Last updated on August 13, 2020
Question:
My foreskin is tight and when I urinate the end balloons out. Is there something wrong with my penis?
Answer:
There isn’t anything wrong. It just means your foreskin has separated from the glans, but the end of the foreskin hasn’t fully stretched yet. The detachment and the stretching of the opening of the foreskin don’t always happen simultaneously.
You can encourage the stretching by pulling the end of your foreskin away from your body. It will stretch to a surprising length. You can also gently pull the foreskin side to side simultaneously to stretch the opening a bit.
As you continue to grow, your penis will increase in length. For many uncircumcised adult men, the tip of the glans will just poke out of the foreskin. Since the opening is no longer underneath the foreskin, you won’t have the ballooning effect when you urinate.
If the ballooning bothers you, simply retract the foreskin before you urinate. Even if the foreskin is tight, the tip of the penis will still be exposed and will prevent the ballooning. Unless you have a bladder infection, the ballooning doesn’t cause any harm; urine is relatively sterile. Some claim it keeps the area under the foreskin flushed clean until you are able to retract the foreskin completely.