Exfoliation
Today, for an entirely new phenomenon.
Up until recently, I had been using only treatments to encourage healing or peeling of its own accord. All that changed last week when I decided I would try exfoliation on the remaining areas of BXO skin. I used a small pumice stone to gently exfoliate the white skin on the glans while it was moist (from water, not urine). I then left it for several days, before doing it again. I believe the difference is very noticeable. There have been some large areas where skin has been peeling. There are a few tricks, however.
First, be gentle. The patch where it was thickest is also where I did the most work, and it became slightly painful to the touch not long after that. Don't go nuts and make the remaining skin go red and inflamed. Only enough to gently encourage the BXO skin to start to break at the surface is what's needed. The second is to give it time after doing it. Facial exfoliation is generally recommended 2-3 times a week. Any more than that and you risk damaging the skin. Thirdly, the skin will peel off a lot. You need to remember not to force it when this happens.
But there are lots of gentle ways you can exfoliate too. Baking Soda is one way that many suggest as quite gentle.
I only have a little skin I need to deal to before I'd consider myself 98% rid of BXO. I'm now at the point where I can almost taste the finish line, and I just want to be over it. I think I'm beginning to understand how the skin works. It almost seems as though the top layer of white skin is always dead skin. Treatments that encourage peeling still rely on the body shedding that layer on its own. They might be able to encourage it, but they take time. Exfoliation appears, at this stage at least, to speed this process up considerably. It's difficult to know if I would have had a similar result had i tried it very early. The challenge when the BXO layers are very thick is how to tell when you've done enough. At least when you can see healthy skin around it, it's easier to see the skin coming away.
Once the last noticeable white skin is gone, I'll resort to using Creme Complete and Comfrey, for a while, to help restore the skin back to a normal looking state. There will still be BXO layers but not apparent to the naked eye. I was looking at the shaft skin today and am still amazed at how much healthier it looks after using Creme Complete. I can't wait for the day when all my skin has restored its natural look and elasticity, but right now I'm just focusing on getting rid of the last remaining white patches.
Up until recently, I had been using only treatments to encourage healing or peeling of its own accord. All that changed last week when I decided I would try exfoliation on the remaining areas of BXO skin. I used a small pumice stone to gently exfoliate the white skin on the glans while it was moist (from water, not urine). I then left it for several days, before doing it again. I believe the difference is very noticeable. There have been some large areas where skin has been peeling. There are a few tricks, however.
First, be gentle. The patch where it was thickest is also where I did the most work, and it became slightly painful to the touch not long after that. Don't go nuts and make the remaining skin go red and inflamed. Only enough to gently encourage the BXO skin to start to break at the surface is what's needed. The second is to give it time after doing it. Facial exfoliation is generally recommended 2-3 times a week. Any more than that and you risk damaging the skin. Thirdly, the skin will peel off a lot. You need to remember not to force it when this happens.
But there are lots of gentle ways you can exfoliate too. Baking Soda is one way that many suggest as quite gentle.
I only have a little skin I need to deal to before I'd consider myself 98% rid of BXO. I'm now at the point where I can almost taste the finish line, and I just want to be over it. I think I'm beginning to understand how the skin works. It almost seems as though the top layer of white skin is always dead skin. Treatments that encourage peeling still rely on the body shedding that layer on its own. They might be able to encourage it, but they take time. Exfoliation appears, at this stage at least, to speed this process up considerably. It's difficult to know if I would have had a similar result had i tried it very early. The challenge when the BXO layers are very thick is how to tell when you've done enough. At least when you can see healthy skin around it, it's easier to see the skin coming away.
Once the last noticeable white skin is gone, I'll resort to using Creme Complete and Comfrey, for a while, to help restore the skin back to a normal looking state. There will still be BXO layers but not apparent to the naked eye. I was looking at the shaft skin today and am still amazed at how much healthier it looks after using Creme Complete. I can't wait for the day when all my skin has restored its natural look and elasticity, but right now I'm just focusing on getting rid of the last remaining white patches.
This blog has been very helpful.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Glad you've found it useful.
DeleteThanks for taking the time to share your experience with eveyone. So as a bxo sufferer myself having a tight white ring on my shaft, which makes it impossible to espose glans when erect, what would you suggest i start with? I have just started clobetasol. The only suggestion i get from my doc is circumcision. Thanks and all the best for the future.
