Phimosis and Misplaced Frenulum

[CP414347]

I am 27 years old and have had phimosis (total, not partial) my entire life.  I didn't know it was a problem until a few years ago and am finally deciding to get it taken care of.  However, I do have a few things that concern me.  For one, my meatus has been red or pinkish red for as long as I can remember.  I'm worried that it was infected when I was younger and never healed and, once circumcised, will continue to look red and irritated.  However, I have read that it might just be irritated from my phimosis.  Also, I think I have frenulum breve, but what concerns me the most is that it appears that my frenulum is attached just below my meatus, rather than in the frenular delta (which I can't even retract my skin enough to see)..  It might be a skin bridge, but I'm really worried that when I get circumcised it will leave a permanent laceration scar on my penis head.  I'm just really worried that I will never have a normal-looking and sexually functional penis, even after corrective surgery.  Please help!

[mayan201279]

I am considering getting a circ for the same reason (total phimosis). I too have the skin attached just below the meatus and was worried about complications and scarring. Do you have any scarring on the head? Any info you can provide would be really appreciated as I can find very little first hand accounts of this exact situation I am in. Thanks in advance!!

[CP414347]

Just wanted to follow up and let you know that I went ahead and got a circumcision.  While the first week of recovery sucked, the following weeks were more annoying than anything.  Now I'm all recovered and, to be honest, I think it was one of the best health decisions I've ever made.  It feels physically so much better and I feel much better about myself.  If anyone reads these posts, please don't freak out.  It really was not a big deal after the fact, although I totally understand any and all apprehension you have.  It took me YEARS to mentally get to the point of going through with the surgery.  Now I wish I had gotten it done in the first place and not have had this condition hang over my head for all that time.

[z726]

Have you considered simply treating the phimosis, rather than removing the foreskin entirely? If your doctor didn't give you that option, you'll need to get a second opinion.

If the foreskin is merely unretractable, that can be fixed over the course of a few weeks by regular stretching of the skin. If the phimosis is pathological in nature, the treatment is usually some sort of topical corticosteroid such as betamethasone. Surgery should be considered as a last resort, and even then, the doc should be able to offer something minimally invasive (ie, cutting only the affected area rather than unnecessarily removing healthy, functional tissue). If you really want to be circumcised, then never mind - but from the looks of your message, it seems you might be having second thoughts.

If the redness around the urinary meatus has always been there, it's probably nothing to worry about. On a circumcised penis, the color would be as dull as the rest of the glans, and it would be just as dried out - one thing I noticed that changed a bit when I restored my foreskin. The area of the glans around my meatus (a few millimeters) started becoming more pink than the rest. My guess is the surface is better exfoliated from frequent contact with urine, but whatever the case, other guys with intact foreskins notice this too.

And I don't have a frenulum, but from what I've been told, there are all sorts of variations. If there's nothing wrong with yours, don't worry about it.