Fixing my skin bridge

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I would like to share with you all my recent experience in having my skin bridge (a piece of skin from my foreskin attached to my glans penis) removed. My hope is that this information may help answer some questions others may have about correcting a skin bridge.

About me

I am a 36 year old male from Melbourne, Australia. For many years I have been living with a bit of my foreskin attached to the glans (head /knob) of my penis. The foreskin covered a larger portion of the left side of my glans.

I didn’t really know why I have a skin bridge. I did not even have any idea what it was called, until I came across this website, which has been my inspiration to have the problem rectified.

I have learnt that at birth all foreskins are adhered (stuck) to the glans of the penis and after a period of time the foreskin slowly detaches itself away from the glans.

Skin bridges mostly occur after circumcision when two ‘raw’ skin surfaces adhere (stick) together. But I am uncircumcised (uncut or, more correctly, intact). My skin bridge is not a result of a botched circumcision. My skin bridge likely occurred when my foreskin was trying to detach itself from the glans. Perhaps it happened due to a forced retraction when I was an infant and the detached skin reattached itself, permanently.

My skin bridge was quit large, approximately 2cm (about 3/4 inch) in length. The skin bridge was fixed to the glans of the penis enabling me to poke cotton tips through one side and out the other. The large opening helped me to clean the smega from accumulating under the skin bridge.

As I was getting older the never ending cleaning process was getting more and more frequent. Trying to keep clean and odor free was time consuming.

Concerns pre-surgery

I had many concerns before the surgery; however my primary fear was ending up with a skin tag on the glans of my penis. Secondly was pain. I did not want a skin tag nor any pain.

In an attempt to mitigate my fears I visited two urologists. The first doctor stated this was an easy procedure and that he would do the procedure under a local anesthetic, putting a needle through my penis and then around the side. A skin tag may be left -- NO WAY was that going happen to me!! He was almost enough to scare me away for good.

I approached a second urologist and I advised him that I had seen another urologist. I made it very clear I did not want a skin tag nor did I want any pain. The doctor looked at my penis and the skin bridge and said that the procedure would be easy and performed under general anesthetic (putting me to sleep). Depending on how the operation went, he would let the removed skin heal one of two ways. The first was through a process called secondary intention; this is where the skin is allowed to heal itself without the need for skin grafts or stitches and mainly occurs when the width of the wound is not too large. The alternative was to let the wound be closed with stitches.

Day 0

As I did not have private health insurance, I had to undertake the surgery in a public hospital with a public surgeon.

I arrived at the hospital and met with the surgical team. I once again advised them of primary fear of having a skin tag left. The surgeon was not the urologist I had previously met, but the surgeon advised me that this was a very simple operation. I once again explained exactly what I wanted to occur.

They administered the general anesthetic and, before I knew it, I was out like a light.

The next thing I knew was that I woke up in the recovery room of the hospital, still feeling a little groggy from the anesthetic. The surgery had taken only 30 minutes to perform. I was wide awake within another 30 minutes.

To be honest, I am not one for pain and I am a bit of a sook. I can honestly say that the only pain I felt was a 0.5 out of 10 (ten being the worst). I was amazed.

I couldn’t see what had been done from the operation because my penis was wrapped in a bandage and a tampon like pad was also covering it in order to catch any blood. The nurse approached me and said, ‘as promised, no skin tag’. After an hour I was fit enough to go home.

Day 1

No pain at all,
A little bleeding from the wound,
Back at work

Day 2

Still no pain,
I had to have a sneak peak so I unwrapped the penis,
No skin tag,
8 stitches on glans of penis and 5 stitches on the foreskin (remember this was a large skin bridge)
Large amount of swelling at the site of the foreskin stitches
Redressed the wound myself

Day 3

Still no pain,
Had a light shower, placed a few sprays of water on my penis and used a cotton tip to help clean to ensure no infection
Swelling still at the site of the foreskin stitches

Days 4-5

No pain, however the glans is feeling a bit more sensitive
The stitches / wound on the glans is beginning to crust or scab over (like a sore). It is a little reddish/yellowish
Swelling still at the site of the foreskin stitches

Day 6

TROUBLE! Last night one of the stitches broke on the glans while I was asleep. I woke up to find it broken and puss on both of the incisions (on the glans and foreskin). I put a dressing on my penis again and went to work.
After work I went to see my GP (doctor) and he agreed that a stitch had broke and that I have an infection. The GP prescribed antibiotics and an antibiotic cream to place on the wound. He also said that I may need to have the stitch replaced, but it couldn’t be done until the infection had cleared (great, not overly impressed!!!!). I have a post-surgery appointment with the hospital in a week.
Still no pain
No sex is killing me

Days 7-8

All the stitches have now fallen out except for one on the foreskin.
Still infected so I am keeping the dressing on. The wound appears to have a white film over it which comes away when I wash with water.
I have kept my foreskin drawn backwards all throughout this process.
Tried to have a wank. Bad idea. LOL !!!

Days 9-16

Had my follow up appointment with the hospital. The urologist confirms that the wound will have to heal by secondary intention and that over time it will get better.

Day 20

My penis still looks infected. I can see the edges slowly working their way inwards and the wound also appears to be healing from the centre as it has now risen up.The white film (looks like dead skin or infection) covers the wound
Trying an experiment to not to have the wound covered and to not to use any more creams or ointments, so that it can dry out

Day 22

It’s starting to heal great, the white film is now gone. I think that the moisture was stopping the wound from healing. My tip is to use the ointment and creams at the start then stop within a few weeks. I think that the film was not an infection but regrowth skin that couldn’t heal because it was so moist.

Day 28

It has appeared to have healed.

The picture to the right was taken at the 6 week mark. My penis looks heaps better and the scar should fade a little more over time. I hope this has help all you guys out there.

This is John's story about fixing his skin bridge. He is a guest blogger who does not mind telling how he opted for surgery to fix his skin bridge. He hopes that others benefit from this information.

I thank John for sharing an intimate part of his life on the Restoring Tally blog. ~ Tally