ReplyDeleteI believe you need to work on drying the skin out. Are you able to retract it when flaccid?
DeleteIf so, then it will make applying treatments much easier. I did see a post from someone who couldn't retract their foreskin ever, but found relief by inserting q-tips between his glans and inner foreskin to remove the moisture.
You haven't said what you have tried thus far. Can you tell me a little about what you have been trying to date?
Hi. It started about 2 years ago but did nothing about it except from trying the Phimocure stretching rings but always ended up with an irritated frenulum. Now I have a white tight ring in my inner foreskin and wider frenulum. Glans is intact. I can retract when flaccid but not when erect. Last week i started dermovate and i am waiting shipment of creme complete. Doctor said that the tight ring is scarred tissue and circumcision is the only solution, which I dont want to do for now.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to keep retracted for most of the day but confused whether I shall use the steroid, creme complete, manuka honey or tea tree.
When doctors tell you that anything to do with BXO is scarred tissue, don't buy it. If you're seeing tightness, it will be because you have tissue that is heavily affected by BXO. The thicker the white skin gets, the tighter and less elastic the skin becomes. Don't let them sell you a circumcision. That's a very easy way for western medicine to tick the box that says they 'cured' you. In reality, BXO can be reversed but it's painfully slow. I don't think western medicine practitioners are patient enough.
DeleteYour body knows how to find its way out of BXO, but you need to remove the problem. Creme Complete will be good for you, but it might be too soon to notice much. It's difficult to tell without looking at photos of you.
I'll come back to my first point again. I believe you need to work on keeping the area dry. I mean bone dry. After showering, pat it dry with a towel and keep the foreskin behind the glans as much as you can until it dries fully. Keep the glans covered, but if you go for a long period of time, force yourself to go to the bathroom just so you can dry the entire area with toilet paper. After urination, make sure you absorb every drop of moisture there is.
The key is to keep it dry. Dryness, I believe, is by far the most powerful way to treat BXO. Some have suggested the disease thrives in an oxygen-poor environment, and that keeping it dry exposes the area to air, hence why it retreats.
After a few days of keeping it dry, you should begin to notice peeling. If you see peeling, it means you are healing.
HI
ReplyDeleteI got circumcised 6 years ago.Then then told me that i had lichen sclerosus et atrophicus..I was wondering if you had atrophy as well? Can removing the whitness stop the atrophy? Im doing the H202 dipping and some baking soda on it during the day to peel the skin..Would removing the whitness stop the atrophy?
In my experience, yes. The whiteness is caused because the skin layers change from their normal form. They become tight, compact, and inelastic. As those white layers begin to peel away, you will notice the skin gradually returning to its normal texture, colour, and elasticity.
DeleteI'm curious though... You mention you were circumcised. Do you still have an area of tight skin? Is this skin that is covered, or always exposed?
When i got curmcised, I did not have the usual white ring at the bottom..only a whitish gland which seems to atrophy as time goes on..but its more purplish when erect..i tried your baking soda..left it on a day..skin wrinkles more.and also used peroxide..was able to get some peeling but not much...cloverleaf cream has the ingredient you talk about..helps with the urethral entrance in not atrophying to fast..but theres not much out there that helps so im trying it your way..but it accelerates the atrophy at the entrance big time lol...cream seems to help out so I need to go slow..scary stuff..i can have sex..no breakage...but there is sometimes slight pain or itchiness..but the atrophy is scary to say the least..glad there is people out there getting success
DeleteI had phismosis..then got operated...biopsy was lichen sclerosus et atrophicus...i think it helped in slowing the progress of the diseas but know i need to man up and try stuff..creme complete is ok but didnt see great results though..atleast getting the skin to peel off is good..but still wonder if that is enough...i got my amalgams removed also a few weeks ago..I have rheumatoid arthritis so always thought it could be immune related but i dont think so..i had virus on it and had to get it killed with liquid nitrogen..i think the damage to the skin brought on the disease..since the doctor never gave me specific directionid to avoid anything...
