Many men or teenagers suffer from short frenulum without the certainty of knowing if they can fix it themselves. For others it is a mystery to know they have a short frenulum, many boys arrive at the age of maturity with doubt, and other men have been hiding their problem for years without knowing what to do.
Depending on the degree to which it is present, it may require of a little treatment. In most of these cases, it is resolved when the children are young and only requires some kind of cream that helps to retract the skin so that it gives little by little. But in other more advanced cases surgery will be required.
How do I know if I have a short frenulum?
The first of all is to know if you suffer from a short frenulum or is it another type of problem like phimosis. The skin that surrounds the penis must be in charge of joining both the inner face of the foreskin with that of the glans and this is done through a fold that helps to stretch and contract.
When this fold or frenulum is too short make this movement impossible or it makes it too difficult, where when it comes to having an erection you will have difficulties and therefore you will not be able to have sexual intercourse. If the frenulum is short or not very elastic will not allow the glans to retract completely, and can only be seen when the penis is going to be erect
Why does the short frenulum occur?
The main cause is when phimosis has occurred. Phimosis is when the hole in the foreskin is too small, narrow, or not too elastic to prevent the glans from coming out. An attempt will be made to retract the skin back and there will be a lot of difficulty, so you cannot get an erection, but you can urinate perfectly. This fact may be associated with the short frenulum.
Other causes may be genetic in origin, where from birth you grow up with this anomaly. But other times it may be when there has been genital infections (inflammation or fibrosis) where there has been a thickening of the frenulum tissue.
Some men, as well as children or adolescents may have had a tear of the frenulum and during its healing it has healed badly. On some of these occasions the frenulum it has become deformed or shortened.
What symptoms may appear
There are many discomforts that can occur due to having a short frenulum. The first is to try to retract the skin in an attempt to have sexual intercourse or to masturbate, so it will cause pain.
In some of these attempts, you may try to maintain a relationship by reaching to occur a tear, so it must be sutured. In other cases the attempt is such that even the penis is bent, the head of the penis bending to one side.
Even with all the attempts that could have come to a good end, if it has not been successful, it may have occurred a lot of irritation and great itching in the area before such an attempt.
Treatment for short frenulum
The best and most effective treatment is surgical intervention. It has no major complications and is quick, simple and easy to cure. Will be done under local anesthesia and on an outpatient basis, without hospitalizations. Frenectomy consists of making a small cut or incision with the scalpel in the area of the frenulum, so that it no longer produces tension in the tissue or skin on which it depended. Then a few stitches will be applied with the application of povidone iodine (antiseptic) and with dressings impregnated with healing cream. For the problem of phimosis the operation is different, since all the skin that surrounds the foreskin is completely removed, leaving the head of the glans completely exposed.
There are men that the problem of the short frenulum can be solved with stretching exercises. It consists of making movements of retraction of the skin backwards with some firmness and repetitiveness. Will be done under medical supervision for 4-5 weeks and with the help of a corticosteroid-based cream to reduce inflammation and thin the thickened tissue. If this treatment does not work, surgery will have to be applied.
What will its evolution be like?
It is important to do a series of daily care at home so that healing is correct. You have to prevent infections from occurring and for this daily cures will be done, cleaning the area with soap and water and subsequently applying povidone iodine. Afterwards, it will be covered again with the dressings and with its corresponding cream, for a good healing and so that there is no type of friction.
It is recommended that during the healing treatment the man have to avoid erections, since it is in a moment of healing and therefore it can become even painful. To practice sexual intercourse it is important to wait a little more than 15 days, although ideally, up to four weeks.