undisputedchamp

Hi, I'm 21 years old and uncircumcised. I'm also a virgin. I was never taught to clean my underneath my foreskin and I just learned about it recently. I also never attempted to retract my foreskin either. I started stretching my foreskin a week ago, so that I'll be able to clean underneath. I already notice a difference, I'm able to retract my foreskin further than when I began.

My biggest concern is that my meatus looks like its swollen compared to images I've seen online. I read online that applying soap to the head of the penis might cause it swell up. When I first started retracting my foreskin I put some soap on my glands, but this was over a week ago. Does the swelling usually go away with time or will I need to do something? Also what else could this be if the swelling wasn't caused by the soap?

Before I learned about the benefits of cleaning underneath the foreskin I didn't masturbate in the usual way of stroking the penis up and down. I would gently tap the head of my penis without retracting the foreskin. I'm not sure if this helped cause the swelling or if it is in any way bad for the penis. I never felt any pain or burning sensation when peeing.

When I retracted my penis while it was erect (3 days ago) I noticed that the glands was a little dry and my foreskin would stick to it. Is this normal? Would masturbating cause it to dry up? I've switched to the "up and down" method. It takes me longer to ejaculate while masturbating like this, so maybe that has caused it to dry up?

I know this is a lot to read, but I'm really curious what this is. Any help would be greatly appreciated.