Deletewould comfrey root cream sold on the net be as effective as your tea salve? im using peroxide and baking soda and getting slow results
DeleteIf you're getting ANY results, slow or otherwise, then consider yourself on the way to recovery. When you read a blog like this (and you've probably discovered it recently, when I'm talking about success) it's easy to disregard the emotional pain and uncertainty I felt in the beginning when I first started trying to beat BXO. Everyone was full of these herbal ideas, and I'd try each one, not knowing if it would help of not, then see no progress, and get depressed because I thought my BXO would be here to stay. That was in June last year, about 9 months ago. I wasn't sure whether I was making progress for the first few months. That's how long this takes to heal. A couple of days, or even a week probably isn't enough to show anything. I eventually got by on the mantra that wherever there's peeling, there's healing. If you get sunburn, the peeling doesn't start until the skin begins to heal. The same happens for the skin around pimples or recovering infections. So if you see peeling, my advice to you is simply to reassure yourself that you are seeing progress. The white skin needs to peel of layer by layer, and never comes off in one fell swoop.
DeleteIn terms of the atrophy you mentioned, do you mean around the urethra? Is it becoming more constricted, or is it that the skin is just getting whiter? Mine was very slightly affected by BXO, and as it healed I think the skin went a little whiter and felt slightly tighter at one point, but that was just the skin on the way to shedding layers.
Any cream with Comfrey in it will work fine, I would imagine. I should point out, however, I haven't really included baking soda in my regime much. I used peroxide, tea tree oil, talcum powder, manuka honey and creme complete.
Yes my urethra..the entrance and inside the glad is atrophying..thus the atrophicus in lichen sclerosus. I dont have the normal white ring or white spots..just a light whitness that dissapears more when penis is erect...the skin is not hard .seems to be normal but whitish and inflames on the inside..thus why they call it autoimmune..really hoping that if i get it to peal..the reason the skin is being attacked will stop and the inflammation will go away...if not i will need some form of dilation down the line and that causes problems.
Deletedid the talcum powder help with the BXO in terms of peeling? and did you directly add the tea tree oil on the penis? what would be your best choices to help with the peeling? Thanks alot for responding brother..means alot
Deleteif have oregano oil here..wonder if it can work like tea tree oil as well
DeleteYes the atrophy...constricting...urethra is getting smaller each time i used H2O2 etc lol..life sucks but atleast Im trying to do something about it..most doctors dont even know what this disease is..I'm fed up with doctors..Im starting to thing i know more then them in many departments
DeleteI tend to find my BXO skin goes whiter than normal as it approaches a round of peeling.
DeleteManuka Honey could be a good thing for you to try. I found that, in applying that every night before I went to bed, I would wake up the next morning and my phimotic ring would be noticeably looser. If you've been circumcised, however, the problem you are going to have is how to keep the honey on the affected area all night.
I don't think the talcum powder helped with the healing as such, just that it dried the skin out and kept it dry all day, which enabled the skin to start peeling on its own. I did use neat Tea Tree Oil a lot, but I found that as I healed, it began to irritate the skin to the point where I would itch for days afterward. So I stopped.
Thanks twn. I am currently keeping the area dry as much as possible but no peeling yet. From your experience what do you think would help accelerate peeling most? Is it possible to post a pic?
ReplyDeleteKeep it dry. I don't know there is anything that works more effectively than anything else to encourage peeling. Dryness does seem to make it easier to see the cracks forming as the layers begin to peel away. Talcum powder helps to make them obvious too.
DeleteIronically, though, I did find soaking in a bath for quite a while (eg until the skin on your fingers begins to wrinkle) helps to get some peeling to come off. But, your skin does need to be at the state where it would have peeled eventually anyway.
How long have you been keeping it dry for?
I tried to keep the skin retracted as much as possible but ended up with damaged skin due to the tight skin being stretched for an amount of time. I used creme complete and the wounds heeled. With regards to peeling do you think Manuka is better as whilst the skin is visibly softer i am not seeing any evident peeling?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I have the faintest idea how Manuka Honey helps LS. All I know is that it seems to. What it did for me was loosen the tight skin after I left it on overnight. As you said, my skin was noticeably softer after putting it on. I swear every morning I noticed the white ring was fractionally looser than the previous night. Peeling is something I always took as the sign that it was healing, but I also think it's possible to have healing without peeling. Peeling also happens in very small fragments at times, depending on the nature of the skin tissue and how far healed it is (eg later in the recovery phase, the layers are much thinner) so it's possible that you are peeling, but the fragments are so small you just can't see them. I've found some peeling where the fragments are as small as cobwebs.
ReplyDelete