PHIMOSIS EDUCATION from a HEALTH PROFESSIONAL

Written by Tim at 15 Jun 2006 20:59:01:

reposted from central forum messages/368.htm

I recently came to realise that I suffer from phimosis - or more to the point, realised that a non-retracting foreskin was not something you had to just accept and live with.
But what I’m extra-ordinarily angry about, is the fact that this has not been mentioned to me until now - at the age of 29.

I am enraged! If any health educators are reading this, then be aware that you have completely FAILED innumerable people around the world.

I am university educated as a health professional, and nowhere in ANY of my years of study did the condition “phimosis” ever get even a fleeting mention. If it doesn’t even get a mention at this level, what hope do 13-year-old kids get... until perhaps they’re near to 30 years of age after years of sexual (and social) insecurities.(Of course the age-related impotence was awarded significant lecture time at university... God forbid 80 year old men lose their erections after a lifetime of sexual satisfaction).

I am absolutely incensed! What a completely distorted world we live in!

I referred back to my university notes, and the closest thing that came to the subject was the matter of ensuring uncircumsized males wash their glans to prevent infection... no elaboration (Not sure if my University has lower standards than expected - but it’s supposed to be in the top two to three in the country). I even went to the Merck Manual (a thorough, world-renowned reference book on medical conditions and treatments) - where “phimosis” gets merely a tiny paragraph, stating “surgical circumcision is indicated” and “prognosis is excellent”.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry about anything before!

There are certainly many issues associated with this condition, but as far as I can see, the greatest is the fact that young boys are not educated about this condition. From what I remember, my teenage sex education in high school focused on not spreading STDs and preventing unwanted pregnancies. I guess boys who’s foreskins prevented them from having sex didn’t pose as much as much of a social (or economical) threat to the community as some of these other things, so it really got demoted down the list of priorities on what to educate kids about (demoted down to no mention at all).

My hat goes off to this website. It’s done so much more in a matter of minutes than what a lifetime of supposed “education” has done. And I concur (with other posts) that something needs to be done to ensure young kids are made aware of this condition.

-Tim