recently circumcised at 43yrs old

Hey buddy. Yh been keeping a low profile and feeling v sorry for myself.......up until yesterday I was totally regretting having gone through the ordeal but finally things are improving. The infection has finally cleared and the healing process has begun. 2 weeks post surgery and I am only just beginning to experience the feeling of a circumcised penis in my underwear as up until now have had to dress it twice a day due to the infection. Dr checked it all out yesterday and happy wirh progress.... wish I was. Fingers crossed it wont be long now till it can get some use... so long as the missus likes it cos at the moment it still looks gross

 Lol

Hi mate. Had my op about 8 weeks ago now and all is healed and in good working order. I was worried about the op I have to say, but to be honest Iwasnt in any pain after it. They would normally inject an anesthetic block which lasts a few days. Uncomfortable yes but in pain no.normal pain killers ibuprofen and paracetamol should suffice. I would recommend getting as much info before going through with it and also I would recommend finding out whether they can prescribe antibiotics post op as the wound is prone to infection. I wasn't precribed and I did develop a nasty infection which put my healing behind for a couple of weeks. I was in horrendous pain then! Bathing 3 to 4 times a day in salt water and having to redress the wound myself each time. I wish u luck. Hope this helps. Paceman

Sorry to hear that.  I would have tried to talk you out of it if you'd posted before the operation, as it's far from a "useless piece of skin".  Tearing is unusual though, and could be a sign of lichen sclerosus (BXO), so you might have had to do it sooner or later anyway.  What's done is done though, and the good news is that if it's only been six weeks, then you might be a lot happier in another month or two.  Some men are glad they got circumcised and wish they'd done it sooner.  If you're still not happy in say two or three months, you could look into "foreskin restoration", but it takes a year or two to get back to a normal looking foreskin, and it's still not the same as being intact.

I'd focus on getting the least tissue removed if I were you.  Why are you getting circumcised though?

Phimosis... creams and stretching were just not effective. Its getting worse and I am not getting younger.

Interesting.  Have you always had phimosis, or have you developed it later in life?  Do you have lichen sclerosus (BXO) or diabetes, and have you looked at preputioplasty?  I'd definitely consider circumcision if there were no other way to fix phimosis, but then I'd want the minimum amount of tissue removed.  

Most men undergoing circumcision choose local rather than general anaesthetic, but spinal anaesthetic is also a possibility.  There are some other threads here from men who've been circumcised as adults, and the operation itself isn't as bad as many other operations.  I'd be interested to know how it goes for you.

Later in life (mid 30's). I looked up lichen sclerosus and I definitely had that but not recently (last few years) - it can come and go. No diabetes. However I also have frenulum issues - it is tight and curves the head. I did not know the frenulum 'curve' was an issue until reading up on circumcision.

You may have "frenulum breve", in which case frenuloplasty could be an option.  Have you already seen a urologist, and if so, what did they say?  Which country are you in btw? (American doctors are much more likely to recommend circumcision than European doctors, who normally treat it as a last resort)

Update: So we are three weeks past surgery. Recovering well.

Went in for surgery in the morning, and was back at home by evening. General anesthesia. Took the 1st week off work and just rested but did not really need more than 3-4 days. Still, more rest is better than less. Was given two days worth of antibiotics and Tylenol 3 (pain killer mix). I took the antibiotics and stopped the pain medication when the antibiotics ran out. I cannot say I felt the need for pain medication. During the week I practiced cleaning and gauze dressing in a way that would help me out at work. Polysporin was the medication suggested. Used pretty thin 4" gauze pads. The gauze are tough to hold in place by themselves so underwear had to be worn.

Week 2 & 3: I had also purchased a jock strap and wearing it inside out with the cup holder now on the inside (in a pouch) helped to keep everything contained. Did air it out for about 30 minutes at the end of the day for air circulation. This was when I focused on desensitizing. Finally understand the difference between sensitive and pain! As others have mentioned, tapping/other contact on the now open head is the best way to desensitize. At home I wear underwear + pants, but no gauze protection - there is rubbing and initially a lot of wincing. Still sensitive, but not as bad as before. Not sure when it will go completely 'wince-free'. At night I hope any movement will help desensitize. So far so good.

Being idle, I have put on some weight and have asked Dr when I can go back to gym since it is now 3 weeks.

Glad I have taken care of this.

Hi I am a 56 year old male with mild phimosis. Having a circumcision tommorow.

Have had this problem for many years. Will not retract erect. Have to force it to retract flaccid which I do daily and clean. Have had balanatis, fissures and now some sort of white ring. Tried steroid creams. Seemed to help but it's all still tight.

Anyway, I pretty much need to be back to work in about a week after the procedure.

Job is semi manual. How much pain is there in the first 5 days? Did you have to lie down, or were you able to get up , walk around and have a coffee, watch TV etc

Also what do wear around the house. Kids are gone so it's just my wife and I. Finally, can you provide any insight on sexual issues (only if you want to). Thanks in advance.

Signed Nervous in Canada

Hi.

I had a circumcision on Tuesday this week under local anaesthetic and had the same problems you describe, but I also had adhesion, where the foreskin gets joined to the glans, so after putting this off for a long time finally had it done.

To answer your questions from my own experience - I had no after care advice apart from "Do you have any questions?" and I hadn't got any because I had no idea what to ask...

