Never clean under for skin and I'm 22

[Medium300]

Hello everyone,

I'm 22 and no one ever told that I'm supposed to clean under the foreskin and I only found out about it recently.
So I have a few questions since I run into a few problems:

Am I supposed to pull back the foreskin and clean the glans too? If so how should I do it?

Here are the problems I'm facing, if I pull back the foreskin and touch a little bit the glans they feel stingy and hurt a bit and after a while it starts turning violet, starting from the base of the clans). (I didn't have a lot of secual intercourses so I haven't really thought about it but now that I think back) I never really enjoyed sexual intercourse because it felt stingy and always hurt a little bit but I always thought it was normal and never told anybody about it (as you can see the sex-ed I recieved was really poorly and I'm also to blame on this too).

I read that if you never pullback your foreskin to clean, it could happen that the foreskin isn't flexible enough. Is this the case? Is it not flexible enough and starts cutting of the blood like if you wear a bracelet which is too tight?

In may (don't have that much time in the following months) I wanted to visit a doctor but I wanted to ask here first if it could be something serious and if I should make an appointment ASAP.

Thanks everyone.

[Heather]

I would go ahead and make an appointment -- and not in May, soon -- since you are having pain. Since you haven't ever really cleaned it properly -- and I'm so sorry no one told you how growing up, it really sucks when anyone doesn't get basic information about how to take care of their bodies that they should -- I would want to be sure you're not dealing with something like adhesions, that can happen, before you try pushing it back more to get in the proper habits. I just don't want you to injure yourself.

Something you can do when you have that health appointment is ask your healthcare provider to show you how to clean. I know that might feel awkward, but I assure you, you're not the first person with a penis who no one told this too: it happens with some frequency, so you probably won't have been the first person to talk to your doctor about it as an adult.

We can talk about how here, too, but I just really think it's best you're seen first before you actually do anything that could create other problems, you know?

[Medium300]

Hi, thanks for the quick answer. It was only a mild pain so I never paid much attention to it but you're right. I will see to get an appointment as soon as I can.

Thanks and have a nice day

[Heather]

You're welcome. In the meantime, something you can do that won't risk injury is just to soak your penis when you're in a hot bath, if that's something you have access to. Even if you're not massaging it yet when you do that -- which is something a healthcare provider may suggest if it looks okay for you to do that -- just the warmth and heat alone should help loosen things up a little bit under the foreskin in there is something problematic afoot.