[ ARC forum 2 ]

Smegma and its cousins.

Written by Paul B. at 02 Jul 2002 15:49:43:

As an answer to: smegma written by Mark at 02 Jul 2002 00:22:22:

> One more question, undeniably I do have smegma which is firmly secreted on my glans. What would you advise to get the smegma out with using diminutive pressure as my glans are still moderately ensitive.

Continuing with the same theme as before, let's look at what "smegma" is. I keep comparing it to earwax, and the more I think about it, the more accurate a description it is. You probably don't think about it this way, but the skin of your body continuously grows from underneath. The surface continuously wears away, mostly as tiny flakes consisting of a few dozen to so many hundred cells each.

Now these flakes are a major component of the dust which floats around your house (if you live in a dry, non-dusty country area, perhaps the major component of house dust. It gets worse! Tiny mites called - dust mites, eat these little skin pieces and "recycle" them. Unfortunately, many people tend to be allergic to these mites, specifically their droppings (very tiny indeed, the "used" remnants of the skin flakes) and the broken-up pieces of the dead mites themselves, and this allergy appears to be a major cause of asthma.

All this is just to get you thinking. Now the tricky bit is - what happens when the surface of the skin cannot wear away normally? Well, let's consider places where this may happen - closed spaces on the skin. There is for starters, your umbilicus/ navel/ belly button. This tends not to be cleaned by many people, and frequently builds up "smegma" (or something very close), gets irritated (which of course reminds the owner to get in there and clean it out, and sometimes results in a trip to the doctor) and if neglected sufficiently, builds up as a hard plug or "cast" which is extruded when for some reason the navel is everted (turned out), such as during a surgical procedure, notably a laparoscopy or repair of umbilical hernia. Yuccch!

Another common one - the humble "blackhead" or "whitehead". This is a little pocket derived from a hair follicle or skin gland which becomes blocked at the top. The material is white, but if exposed to the air, oxidises on the surface (only) to the typical black colour (as does the similar coating on a seborrhoeic or "senile" - meaning "age-related" - keratosis; the greasy rough-surfaced black-brown spots many older - and some younger - people have on various places on their bodies).

If the black- or whitehead is not expressed (squeezed out), then the process of formation continues and the pocket containing it, which is of course lined with skin which in turn contributes to the white debris, continues to enlarge, forming a "cyst". These do, not infrequently, become infected and may produce an abscess ("boil"), for which reason there is a lot to be said for removing them if they get big.

Now consider the ear. The real enemy for the ear is moisture which promotes the growth of fungus, and most ear canal infections are caused not by bacteria, but by fungi (moulds). Healthy ears produce abundant oily secretions which make the "earwax" or "cerumen" a characteristic orange-brown colour when mixed with the shed skin.

As regards the joke in the "Harry Potter" movie, clean earwax does not have much odour or flavour, certainly not offensive, but a fungal infection is indeed an offensive smell. Retained ear canal skin again develops the dark grey-black oxidation colour, and - critical to the current concern - removal is complicated by the fact that the large flakes of skin incorporated in the "cast" are frequently still attached to the ear canal in part, so that removing them too vigorously tears the skin, causing bleeding and may lead to inflammation or infection.

So now to smegma. Same stuff you see - layers of old skin, may be partially attached to the skin from which it actually grew in the first place. Like any skin, the more you remove it, the faster it grows - automatically - to replace the lost surface. Dandruff on the scalp is a good example also.

Dermatologists prescribe ointments containing Salicylic Acid to soften and break up the skin to facilitate removal - at least for dandruff scales, but you do not want this on your penis!

> I've already tried soaking it in warm and cold water which turned out to be futile.

Well, to some extent. I gather by your description today, that you are still managing to pull the foreskin back and get at it, so I would suggest two things. Firstly, the Zinc and Castor Oil ("nappy" or "diaper") cream from the pharmacist will tend to soften it and make it easier to clean off. Secondly, I am pretty sure that your over-enthusiastic attempts to remove it, noting that it has up until now been causing no significant problem, are more to blame for your sudden inflammation of the foreskin and/ or penis head, than the smegma itself.

So in summary, try the cream, take it easy, don't do more damage trying to remove the smegma than it is (not) causing by being there! As someone said, girls are full of it (slight hyperbole - they have a lot of it in the vulval folds, some much more so than others,) but have one big advantage over guys - since they can't see it without a mirror and even then can't see it as closely, it rarely worries them! {;-)}


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