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This is why...

Written by Ivan at 22 May 2003 18:50:34:

As an answer to: Minimal Circumcision and Frenuloplasty last week written by bob at 22 May 2003 17:47:11:

>Hi,
>I had a Minimal Circumcision and Frenuloplasty done a week ago to correct a phimosis. Since then the opening at the end has got progresivly tighter as the week goes on so much so that it's tighter now than before I had it done. I'm begining to wish that I'd have left it alone and lived with it.
>The skin in the area where the stiches are is very swolen, can anyone who's had this kind of minimal work done comment on their healing process, this is really getting me down. :(
>thanks
>bob

This is why so many of those who post here counsel a more cautious approach than letting a surgeon whip out his scalpel so quickly. If the phimosis is a recent development, then there is probably an infection which should be dealt with, first by a GP. One should insist on treatment for the *cause* of the change, not just start hacking parts away. Once the infection is no longer causing tightening, or even before the infection is resolved, a stretching program, perhaps aided by betamethasone (see posts below on effectiveness), can be practiced to relieve the tightness. The advantage to this approach is that after you have made all the non-invasive efforts, if you still have a functionality problem that's worth more than what you'd be giving up, you can still seek the knife. If you start with the knife, that's the end of the road. Dentistry used to be practiced this way: i.e. pull any teeth that have any problem; now a dentist who practiced that way would very quickly lose his license (and even more quickly lose his patients). Why people allow soembody to start cutting away at them without exploring less intrusive options I will never know: an M.D. license should not be a license to maim. I know this is too late for you to try the healthy approach, but it needed to be said for others.


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