This site discusses phimosis in its specific forms of phimotic ring, frenulum breve, adhesions or skinbridges. My concern is the early prevention of phimosis. The late correction of adult phimosis was never my interest. My belief is that once the medical profession realise the need, they will develop hundreds of new methods of treatment which I cant even imagine ... Therefore treatment is purely an appendix on this site, however, because I have no specific bias, my research allowed a rare objective survey of the many posibilities.

This site offers detailed information on individual problem related treatment, often advising simple, cheap, minimal and specific surgery and time honoured solutions taken from traditional methods including partial circumcision, dorsal slit and frenular incision and tying. - (Links are given where appropriate to sites dealing with the modern solutions of preputial plasty and full-circumcision).

FRENULUM TREATMENT

NEW: See "Tying the Frenulum"The simplest safest
cheapest best method (no scars) of treating frenulum breve.
Use Harmen's Pages for tying and/or a second opinion on frenulum treatment.
The quickest treatment would be an incision (discussed below).

The Condition: Frenulum Breve

Circumcision is an inaccurate operation for this condition. Western medicine often offers the "frenuloplasty". From a surgical point of view this is a very small operation. It takes around twenty minutes surgery and about an hour with the preparation. It is performed as an outpatient. Normally there is a ten days to two weeks recovery time.


General
Most men being operated for this condition, do not realise how extremely sensitive and erotic the area round the frenulum can be. Previously the frenulum has held the foreskin forward; experimentation has been hindered and any stimulation in the area may have simply been painful. The area around the frenulum is the most sensitive area on the phallus. If the area is sensitive to pain at present, this will turn to pleasure after being operated. Once you get it treated then the area around the frenulum under the glans will be a new source of pleasure. On normal men, the frenulum itself appears to be usually not very sensitive, however the area around the frenulum is often claimed to be the most sensitive on the penis.

Due to the curious nature of this condition men often feel they suffer from what feels like a redundant or extra long, foreskin and request circumcision.

FRENULOPLASTY

Though a circumcision will leave the frenulum breve little or nothing to pull on it is an inaccurate treatment for this condition. Western medicine offers the "frenuloplasty". From a surgical point of view, this is an insignificant operation. It takes around twenty minutes surgery and about an hour with the preparation. It is performed as an outpatient.

For some reason practicing surgeons and urologists often describe the operation as an elongation of the frenulum, this is misleading, it leaves the impression that you will receive a longer frenulum. Somehow, by elongating they mean spreading it out, and I presume when you spread a frenulum which is too short it disappears - The frenuloplasty does NOT elongate the frenulum, it sews the frenulum into the shaft skin.

The frenuloplasty is performed by cutting a small series of either z or y shaped cuts, which when stitched together will form a single line, or a row of 5 or 6 small horizontal lines, (both are barely visible). It takes about 2 weeks for the stitching to heal and 4 weeks before the area becomes fully functional again. This is called a z-plasty or y-plasty. (Any Urologist reading this is more than welcome to provide a better description - for example: Does the z plasty lead to horizontal scars and the y plasty to vertical?).

The operation which leaves one scar as a single line would be visually superior to the 5 or 6 horizontal lines, though possibly one vertical scar might present problems with stretching in old age.

For those who wish this easily available option, please find a surgeon who is practiced in performing the frenuloplasty.

I have heard of around a thousand frenuloplasties without any problems
Warnings: One man complained of a hard scar after a laser frenuloplasty. One man was traumatised after frenuloplasty when a relative phimotic ring led to paraphimosis. If you have a mild phimotic ring which could lead to paraphimosis once the frenulum breve is removed, - the simplest precaution to take is please read the page on paraphimosis - or stretch the ring enough before being operated - or tell the operating surgeon about this.

Pictures of a Frenuloplasty

Frequency:
There are no medical statistics on this condition except among farm animals. An urologist in Hamburg, said he operates "approximately once a month,... basically the average age group is around 17 to 27 years old" (8). (There are 200 Urologists in Hamburg and a population of 2 million.)

AN INCISION
If you consult a surgeon or urologist with full confidence that an incision is what you wish for, then I feel sure he could be persuaded to perform this operation.

Various Ideas on Incisions
The frenuloplasty is a surgically proficient operation which takes into consideration the requirement of being neat. A simple incision may leave a little dangling bit of skin, which would be untidy.

An interesting fact is that some anatomically normal men pull on their frenulum as a form of masturbation, (this was reported by Bryk, by Kinsey, and men who I interviewed). The reason I mention this is I have heard of one Philippine man, who had been cut ritually, and enjoyed pulling on the resultant flap of skin.

From an Incision there are three possibilities
One or two tiny flaps of skin which you may or may not like,
Often small flaps of skin will recede into the shaft skin
A second operation at a later date, to remove the flaps

DISCUSSION OF APPROPRIATE TREATMENT
If the frenulum was checked before puberty, and if it is too short, a simple incision may be all that is necessary. This will avoid any stitch marks or any stretching problems with the scar. If an incision is made in the frenulum breve at an early age, there is every reason to believe (especially with a thin frenulum), that the remaining tiny hanging flaps of skin, will simply recede into the shaft skin and the glans.

Theoretically, this incredibly simple incision should be made in exactly the same place where the frenulum would otherwise rip.

EXTRA NOTES

The Complete Frenulum Studies (Treatment) describe various methods of correcting the frenulum breve.
Modern methods include "Z" plasty
Ancient or traditional
methods inlude the Okoko used by the incredible Luo peoples. "The Okoko is the male soldier ant. ... its incisor like proboscis .... would then tighten grip to sever through the connective tissue ..."

Stretching the Frenulum is sometimes advised - It must considered as an experiment, usually requiring several months of 5 times daily stretching. I feel this is more problematic than almost any other method - requiring a dedication which verges on obsession - however some men may wish to use this method.

Testing this would only be intelligent for someone with a mild degree of brevity where the frenulum was not connected near the meatus, and a frenulum which was not hemmed or topped with a string.

I`d encourage experimenters to think about steroids which may thin the frenulum enough to enable a natural stretch ...(or more probably a controlled rip?) - see the reports on betamethasone

Note: such experiments should never be conducted with children.

The majority of reports I have heard are that stretching the frenulum rips it. Often a sudden stretch causes ripping. A gentle regular stretching would be necessary - see stretching.