Overcoming a botched circumcision (skin bridge)
Where to begin.....
I was circumcised as a child like most men of my age, however; it was botched. Most of my life I grew up with a rather large skin bridge about 3/4's of an inch in length on the left side of my penis. It connected my shaft skin to the coronal edge of the head of my penis much like a picture I found on circumstitions.com.
My Penis looked pretty much exactly like one of those pics (see pic at bottom of page), except on the left side. I grew up feeling deformed because my younger brother didn't look like this at all. I was always very self conscious about it and was quite secretive. Also masturbation growing up was painful as the bridge would get very sore. All in all, quite annoying.
Progressing along, I went through High School and never kissed a girl or got involved with women in general for fear of it leading to them seeing my penis and freaking out at it's deformity. I had several girls try and kiss me and I would turn my head and start crying. Mentally I was just scared.
I went to college, and a good friend of mine that was very interested in me... decided she would just force herself on me, which led to an almost borderline rape blowjob (my first sexual experience). She obviously didn't notice the skin bridge in the dark and when things were over I never spoke to her again, ever. At the time I was 19.
A couple years later and still in college (different college), I still had my skin bridge. My parents had been told when I was very young that the skin bridge would resolve itself and eventually tear and it would be fine. Sadly, they were very mistaken. Over these last couple of years I would attempt to cut this skin bridge multiple times with many different sharp objects. All were very painful, and didn't work. I even tried it drunk a couple of times to no avail. So I'm in college and I was pretty much the only virgin in my circle of friends and in college, everyone was doing it. I felt like a freak and was interested in lots of women but I never could bring myself to be intimate.
Eventually I had a good friend that was interested in me, and one night I gave in. I actually hadn't intended on having sex but was messing around naked with her in the dark (as usual). Lets just say it went in unintentionally and it began. The entire time we were having sex I kept thinking to myself "people like this?* It took me over an hour to have an orgasm unprotected. She, by no means was a virgin and she flat out said I was the best she'd ever had because I had stamina. She thought I was fibbing about being a virgin. The problem was, I had virtually no sensitivity. She also didn't notice my skin bridge and at 21 I lost my virginity to this friend. A few days later I moved back home to live with my parents.
So I hadn't been home long when one day out of the blue, my dad asks me what happened with my skin bridge and asked to see my penis. I was ok with it and whipped it out and showed him that it never resolved itself. He was horrified and felt guilty and said I must immediately show my mother who was a nurse. Eventually she came home and I had to whip it out for her. THAT was not as easy, but I knew it had to be done. She immediately called the doctor she worked for and got me an appointment for the next day.
So I arrive at the hospital to see the doctor. My mother is in there and he starts asking me about masturbation, the pain I have etc. He could tell I was uncomfortable and asked my mother to step out (thank goodness). He eventually asked me to take off my shorts and underwear to have a look. I did as he asked and he was blown away. He said that in his 20+ years of practice he had never seen a) a skin bridge and b) one of my severity. (oh lucky me). He then proceeded to ask me questions about my sex life. (What little there was to it.). I let him know that sex was not enjoyable, it was in fact painful to a degree because of the skin bridge and how I felt most of my life. He was seriously horrified by my story, and as he examined me yet again, came to the realization that the skin bridge had actually developed a blood supply that led from my shaft to the head and that any cutting or tearing I would do on my own would possibly have made me bleed out (wonderful). He asked if it was ok to get some of his colleagues for further examination. At this point I was balls deep in the situation and I just wanted it fixed (age 21). He returns with three more doctors and they poked, prodded, and twisted my junk and asked me the same questions as the first doctor, who was also a family friend. So my situation was that none of them, that's four total doctors, had never seen anything like it. Consensus was for me to see the resident urologist/surgeon.
