At the start of our meeting, there was a question about what websites exist that were related to foreskin restoration, now that restoreforeskin.org had closed. Our webmaster informed us that we currently have several similar sites linked from our Message Boards page.
As usual, one or two men in attendance had questions about tugging methods. With so many out there, it always takes a while to describe them all - but this month a fair amount of attention was given to manual tugging. In recent years this method has become more popular, at least in online discussions, possibly due to better understanding of how skin grows. The use of briefly applied tension from manual tugging is said to be just as effective as using a device for longer periods during the day, and this method seems to be taking a larger place in the restoration community.
When asked about the possibility of using anything on the skin to help with growth, our coordinator mentioned an experiment by several NORM SoCal regulars about 10 years ago using a testosterone cream. This was supervised by Dr. Paul Fleiss, a local physician who over the years has been an activist against infant circumcision. As our coordinator recalled, participants reported application of the cream did speed up skin growth, but most stopped early due to concerns that the skin was expanding in all directions and made their foreskins appear loose at the end. References to the study can be found in our notes from November and December 1999, and January 2000. For some reson the notes from the following month, which would have had people's reports on their results so far, didn't make it onto the website.
Someone asked if tugging on the penis affected its length. Although foreskin restoration isn't penis enlargement, there have been men who were tightly circumcised that did report increases in length and girth after restoring a while. Their theory is that the lack of skin from a tight cut may have been hoding some of the penis inside the body, or pulling up the scrotum enough that the shaft appeared shorter.
Once again our lively discussion got into concerns over why circumcision happens in the first place. For well over a century in the USA, there have been many different justifications given by the people who do it. As one justification falls out of favor in the medical community due to inaccuracy, it seems another reason is given more weight - or even fabricated. Many of us expressed our concerns over the latest HIV research which has lead to hasty, misleading conclusions about circumcision being preventive of infections. Could this just be another excuse? The issue is of concern to many of us seeing misinformation circulating in the news.