's safe because women stick it in places that are every bit as tender as your accessible parts)The best way to prevent thrush in the future is to prevent irritations and the destruction of the healthy bacteria that lives there. Our entire bodies are hosts to an amazing array of tiny living creatures. You can't get rid of them completely and you would be far less healthy if you did. Most of the body is fine with soap (although some people dry from regular soaps), but the mucus tissues get irritated with the chemicals and you kill off the protective bacteria - which allows yeasts to thrive - when you use soap there. Generally any part of your body that is a deeper pink than the outer skin should only be thoroughly rinsed with either clean water or perhaps mildly salty water (as in eye drops and nasal moisturizing sprays). For the glans and inner foreskin, all you need do is pull the skin back and swish it around in the tub (before you have used the soap or shampoo on the other parts or wave it under the shower spray. If your cannot retract you can use a bulb syringe (as for irrigating ears) to gently inject clean water and then allow it to run out - repeated 2-3 times. And for a guy who can't retract, doing this with the very tip of the foreskin (not the tightest part) pinched shut will help stretch out the tightest part by 'ballooning'.