I leave his office and head up to the other doctor's office, where upon inspection, he agrees that it is in fact the most severe skin bridge he's ever seen. I was scheduled for surgery two days later for a re-circumcision. (oh the joy) I was quite nervous about all of this but also relieved because I felt I would finally get some closure to this situation. Couple of days later they put me in a room in a gown while I wait for my scheduled time which was 7am and I sat in the room until 3 in the afternoon (sigh). Meanwhile in that time, every flipping family member I knew swung in to to say hi and check on me. Seriously!? This was something I kept private my entire life and suddenly it's the most public event of my entire life. Horrified doesn't even being to touch my feelings about all of this.
Finally they wheel me back, I'm laying on the table and they pull up my gown and tie a tourniquet around the bottom portion of my shaft. (not sure how because I was so nervous it had to only be sticking out a 1/2inch!).
Eventually the gas hit me and I was out. Twenty minutes later I was away with a bandage around my junk and a bottle of pain killers and on my way home for recovery.
The pain pills were every 4 hours which my parents took literally. I slept for 23/24 hours that first day. After that I refused all pain pills because I could not function and it nauseated me horribly. The day after this I woke up with morning wood, which tore most of the stitches on my shaft and I bled horribly! I of course grabbed a towel and sat in my room praying for my erection to go away. Eventually it subsided and a scab showed up and I resumed taking pain killers because they actually kept the erections away, though I didn't take it to the full dosage instructions. As the days started to pass and the swelling went down and the stitches started to dissolve, I ended up removing the stitches that were left because of the insane itching. For the most part I was healing quite nicely, if you can call it nice. The shaft was going to obviously have a larger scar than I would hope because of the stitches tearing and me keeping my mouth shut because of embarassment. No way I was gonna wake up my family to view my giant blood erection. Now for my glans/head, I had a 3/4" flap of skin and I was disgusted by this.
Couple weeks go by and I get to head into the urologist that did my surgery. He asked me about everything and how the healing was coming and examined me. He was rather impressed with his job. I of course expressed concern for my flap. The doctor acted like it was no big deal and told me to think of it like a natural french tickler and the girls would love it! Seriously? I didn't press the issue and moved on with my life.
Needless to say I was relieved to have the skin bridge taken care of, but wasn't satisfied with the outcome. The resulting surgery left me with a flap that gets sore quite easily and a spot that feels like a rock under the skin on my shaft that also gets sore which is obviously scar tissue on my shaft. Needless to say as time went on I was more and more upset with what had happened to me. I also, I find out that the doctor that performed my surgery was later removed from medical practice due to an addiction to pain killers. RAR!
Around this time I started researching skin bridge, which would be age 21 and 1998ish. I find some information on the internet about foreskin restoration. I see it and read about it and I'm completely disgusted by it thinking foreskin restoration is for weirdos. Over the next year I keep researching and learn about circumcision and intact penises and what most boys are put through here in the US.
A couple of years pass, and I meet my wife and I explain to her right off what happened to my penis and she acts like it's of no consequence and doesn't even care about the flap. We eventually have sex, get married a few months later, and I'm enjoying what I believe to be a normal sex life. Except that it takes me around an hour to achieve an orgasm. Even masturbation is a chore at around 30-45 minutes a session, and with my extremely high sex drive it becomes apparently that I can't consistently spend 2-3 hours a day masturbating.
I start to research penis related problems, retarded ejaculatory disorders, etc. Eventually I run across foreskin restoration and I talk to my wife about it. She's all for whatever I want to do. So at 23 (2001-02) I started doing restoration with O-rings and X-taping. I apparently had an extreme circumcision as a child as erections were VERY tight. With my various jobs and up and down, it's been hard for me to follow a routine over the years making my progress extremely slow. Eventually I tried tugahoy, PUD, TLC Tugger, CAT II, and another version of it. Currently I use a Myskin Clamp and the CAT devices off and on. I still have my PUD and may start that up. I went from what I believe is a CI-0 to what is now called a CI-3 and I've been stuck there for several years. I am now 33.
