Seeking post circumcision care advice

[anon_393279]

I'm 21 and I had my circumcision done on 14th september 2021 for phimosis caused by lichen schlerosis (my foreskin turned white) so its been like 10 days since the surgery. So far I have been healing well, bleeding is almost non-existent, swelling was minimal from the beginning and only around the circumcision incision and has gone down significantly. Pain is almost gone except the stinging here and there from the stitches tugging on to clothes and the usual erections.

Stopped going out. I'm basically staying 90% naked except the towel covering the family jewels.

Had an allergic reaction from penicillin type antibiotics for the first 5 days so the doc changed my meds, now Im doing absolutely fine. So far there are no signs of infection other than my pee smells heavily of medication.

Since the 4th day I have been taking light showers and let water drip down to clean my penis and made sure not to use any soaps for the first few days.

Since yesterday I noticed the formation of some whitish-yellow stuff on frenulum and around the incision. Already knew these are signs of the wound healing. Also Im keeping my junk as dry as possible.

Now arriving to the question. Should I or should I not wash off the yellowish-white stuff from the wound when showering? Rn the only cleaning im doing is letting the water drip and I have noticed some of the white stuff washes away in the shower.

Should I leave it alone or nah??

(This forum has helped me a lot in the first few days so Im extremely grateful)

[S2BC]

Have you heard about moist wound healing? It may help you to clean the incision site. It is called 'wound debridement' Do not rush for it.

healthline.com/health/debri...

healthunlocked.com/mensheal...

[anon_393279 in reply to S2BC]

Absolutely not rushing it. I was just wondering if it is fine to leave the yellowish-white stuff alone. I have been lightly patting the incision dry and made sure not to rub it or anything. After patting it dry I usually let air dry out the moisture. Just trying to make sure my methods aren't anything out of line.

[S2BC in reply to anon_393279]

Have you talked about wound care and dressing with your health care provider? Do you use any gauze on it?

blog.wcei.net/wound-tempera...

[anon_393279 in reply to S2BC]

Had an appointment on 21st and the doc said it was fine. Asked him if I could wear underwear, he said it's best to be naked most of the time. Didn't talk much about post op care. He told me to not wear any dressing after the initial dressing was removed on the third day. He's very busy and keeps talking to a minimal. But overall I'm happy because the swelling and bleeding is absolutely minimal compared to some of the people posting here.

[S2BC]

Do you have lichen shlerosus on incision site or just on glans area?

dermnetnz.org/topics/lichen...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

nhs.uk/conditions/lichen-sc...

[anon_393279 in reply to S2BC]

I was on the tip of the foreskin only and I was fortunate it didnt spread anywhere else. Btw thanks for the articles they are good reads.

[MrMac99]

Hi Anon you seem to have it under control well your healing process should really start to increase. If you have to go out I would use a dressing but it best to leave in the open when at home. After washing you can use a hair dryer to dry. Hopefully the LS won't return as circumcision usually gives a good outcome.

[anon_393279 in reply to MrMac99]

Fingers crossed. Doc said circumcision would prevent the spread of LS, and I was extremely lucky to only have in the tip of the foreskin but he said that there is a chance that it may return but for now the circumcision has cured it. Well all I can do is pray and hope for the best. My personal hygiene was mediocre before the circ even if LS isnt related to personal hygiene.

Even if LS returns hopefully with a good diet, fitting underwear and proper hygiene I can manage it. Overall I'm not stressed over it, I mean it is what it is. Good day.

[MrMac99 in reply to anon_393279]

You should be fine now hopefully just keep an eye out for it but the chance of it coming back or spreading has reduced considerably now that you are circumcised.You should find it a lot easier with personal hygiene now no more smegma or odour. You have the right attitude what ever it is you just deal with it.

[anon_393279]

It's the 24th of september now and the swelling is comepletely gone so now I can see the wound clearly. Some of the stitches on the left side are coming off and some have dissolved into a brownish glue (the dissolvable stitches were dark brown). Some of the more spiky stitches have also gone away which is expected since im showering everyday.

The only place that hasnt changed much is the frenulum which is expected since the frenulum takes a while to heal, rn theres a big scab of blood and lymph on it. The amount lymph fluid has also increased on the incision site. So far there is zero pain (Im still on pain meds only two days worth of course left). I checked for any putrid smell, there was none which is a relief.

The only issue I'm having is random boners when I'm awake and asleep, they do go down quickly but I'm scared of tearing any stitches prematurely. Other than that I'm doing really good I will probably start wearing underwear and go out for some light jogs every now and then, my back hurts from sitting and sleeping for too long.

[circblog]

This is very close to my experience. I'm seven days in. Also have back ache and yep the boners are really annoying. Dissolvable stitches have a bit of stretch in them which helps. I did get a tiny amount of bleeding from one where it had tugged a stitch. I bought a cricket box which means I can get dressed now and go out for walks etc without my underwear sticking to the wound. Spoke to the surgical registrar yesterday and the white/yellow stuff is normal, particularly if you had a pre-existing condition. It's called "wet scab" by some physicians. Best option is to leave it alone and it will slough off on its own in a couple of weeks.

[Rood_A]

Best of luck on recovery, but what caused the LS? I've read that it often returns on the scar, so what did your doctor say about that ...as well?

[anon_393279 in reply to Rood_A]

He said for now it has been cured and that it may or may not return.

[anon_393279 in reply to Rood_A]

My best guess on what caused the LS is probably because of my poor hygiene I used to go days without cleaning the penis as I used to find it weird to clean the penis (because I was young and stupid). I have read that urine and smegma accumulation will irritate the foreskin enough to cause BXO/LS. The doctor didnt say much but before the surgery he said total circumcision was absolutely necessary as the LS will indefinitely progress if I were to leave it alone.

[anon_393279]

Its the 1st of October now marking the 17th day of my recovery. Feeling a lot better now, there is zero pain and 5-7 stitches fell out since. Gonna try wearing some underwear today. Inspecting the incision I can see a lot of improvement, the places where the stitches fell out looks healed, albeit there's swellings like pearls (which I know is normal scarring from the stitches). The stitches on the frenulum area still hasnt fallen out, I'm patiently waiting for the day when it comes. Erections are painless now.

Overall my mental health has also improved seeing my wound getting healed. Getting back into gaming bit by bit (the stitches used to pull on my towel when I sat on my chair). Judging but the current state I'll probably finish healing on the 30 day mark.

😁

[anon_393279]

Its been 23 days since the surgery. All of the stitches have fallen out except one (not a problem as the spike is quite short), the big scab on my frenulum has fallen out today, I was scared that it was too premature, but to my relief the frenulum has healed about 98% from the looks of it (the white skin and darker skin has merged and there are no yellow sticky stuff or blood on it). Still not touching it for atleast a month tho.

Tried wanking one out today because I couldn't think straight with the constant erections. It was painless and felt quite normal for me. I made sure to not touch the incision area. For me I couldn't notice much of difference other than it took a while to orgasm. There was no pain or swelling after.

I noticed there is still noticable swelling underneath the skin when I'm flaccid. I had a feel and I guess the inside (muscles??) of the penis is still healing.

Been going out for light jogs every morning for the last 4 days and it gave me no problems. The DOMS has been killing me because I haven't worked out for almost a month.

It really surprised me to see my frenulum heal so fast, reading so many threads here I expected for it to take atleast 2 months to heal but I was extremely lucky.

Its all going good for now

😁😁👍