Do you have penile sensitivity issues which have caused you difficulties in your sexual satisfaction or intimate relations?

Have you searched for a source of information that really addresses your situation? You are not alone. This website is dedicated to helping you.

The-penis.com*  received many emails over the years on aspects of penile function. The idea for a website dedicated to helping men with this problem, originally grew out of one of these emails.
* Copy and paste the URL http://www.the-penis.com into your browser if you would like to visit the site

Email from A Man With Reduced Penile Sensitivity

This input is in response to your request for experience or feedback on a particular problem, that of penile sensitivity.

I think it probably affects many more men than we realize, but there is no real information I can find on the Web regarding the physical causes and treatment for low penile sensitivity.

I have not “cured” mine, but I have so far been able to optimize what sensitivity I have.

Once I recognized my problem for what it was, I made an effort to learn as much as I could about it, and what I could do to improve it.

However, I am always looking for new ideas, types of treatment or drugs that might help.

If you have any ideas, I would very much appreciate hearing them. Anyway, here is my experience with apparently the same problem as your correspondent.

My response is really a reaction to a prior email, which you quote in your web page at your site “Penis Problem Page”:

Original email:

“I am a 23 year old gay male. My partner can have an orgasm very quickly, but it takes me a long, long time. Also, my penis is not very sensitive. In fact the only sensitive part seems to be a bit on the underneath of the head. Can I do anything? I am even willing to consider surgery: in fact – I am looking for a cosmetic surgeon now, but with little success. It makes lovemaking so very hard! Please help.”

And another man’s response:

I have had the same problem, life-long. I was always a little slow, and sometimes as a teenager, I would even make my penis sore while masturbating to achieve climax. I thought it was just me, and as long as I was functional, it didn’t seem to matter too much.

Then after I turned 50, the problem became so pronounced that I was becoming sexually non-functional. I could get a good erection, but I could not stimulate it enough to achieve orgasm, and eventually the discomfort factor won out, and I would lose my erection.

I then decided I would learn more about the problem, and I also finally found an enlightened urologist who helped me experiment with ideas and drugs to alleviate the problem. Now some 12 years later, I am still functional, and even though I still do have less than ideal sensitivity, most of the time I do achieve ejaculation.

I would estimate my success rate is probably about 70+% for vaginal intercourse, 80+% for masturbation, and near 0% for oral sex without some help (which, though it’s the most erotic feeling kind of sex, just doesn’t have quite a high enough level of stimulation to get me to the “take off” point… I have found that before it goes on too long, if I use some hand masturbation to get me close, I can then enjoy being finished off with oral sex).

What has worked and what has not

Two aspects of my approach have helped significantly:

(1) My urologist informed me that circumcision reduces the sensitivity of the penis.

He put me in touch with a group of men who are “restoring” their foreskins through non-surgical methods, using some form of penile skin stretching. (More information here on foreskin restoration.)

Using tape, weights, elastic bands and other methods, you can stretch the “tube” of penile skin over time. It typically takes about 2-3 years to reform a foreskin, some do it in a year, and some like me take longer (I have spent about 7 years off-and-on to gain a fully covering foreskin when flaccid).

Restoring the foreskin, of course, doesn’t restore all the nerves, blood vessels, sensitive frenulum and inner ridged mucosa with Meissner’s corpuscles (the most sensitive parts of the intact male penis), but it does provide the protection to allow the remaining inner foreskin and glans to de-keratinise and return to a naturally-occurring mucous membrane.

This made a significant improvement to my residual sensitivity.

What I also found out, is that I was circumcised very tightly, so whatever remaining sensitive inner foreskin of my penis was just below the underside of the glans where the frenulum originally terminated…this is exactly the comment from your reader who asked the question above.

In my case, I was so tightly circumcised that when I had an erection the shaft skin was drum tight. That tended to pull my testicles up into my body during sex to the point of pain. Since restoration, besides better sensitivity, I no longer have the tight shaft skin pulling up my testicles.

Another problem I had, of the annoying sometimes painful rubbing of my bare glans during athletic activity, is also gone forever. Restoration takes some dedication and discipline, but is well worth it. I just wish I could also restore all those erogenous nerves which were destroyed by circumcision.

(2) I have tried a number of drugs and supplements, but the only one that made significant improvement in my sensitivity is Yohimbine.

I take 4 x 5.4mg tablets per day as a therapeutic treatment, and that makes a very clear difference. I found it took about 3-4 weeks for the sensitivity improvement to be fully realized. I do NOT need to time it before sex.

It does have side effects, and my limit of 4 tablets per day is based on the tolerance of the side effects, which are minimal for me at or below that dosage.

They include exaggerated urgency in bowel and urination, feeling of shivery cold, slight muscular shaking on occasion, and the feeling of “being wired”, like caffeine. Some have headaches, but that has not bothered me.

I have stopped taking Yohimbine for up to a month on several occasions, and after a few weeks I can clearly tell that my sensitivity has diminished. (Note: Yohimbine can cause liver damage, and is not normally prescribed any more- Ed.)
My suggestions to anyone with this problem (you will find this a rather common problem with men who are restoring their foreskin):

(1) Find an enlightened urologist with some experience in sexual problems, who is willing to work with you on the problem, to find unique solutions for an often misdiagnosed problem. It can be physical just as easily as mental.

(2) Look into non-surgical foreskin restoration to preserve the little sensitivity still remaining. As you noted in your comments, do not try surgery…it will almost certainly result in further decreased sensitivity.

Other resources on the web for foreskin restoration:
www.norm.org National Organization of Restoring Men
www.cirp.org Circumcision Information Resource Pages or look under “foreskin restoration” in your search engine.

(3) Without a doubt, you need the cooperation of your partner to figure out what works.