My sex life is pretty wrecked from all of this. I go through spurts where I can't achieve orgasm at all, or the extreme amount of thrusting and positions I need to achieve orgasm reduce to me a sweaty lump of flesh gasping for air and more frustrated than when it started. My wife has always enjoyed the stamina because she can orgasm quite easily and spends most of our sex trying to coach me and get me to do the same. To say that I hate circumcision and what it does would be an understatement. I would love and cry if I could be like my friends that can get off in 5 minutes instead of an hour plus. It's taken quite a toll on sex when your wife tells you she doesn't wanna have sex because it takes too long and we have to be somewhere because there's no such thing as a quickie.
In the last couple of years I met a co-worker and we became the best of friends. Eventually we started to talk about things and our sex lives and he confided in me about his penis. He was uncut and had never told anyone ever about it because here in the midwest it is VERY rare to not be circumcised. In fact I have never seen an uncut penis in day to day life ever. As our friendship grew we told stories and it was amazing that his intact story mimicked my own story but on opposite ends of the spectrum. He was ashamed of his intactness and girls would talk about how disgusting being uncut was in front of him. He even puked one time when a girl tried to get him to have sex because of something she said about disgusting uncut penises and she'd never be with a guy like that.
This friend of mine changed me and brought me a renewed hope for restoring my foreskin, and I started to work harder and harder at restoring. I'm trying hard to get past my CI-3 plateau and I talk to him and show him pictures of my progress. He has helped me and I helped him by letting him know how lucky he was. He is 10 years younger than me and in return I've taught him many things about pleasing women and how to extend his extreme sensitivity from being intact. He is now becoming very confident with his penis and met a girl that loves his intact penis. With my direction and encouragement he's overcome his sensitivity and his being intact gives me the motivation to be like him. I can honestly say I love this man like a brother and we talk about everything.
One day I WILL be restored and hopefully it will get me past all my non-sensitivity issues and I will be whole again. I let everyone know I am restoring and tell my story about the horrors of circumcision. Hopefully with my story I can help people make the proper decision and keep anyone from the same fate I have had.
This is my story.
The above story is by a guest blogger who wanted others to know what infant circumcision did to him. Male infant circumcision has risks and complications. Our guest blogger is one of many who have a botched circumcision. Fortunately, our guest blogger is entering a better stage of his life after exercising his choices. Foreskin restoration is giving him hope.
Related Links:
- Fixing my Skin Bridge
- Circumstitions.com page showing skin bridges
- Penile Adhesion: The Hidden Complication of Circumcision
-
Foreskin Restoration
Circumcision damage: Skin bridge:
This picture is from the Circumstitions website and shows a botched circumcision. The picture shows the type of skin bridge the guest blogger had.
- Guest Blogger's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
#1 Wow, I'm in a bit of shock
Wow, I'm in a bit of surprised shock to be reading each of your own personal stories right now. I have had the skin bridge on the very top of my penis my entire life and until today I had never even researched it on the Internet and I'm a 42 year old married father of one daughter. To some degree I can relate to all of your situations. To this day I have never even spoke about it to my parents since my mother took me to the Dr to have it checked out at around the age of 9-10. Even at that age I remember something wasn't quite right as my mother gave me the little medical book on puberty/male/female and somehow I didn't look quite look like the pictures. For me, other than the aesthetic look of it, I have always been fortunate that I have had no serious pain from being erect or sexual intercourse. Sometimes during a longer sexual arousal I can have a little bit of soreness but nothing that caused REAL pain. Now the psychological pain has always been there worrying more so what my partners thought of it from the age of 18 when I first had sex. To this day, not one of my sexual partners has ever mentioned it and that includes my wife of 9 years.
During my teenage years and in my 20s I definitely had some anger towards my parents (though nobody ever said it was from my botched circumcision- I've always internally known that HAD to be it) for letting this happen to me. Heck I can't blame them as both my parents were only 21 at the time and my mom was from the UK where circumcision is rarely done, and my dad was in the US Navy so he was shipped off immediately after my birth. I'm still not sure if I understand whether or not the attachment of the skin could have been prevented by my parents.
