Originally Posted by Giblet
I remember my foreskin being very tight and I wasn’t able to retract it, when I got to somewhere around 11/12 years old I was able to. At first it was still tight but over the years it got easier and it’s been fine for years now.
In my case, the phimosis stayed until I was 16 or 17, and only by some good old porn did I realize how the penis was supposed to look like with the foreskin retracted. Without any advice from any doctor or anyone else, I began a series of manual skin stretches to be able to pull back the foreskin. When in privacy, I just simply pulled and stretched it back and held it in place, feeling the stretch.
I do not know how long it took for the skin to fully retract. But I do remember that it was very gradual, each time a little more of the glans would peek out like a timid gopher.. But even as it gradually retracted, and then fully retracted, the skin felt too tight around the glans for me. When erect, it was impossible to fully pull back the foreskin, but eventually I managed that, but sometimes it felt like the foreskin was strangling my penis. After a few years I think it has been stretched enough that I do not have the sensation of tightness.
I fact, I think that because the hood was always on the penis, and then me pulling it back, it caused extra skin that I would not have otherwise had if only someone who knew better had told me as a child that the skin is supposed to fully retract. I honestly did not know that, only that certain men, like my father, had had a circumcision, which meant death to the “hood,” but I did not know that those who kept the foreskin were able to fully retract it.
Then there is the gnawing suspicion that perhaps if my foreskin had retracted since youth I would have at least another half an inch of length, but who knows, and now it makes no difference. Another BIG issue I had was the sensitivity issue.. I could not even touch the glans without it being too much, let alone wash it with water and soap. So I thought that I had to condition the glans, so that sensitivity would subside, but it took a while. Sex was sometimes too much as the glans pulled back during intercourse due to a sensation not of pain but of uncomfortable sensitivity. I had to make sure when putting on a condom that the foreskin would not retract, otherwise the sensation was too much for me. But the skin always retracted anyway. Eventually this was no longer a problem for me.
Another thing that I had to teach myself was the importance of thoroughly cleaning under the prepuce and the head of the penis. If not done daily an accumulation of smegma is apparent, and of course this is not desirable. Oh how I wished I had been circumcised if for only the hygienic reasons, as I think about the 16 or 17 years without me being able to wash the penis under the foreskin. Also when trying different P.E. Methods, and finding out how much harder it is for the uncut in many different ways, I wish those in charge of my infancy had taken me for a snipping.. But they did not know any better. But then thinking about having it done, an adult circumcision, and then knowing all that was in store for me from that as opposed to an infant circumcision, it is not worth it.
So my advice Ike would be to have your son stretch back the foreskin gradually, so that eventually it can retract fully and before he reaches puberty. There should not be any need for him to be circumcised. He would most likely decide not to do so.
