Will an excessively long foreskin cause harm to sexual partners?

Author: Yuan Yifeng, deputy chief physician of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine

Reviewer: Peng Jing, Chief Physician, Peking University First Hospital

If a man has a long foreskin, it will not only damage his health, but also cause great harm to his sexual partner. Therefore, when a man has a long foreskin, he should not take it lightly.

Figure 1 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

1. The harm that excessive foreskin brings to sexual partners

The main harms that male foreskin brings to sexual partners are:

1. Increase the risk of sexual partners contracting gynecological diseases

Because a large amount of sebum is secreted in the foreskin, if the foreskin cannot be turned up for cleaning for a long time, smegma will accumulate in the foreskin, which provides a place for various bacteria to survive and reproduce, leading to various infections.

When having sex, men are likely to bring various bacteria and smegma grown in the foreskin into the vagina and cervix of women, which is equivalent to pathogenic bacteria directly entering the deep tissues of women, causing women to suffer from a series of gynecological diseases such as vaginitis.

In addition, long-term accumulation of smegma may have carcinogenic effects and may cause cervical cancer in women through sexual intercourse.

2. Not conducive to the sexual experience of sexual partners

When the foreskin is too long, the glans penis wrapped inside is rarely stimulated, and the sensory nerves become overly sensitive, causing ejaculation to occur at the slightest stimulation. During sexual intercourse, premature ejaculation caused by the friction between the glans penis and the vagina will prevent the sexual partner from having a satisfactory sexual experience.

3. Affect the intimacy between lovers

If the foreskin is too long and the foreskin opening is too small, the glans penis can only be barely exposed by pulling the foreskin up forcefully. However, the discomfort or pain caused by pulling the foreskin up can easily cause the erect penis to soften, making it impossible to have normal sexual life, which will affect the intimacy between lovers.

Figure 2 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

2. Diagnosis of prepuce redundancy

Clinically, phimosis needs to be ruled out before treating excessive foreskin. Although both conditions involve the foreskin completely covering the penis, they are two different diseases and require different treatments.

From a clinical point of view, prepuce hyperplasia refers to the situation that when the penis is not erect, the foreskin covers the entire glans penis and the external opening of the urethra, but can still be turned up to reveal the glans penis. In this case, the foreskin opening is usually normal, but because the glans penis cannot be revealed for a long time, it is easy to develop complications such as balanitis.

Phimosis usually refers to a condition in which the foreskin cannot be turned up onto the coronal sulcus, resulting in the glans penis being unable to be fully exposed.

Men can determine whether they have phimosis or prepuce by self-examination. To facilitate self-examination, you can first apply a little soap on the penis to avoid mechanical damage in the process of turning up the foreskin, then fix the penis with your left hand, and gently push the foreskin back with your right hand and try to turn it over. If the foreskin can be turned up smoothly, it is phimosis. Otherwise, it is phimosis.

3. Treatment of prepuce hyperplasia

When treating prepuce that is too long, the methods usually used include emergency treatment, general treatment, drug treatment and surgical treatment.

1. Emergency treatment

Simple prepuce is too long and does not require emergency treatment, but there is one exception, that is, incarcerated phimosis. Incarcerated phimosis means that when the foreskin is turned up behind the glans penis and is not restored in time, the foreskin ring blocks the venous and lymphatic return, causing edema of the foreskin and glans penis, making the foreskin unable to be restored. At this time, manual or surgical reduction is required as soon as possible.

Manual reduction: first pinch the foreskin, and gently push the penis head into the foreskin, so that the incarcerated foreskin can be restored to its original position. However, when the incarceration time is too long and simple manual reduction can no longer restore it, surgical reduction is required in time. During the operation, the foreskin constriction ring will be cut longitudinally by 0.5 to 1.0 cm on the dorsal side, so that the incarcerated foreskin can be restored to its original position after the swollen skin returns to normal.

2. General treatment

For cases of prepuce that naturally expose the external urethral opening and are not inflamed, patients only need to clean the glans penis and foreskin regularly and maintain personal hygiene.

3. Medication

Normally, no drug treatment is required for foreskin that is too long. Drugs are only needed when repeated infections or difficulty urinating occur. For example, when foreskin that is too long repeatedly causes balanitis and urethritis, antibiotics are needed for anti-infection treatment to help patients relieve symptoms and reduce distress.

4. Surgery

At present, surgery is the most effective method for treating prepuce excess. The main cases suitable for surgery are: ① When the foreskin is too long and difficult to turn up, the foreskin cannot be cleaned in time, which is easy to form smegma, which in turn causes inflammation; ② There is a fibrous narrow ring at the foreskin opening, which hinders urination or causes repeated infection; ③ Recurrent foreskin and glans penis infection and urinary tract infection cause the foreskin and glans penis to adhere to varying degrees; ④ After non-surgical reduction of foreskin incarceration, surgery is performed to avoid recurrence of incarceration.

Circumcision is the main treatment for prepuce hyperplasia in clinic, which can effectively reduce the incidence of various diseases. There are many surgical methods for circumcision, the most commonly used ones are traditional dorsal circumcision and sleeve circumcision.

With the rapid development of laser technology, many male diseases have gradually begun to be treated with lasers, including laser circumcision. For laser removal of the foreskin, the most commonly used is carbon dioxide laser.

Compared with traditional surgery, laser surgery can greatly reduce the operation time, bleeding and postoperative complications. Although it may delay wound healing, the use of glue to glue the wound after laser surgery can not only make up for the above defects, but also make the wound more neat and beautiful.

It can be seen that there are many treatments for prepuce hyperplasia, and patients can choose the treatment that they can accept. However, considering the health of the patient and his partner, doctors often recommend surgery.

Figure 3 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

Men, especially married men, must pay attention to the cleaning of their reproductive organs. If they find that the foreskin is too long, they must deal with it in time to avoid affecting their own and their family's happy life.

References

[1]Xuan Xujun, Pang Baozhen. Men's Health Guide[M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2019.

[2] Sun Yinghao. Wu Jieping. Urology[M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2019.

[3] Xia Shujie, Lü Futai, Xin Zhongcheng. Guo Yinglu's Andrology[M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2019.