Foreskin Restoration?
I was circumsized when I was an infant. Not until recently did I hear about foreskin restoration. I would like to restore my foreskin but when I look on the internet for non-surgical techniques either they want money or they are not clear enough for me to understand. Can you please provide me with some techniques for foreskin restoration
Our answer...
Thanks for asking a very interesting question.
There are two general ways to restore a circumcised foreskin - surgical and non-surgical. Unfortunately, neither are free; however, surgery will be considerably more expensive yet the results will be quicker.
Surgical restoration consists of undergoing plastic surgery in which the skin around the base of the penis is opened and the penis is 'degloved' meaning that skin is pulled away from the shaft. Once degloved, the skin is pulled over the glans and a skin graft is put in place. In another process, the restoration takes place in four separate procedures. A degloving takes place and the scrotum is used to eventually create the foreskin. The process takes several months to complete. Two excellent resources with line drawings of the process can be found at:
http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/greer1
and
http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/goodwin1Non-surgical restoration is probably preferable to the surgical option. It consists of stretching the skin of the penis near the glans to develop more skin that will eventually cover the head of the penis. The non-surgical methods are self-applied and do not require a consultation with a physician although talking with your doctor is strongly suggested. The time it takes to restore the foreskin may be considerably longer than with surgery and depends on how much skin remained after the circumcision. For those with more remaining skin, the process will be shorter.
There are two methods that may be used. Keep in mind that you are not merely stretching the available skin, but you are gradually growing new skin cells. There is a difference and it is a process that cannot be hurried. The two methods involve skin growth by tension - or pulling on the skin. Surgical tape, available from any drug store or medical supply house, is placed around the skin at the base of the glans. Once the tape is wrapped wound the penis, tension is applied to the tape (yes, it is pulled) and with the tension applied the tape is connects to a weight, cylinder, or penile uncircumcising device (PUD). This is where things can get a tad pricey.
The tape is cheap, but the PUD or other devices used to apply tension to the taped skin can run from $130 - $140 each. You only need one! Once applied, the tape and device are kept in place for up to 24 months. Yes, you will need to clean yourself and the device periodically, but it has to put back on immediately after cleaning.
Another device that is available is the VacuTrac that uses a vacuum approach to the regrowing the skin. This device is more costly and runs form $260 to nearly $400.
To give you an idea of what it might look like, take a look at the pictures on: http://adult.eskimo.com/~gburlin/restore/pud.html
If you don't want to try the tension devices, you can try pulling the skin over the glans and taping it in place. To give you an idea of that process, take a look at the pictures on: http://adult.eskimo.com/~gburlin/restore/image.html
Granted, the non-surgical ways to restore the foreskin sound expensive, but in comparison with surgery, they are cheap. With surgery, you may be looking at several thousand dollars of expense plus insurance will probably not cover any of the costs.
For more information, take a look at: http://www.eskimo.com/~gburlin/restore/resource.html
Good luck and thanks again for writing!