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Re: How long's as a piece of string...

Written by glider at 31 Dec 2002 00:44:17:

As an answer to: Re: How long's as a piece of string... written by Ralesk at 17 Dec 2002 23:33:43:

Length of frenulum = ~3 cm, though it's tricky to work out how to take the measurement.

About a year or so ago I started stretching this, and it's been working - though I could probably do with stretching some more as a really energetic session can still leave a feeling of tenderness in the frenulum and the skin around it. Also, my glans still bends a little if I retract all the way.

Here’s my take on frenulum breve. If a frenulum seems too short, it's likely [1] that the section of inner foreskin adjacent to it (the lower-side foreskin) will be too short too. Too short for what, though?

When a foreskin has become fully retractable, skin that starts out nearest the tip when the foreskin is in its forward position can be retracted almost to the base of the erect penis. In some guys, the upper-side foreskin has the potential to permit full retraction, but the lower-side foreskin does not. The lower-side foreskin is short, and pulls tight before the upper-side foreskin does.

When a guy with this sort of foreskin tries to stretch his upper side foreskin tight (by pushing further into what ever he is pushing into) his frenulum and the skin adjacent to it will start to tighten and will begin to pull on his glans. If he continues, this will bend his glans out of line - which can look odd and uncomfortable. The frenulum and the skin around it may also become uncomfortably taut.

It's as if the foreskin had been designed for an erection that curves downwards whereas the erection in question probably curves upwards.

The solution, it seems to me, is to progressively stretch the lower-side foreskin so that it will permit full retraction. [2]
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1. I think this is more than just likely, and is in fact pretty much inevitable given that the frenulum is continuous with the rest of the foreskin.

2. This is a slightly unusual take on frenulum breve to be sure, since it suggests the frenulum is not really the problem. According to this way of looking at things, the problem is that the lower side of the foreskin is too short to permit full, even retraction. The frenulum seems to make it more difficult to stretch this part of the foreskin. Since removing the frenulum may make stretching easier, this may explain why frenuloplasty is often successful.


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