If I were 17 and could have done the surgery to repair the bridge, I would have. Being 42 and in no pain physically from it and married, I see no point now. I wish it didn't happen to others, but knowing I am not alone and NOT a freak of nature is comforting. Funny, if I had had a son there would be no way that I would allow a circumscion. LOL, that would not have been easy to explain to the inlaws here in the Southeast.
As a former college athlete with a degree, my advice to the younger guys is first and foremost-- Do not allow Shame to control relationships you wish to pursue. Do not allow shame to contol your options regarding seeing a specialist about corrective surguries-- as I was too chicken to talk to anyone about it.
I know this was long winded and I apologize, but the release I feel after 42 years is something only YOU can understand. All my best wishes!
Mark
#2 Having the operation in two weeks
Hi all,
The time has come the hospital has confirmed that I will be having the surgery to fix my skin bridge which covers 1/4 of my penis, D day is 14 March 2013.
Quite nervous and excited at the sametime. I will provide diary updates if you all like and photo's of the nearly progress.
#3 Good luck and Fast recovery
I wish you luck with your surgery. And I hope you have a fast recovery.
I look forward to hearing about your outcome.
#4 I just had the surgery to remove the skin bridge
Hi all,
Just to let you all know I had the surgery last Thursday to remove my large skin bridge on my penis.
So far so good, no pain at all (Im very suprised) I have about 8 stiches in the head of my penis and some on the foreskin.
Im going to keep a diary and pictures to show you all at a later stage.
John
#5 Surgery
I'm wondering about the surgery. I don't have insurance. I need to know how much the bill was please. Also let us know what recovery was like!
#6 how much
How much would a procedure to fix it normally cost?
#7 need help.
So im 18 and i have 2 skin bridges one is about 3/4 ofa centimeter and ones mabye a little less then 1/2 of a centimeter. they don't affect me at all it doesn't cause a pain at all it feels normal and such. my problem is im scared that when a girl see's my penis that they are going to be freaked out by it and going to tell their friends and im going to be a laughing stock. im thinking of telling my parents about this and going to get something done but i don't want to tell them because it will be extremly awkward. can someone please give me some advise on this.
#8 Don't stress, but talk to your parents
First, I would not stress about what a partner will think. Typically, the first time two people have sex it is awkward. Neither one knows what the other truly likes and wants. It takes some time and exploring to learn the intimate details of the other person. Most likely, she will not notice that you have a skin bridge. If she does, she may likely think it is a normal variation, which it is. Skin bridges are very common among circumcised men. Few talk about it, so we rarely hear about it. If she notices, just tell her that.
Second, if you have the type of relationship with your parents where you feel comfortable talking about problems, do it. Your parents may have insurance that covers the surgery need to fix your skin bridges. That will help with the expenses. Getting it fixed will also relieve some of the stress you are feeling about it.
If you think it may be too awkward, just tell your parents that you think your circumcision never properly healed and you would like to see a urologist about it. Your parents may not inquire too deeply. You could tell them you have two skin bridges where the skin grew together after your circumcision. They may ask if it hurts or if you are in pain. You could tell them that you are concerned about hygiene because the skin bridges have holes through your skin. Tell them you would feel better if a doctor looked at it to make sure it was ok or to fix it if necessary.
#9 Have you had cosmetic treatment which didn't go to plan?
Have you had cosmetic treatment which didn't go to plan? Are your suffering because of your past plastic surgery?
Transparent TV are making a Channel 5 series following the UK’s top cosmetic surgeons as they perform corrective surgery on patients living with the consequences of bad surgery .
Has your past cosmetic surgery left you with unsightly swellings, loose skin, infections or in a lot of pain and discomfort? Maybe you’ve had a shoddy breast enhancement. A failed face-lift or tummy tuck? A bad reaction to fillers or botox? Has weight-loss surgery left you with heavy excess skin too big for your body?
