3 days post-op circumcision. Need some friendly advice.

[Davidm1198]

As the title says, I’m 3 days post op for my circumcision. All has been well recently besides my second night when I didn’t wear a bandage and the hypersensitivity got to me, as well as the current night-time erections that definitely wake me up because those are painful due to the sensitivity. Moving around has also been very exciting, not painful but just the sensitivity that I’m trying to get used to.

First question is about bandaging:

- What is the best way to bandage? What should I put on my soldier to help with the healing process before the gauze/bandage goes on? How tightly should it be wrapped?

I currently just put on these gauze pads that I bought that are completely draped in Vaseline, some medical tape over the gauze, and then some of the brown medical bandaging wrapped around the gauze to keep it nice and tidy.

Second is with the swelling. I’m not too familiar with the parts of the penis but I will do my best to try and explain what’s going on… My circ has been done for my very extreme phimosis, and it was a complete circ all the way around the head and a little bit back behind the head but not too far, it’s just enough.

The head of my penis has been red and swollen the past 3 days which I find normal, and it is rather larger than pre-op.

My concern comes at the bottom of my penis head (I think where the frenulum is normally located??). I can see the stitches, but the problem is that there’s a huge bump of swelling. This is concerning to me since when I woke up from the hospital, I just went home and had no concerns or advice given to me on self-care. What is this bump? Should I be concerned at 3 days post op? The size of this swollen bump is roughly 1/3 the size of my swollen head.

Edit: I accidentally touched the tip when reorienting my boxers, and not too much sensitivity compared to 3 days ago when I first changed the bandage. I will be taking off the top layer but securing the vaseline gauze around the rest since it's still too sensitive. I've been walking around a lot more and increasing walking distance every day to keep a steady flow of progress. I just pray this swelling reduces in the next few days so I stop staring at an apple when I piss.

[Hidden]

I'm 6 months in now but it's still early in the process for yourself.What you're doing for bandaging sounds okay but maybe ditch the top bandage as you want the wound to breathe. As soon as you feel you can, try leaving it uncovered at least for part of the day to help healing and also get used to the sensation. Once the wound closes and the stitches fall out massage in some Bio oil or E45 cream which will help with scarring and moisturising.

The night time erections are also part of the healing process and yes I found them really uncomfortable. Try lying on your side and pull your legs up towards your chest. I found it helps till it goes down.

I also had a lump on the frenulum which took a long time to disappear and heal. It's where everything was tied off and mine did look unsightly for ages but came ok eventually. You'll get a better idea how it's going to look once the swelling goes down. When I first saw my penis after the op, it didn't think it belonged to me.

[Davidm1198 in reply to Hidden]

Sweet, thanks for the response! You really saved me some time and worry that I’ve been having the past few days. I honestly was starting to get stressed.

I’ll go maybe the next few days with the gauze on and then try and walk around with the gauze off after work and whatnot. I just want to wait until the stitches are off to be 100% confident to try and break away the sensitivity. I have this thing called ScarAway or something that I’m putting a little bit of before gauze.

The night time erections are honestly a better alarm clock than my phone, so there’s good and bad to it LOL. I’ll try your recommendation next time.

Yea my frenulum area looks like it was sealed off very nicely, but the bump and swelling really had me worried. I’ll make an update on December 3rd since that will be exactly a month since my circ.

[circblog]

Swelling like that near the frenulum is pretty common this early in recovery. I didn't do any bandaging after the initial dressing fell off because my consultant told me to air it out. But I think it depends on what sort of circ was done, and possibly personal choice of the surgeon. I blogged about my recovery here - circ.blog - you might find it useful.

[Davidm1198 in reply to circblog]

Thanks for the response! I checked out some of your blog posts and seems like everything will return to normal; if not, better.

I appreciate your unbiased posts and the information you spread. Will help me out a ton for the next few weeks.

Will be calling the urology office that I got my circ with and taking those recommended steps along with all of the information given to me in this forum. Thanks again!

[yarrum111]

Hi I was given bandages with a hole in the middle that I was told to coat with vasaline slip it over the tip and tape it. It works well. As for the swelling it will take time. I am 4 weeks today and still swollen.