Anyway - I have found it surprisingly pain free and I've only needed to take paracetamol twice and also some Naproxen, which I had anyway due to suffering back spasms. I only took that the first 24 hours though and only a total of 1000mg.

When I first had it done the anaesthetic wore off within the hour and I found it quite painful at first but it soon settled down. I'm able to get around as I normally would.

It is VERY sensitive to touch though and I am finding blood spots on the glans, like fissures, as it heals.

Clothing wise I live on my own so I've worn nothing but a dressing gown since having the operation. As long as I'm careful sitting down and getting up again I've not had any serious discomfort with it. If I don't take it easy when sitting I find the scrotum pushes forward and causes pressure, which makes the penis feel very sore.

Some post op stuff that you may have looked up yourself… but just in case you haven't here goes with my own experience...

I have found myself swollen up really badly, probably because of the adhesion which had to be cut away and stitched up with quite a lot of suture. On the plus side, my penis now resembles Winston Churchill in profile  

The surgeon also used a lot of what he called glue, which is a horrific thing to catch on your clothing. I had a piece of hard glue under the glans at the front and sticking out, that I knew nothing about until I caught the end on my pants as I got dressed after the op. That was fun. Like Captain Ahab spearing the whale...

Don't be tempted to peel the glue off.. it will come off when you bathe (I waited 36 hours to do that to give things time to settle and after reading some advice online). Get some Vaseline to rub gently into the glans to stop it drying out. 

Don't be alarmed by secretions and a wet feeling glans, this is apparently quite normal. I woke up quite alarmed as I thought I had split wide open the first night and it was just a very heavy secretion overnight. That has stopped now though.

Don't think you have an infection if your glans gets what looks like a yellow crust on it. I looked this up as my aftercare is non existent (and this was private op in the UK, not NHS) and it is apparently a normal healing process and will go away on its own.

It's an operation I did need, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, and the operation itself was no problem after I got over the injections, which were agony. The first one especially into the root of the penis, abdominal side, was horrible. Today (Friday) is going to be my first attempt at putting clothes on and going for a walk since the op.

You should be ok to go back to work after a week, but you should rest as much as possible that week and don't push yourself.

Hope it all goes well for you.

I forgot to say - sexual issues.. I had a very strange non erection on day two, where I had a very hard penis but it stayed down. I have had erections as normal since and yes, they do hurt like hell when you get them, but with all that stitching and glue I'm not really surprised!

So it hasn't affected my erectile function in these early days. I sort of wish it had, at least while the thing heals, as they're not pleasant and you can't do anything with them when you have them.

I also forgot to state my age. I'm 53.

> Job is semi manual. How much pain is there in the first 5 days?

I cannot say there was much pain but I was taking pain killers till the antibiotics ran out just to be on the safe side. The swelling (which appears to be all skin) can be a little awkward but it is manageable. It does take a while to go down. Focus on learning to clean and apply polysporin (or whatever suggested by the Dr). My job is seated so hard to give tips other than keeping the area constrained (less movement => less brushing up against clothes => easier to move without wincing).

> Did you have to lie down, or were you able to get up , walk around and have a coffee, watch TV etc

You should get rest the first 2-3 days but move around the house freely. Your normal routine of get breakfast, watch tv, lunch, etc should be fine but no physical activity. Try to lie flat for 2 hours in the morn and afternoon for the first two days. Get rest, especially since you need to be back at work in a week. Change your gauze frequently as it does get blood on it for quite a few days. But the amount goes down every day although initially it may not seem like it. You should be able to bathe/shower too (I forget exact instructions of when but warm water is probably best). After day 3 or 4 try to figure out how you are going to be dressed for work. Keeping everything tightly contained is your best bet - less movement is less chance of brushing against clothes (tight briefs, perhaps? - experiment after day 4 or when you feel confident). You should feel sensitive more than pain. I used jock strap + cup (as described above) - purchased from Canadian Tire (Shock Doctor). I also used a gauze with polysporin when I returned to work and the jock strap helped to contain it. Bathroom visits, at this stage, for me were not urinal visits - I just sit and check things out and even manage a gauze change (early days this is recommended). I put extra gauze and 'work polysporin tube' in my lunch bag and take it with me. I used polysporin regularly. Avoided gym for 5-6 weeks.

>Also what do wear around the house. Kids are gone so it's just my wife and I.

Pajama bottoms. And underwear with jock strap initially. But after a week I started to go without jock strap to help with the desensitization.

Its 3 months now and occasionally sensitive if it gets rubbed or hits clothes the wrong way but I can feel it not becoming a problem. i.e., it is an annoyance but nothing more. Dr said it could take 6-8 months to just be in 'forget it' mode (aka as though nothing happened). Back to normal gym routine.

For me, it was a great decision. Fine to be concerned in day 1-5 as it seems overwhelming but stick to care routine, and plan your dress for work. Take time at work to manage it even if means a shorter lunch. Be in a comfort zone where you can comfortably take care of things (at least in the early days).

Buy all your supplies (gauze, polysporin [black and gold tube], medical tape if you think you need it, jockstrap+cup, tighter underwear, etc] before you go into surgery. That stuff needs to be waiting at home for you. I am pretty sure I was given the antibiotics and pain killers at the hospital (or hospital pharmacy). Avoid alcohol during the initial days - let the medicine do its work.

Good luck!!