Phimosis Stretching Exercises: Do They Help?

If you suffer from this common condition, you might wonder if phimosis stretching exercises can treat it. You may feel that there is no harm in trying phimosis stretching exercises to attempt to ease your pain and frustration. However, this is not recommended by medical professionals. Read on to find out exactly why and to discover more about phimosis.

Are Phimosis Stretching Exercises a Good Treatment Option?

There is a wealth of content online describing various kinds of phimosis stretching exercises. They might seem easy and harmless enough, but they are a bad idea. In reality, stretching exercises can cause additional complications. You can overcome phimosis with much better treatment options.

Not only do phimosis stretching exercises offer nothing in terms of improving the situation, they can actually do more harm than good. One false move can damage your foreskin permanently, resulting in infection, scarring or worsening of your phimosis symptoms.

It is vital that you seek advice from a doctor. They will help you to diagnose your phimosis correctly, as well as discussing safe and appropropriate measures to cure the condition.

What Is Phimosis?

In an uncircumcised male, the glans (the head of the penis) is covered by a sheath of skin called the foreskin. With cases of phimosis, the foreskin is too tight. This means that you are unable to pull it back freely to uncover or recover the glans.

There are two different categories of phimosis, which are as follows.

  • Congenital phimosis. Phimosis often occurs naturally in young boys under the age of 3, which of course means that it is hard to pull back the foreskin. This usually improves with age but may be present right up until puberty.
  • Acquired phimosis. Older boys and adult men can acquire phimosis at a later stage of life. There are many reasons why this might happen. Sometimes, there may be an infection under the foreskin. Other conditions like diabetes, or even just poor hygiene, can also trigger phimosis in older males. Scarring as a result of chronic infection, physical damage to the penis and inflammation of the foreskin can all lead to phimosis.

Aside from the different categories of phimosis, there are also two severity levels: tight and non-tight phimosis. If you are concerned about possible symptoms of phimosis, you must seek help from a trained medical professional. The severity and type of your phimosis must be diagnosed by a doctor in order to work out the right treatment for you.

There is a lot of misinformation online. Do not believe everything you read on the internet, particularly about phimosis stretching exercises.

Potentially Harmful Phimosis Stretching Exercises

Many articles online describe phimosis stretching exercises, which they assert can help to cure the condition. There is no scientific evidence to back up these claims and we do not recommend anything other than speaking to a doctor. However, we wanted to share some examples of the type of content that we are referring to.

These articles will advise you to apply a thin layer of steroid cream around the foreskin. After gently massaging, they will tell you to carefully pull the foreskin back. Massaging and stretching is advised to be performed while taking a hot bath or shower, as the high temperature can help loosen your foreskin.

Remember that such phimosis stretching exercises can actually damage the penis and make a case of phimosis much worse. We do not advise you to carry out these exercises.

Examples of Stretching Exercises

These articles imply that the following stretching exercises can help:

  • Pull the foreskin backwards over the glans as much as possible, if there is no pain.
  • Grasp the edges of the foreskin to stretch. Use your thumb and index finger and stretch the foreskin on both sides.
  • Hold the stretching position for 30 to 60 seconds before relaxing. Then repeat the same process 10 times.
  • Frenulum stretch. They claim that the frenulum can be stretched if your foreskin is not long enough.

Although you may find these kinds of tips online, they are wrong. It is dangerous to force your foreskin back under pressure, or to move it forcefully. Tearing and infections can occur and cause scarring, which worsens the symptoms of phimosis over time. Phimotic tissue is made up of hardened non-elastic skin cells, so stretching is not likely to be effective.

Seek Help if You Are Worried About Phimosis

Phimosis is usually not a problem, unless it causes symptoms like soreness, redness and swelling. Inflammation of the glans or the head of the penis is called balanitis. Frequent infection and inflammation can be a result of phimosis.

You may have problems with urination and ejaculation. Phimosis can be irritating, painful and psychologically damaging, especially to your sex life. The worst case scenario is necrosis and gangrene of the penis head, which is a serious condition.

It is understandable that you may want to fix it. But don’t believe the articles you find online. Phimosis stretching is not a good option to treat the condition. You must always seek help from a doctor.

Phimostop For Phimosis

Now that you know the symptoms and complications of phimosis, you can visit your doctor, get a diagnosis and discuss the treatment options. If he or she is recommending the drastic measure of circumcision, there is something else you can consider first.

Phimostop is becoming increasingly popular. This non-surgical alternative to circumcision is safe and reliable, and can be obtained without a prescription. Not only is Phimostop designed by medical experts, but it is approved by the Italian Ministry of Health. The product also has an EUpatent and it is the subject of a clinical research conducted by the Polyclinic of the University of Tor Vergata with publication in an international journal “Transnational Andrology and Urology”.

However, despite the fact that this medical aid is safe and approved by experts, our advice remains the same. Never attempt a home treatment without first speaking to your doctor.

Conclusion

Having a tight foreskin is usually not a big deal. But when seeking a treatment for more troublesome cases, you may discover articles about phimosis stretching. Be aware that this often does more harm than good. A better option is to consult your doctor for a diagnosis and to discuss more appropriate treatment options.