Whatever your situation, male or female - if you’re suffering because of a previous cosmetic procedure and are interested in having your botched surgery repaired, then please get in touch.
Email: takepart@transparenttelevision.com or call 0207 704 3333
#10 Similar Strife: Pocket on Penis that Collects Dirt:
I, too, had a blotched penis; however I had two fairly small skin bridges, as opposed to yours. When I turned 14 I simply put ice on the skin bridges to numben them, and proceeded to cut them off with a disinfected pair of surgeon's scissors. So, this problem was solved without an issue.
However, because of my circumcision I have yet another scar that I've found. Unlike the skin bridges, this 'problem' is located on the underside of my penis. What it basically is is a small pocket on the shaft of the underside of my penis that collects dirt called smegma. I hate it, and although it isn't very noticeable, it is very embarrassing. I'm still not sure what it is called, and I simply won't go to the doctors in fear of my parents finding out. (It doesn't cause any pain, and I am certain that it won't get any worse. I've had it for years, and it hasn't changed. This is something that I don't mind waiting a few years to resolve.)
Mainly, I'd like to know what this is, so that I may research its cause, and whether or not it can be fixed via surgery or incision.
Thanks. I appreciate any response.
#11 Wow I have had a bridge my
Wow I have had a bridge my whole life and never noticed it . It is right at the top and so evenly placed I thought it was supposed to be there ! I deny realize it was different until a recent partner brought it to my attention that it was different . Now I realize that I have scar tissue all over my glans and I saying that I now know why I get little pleasure from sex . I always thought it was because of my stamina but now I know it's because of de sensitivity. I think it ruined my marriage by ruining my sex life. She always complained it " takes too long" , as in too long for me to orgasm after she did!
#12 I have a very large bridge
I have a very large bridge that connects the shaft to the base of the head. It sounds like the worst one on here and I was just wondering how to post pictures on here. If someone could tell me that would be great thanks!
#13 Posting pictures
When you comment on a post, there is a toolbar with various options. One of those options is to post an image that is hosted elsewhere. You cannot upload images to the blog directly.
If you wish to tell the story of your skin bridge and have pictures to illustrate it, well, I always welcome guest bloggers. We can post your story by itself or as a comment here. Please use the Contact link that is at the bottom of every page to send me a note.
#14 It's good to know
It's good to know that I'm not the only one. I've got this problem and hadn't heard of any one else till now. Mine's on the right about 3/4 of an inch and has always bean painful during sex. Just dealt with it. Way to shy to ask questions. I haven't even tried dating since my divorce 5 years ago. any way glad I found this.
#15 My area
My skin bridge is straight I rarely have pain and I am scared to tell anyone
im afraid of the words too small we cant help you or girls just looking and laughing at my bridge I showed one person and to this day they still laugh
#16 we kept our son intact
When we were asked if we wanted to have our son circumcised (about a month before his birth they asked our plans) we told them we would do more research and let them know...
both my husband and I did research, and we felt the benefits of keeping him whole, outweighed the risks...so when he was born and they asked if we wanted him circumcised... I said NO, abslutely NOT
seeing these stories (and some images of botched cuttings) make me soooo much happier that we kept his penis intact.
however my husband IS cut, and has very little sensation in the head of his penis, little enough that If I wanted to, I could literally bite down on it and he wouldn't feel much more than pressure...no sharp teeth, no pain...
we have been looking into the regrowth options, and I wonder (since he wont ask) what is the //best// way to regrow, and will any sensitivity be restored?
#17 foreskin restoration
Before we had our last son I was restoring my foreskin n that is what made us dcide to leave him intact along with lots of research. Google foreskin restoration. There u will find an apperatous that ur husband wears to help in stretching his foreskin. I need to start streatching again but I do have extra skin that does go over head. Hope this helps.