Itch after restoring? :/

[mega_loud]

Heya!

So I've been using the TLC-X for a couple of months now consistently, and really happy with how I can just fit restoring into my day by wearing it. However, I have started to notice that when I take off the device, for a little while there is the usual puffiness and small patches of peeling skin, but in addition an extreme, intractable itch. It lasts a while until I scratch it (which goes badly so I've stopped haha) or apply some moisturiser.

The moisturiser is helping a lot! I restore for at least 8 hours, about 5 out of 7 days, and try to incorporate some manual when I feel as though my penis is too sore to apply the device or if I don't get to use it. I apply the device to clean skin, and the device itself is also clean. I know that I'm not allergic to the moisturiser and I'm not using anything else down there.

I'm curious as to whether anyone else has had a similar itch? It's a really bad itch, worse than athlete's foot, or a mosquito bite even! It's on the shaft, right where the device touches the skin.

Thanks!

[Allie2k14]

Hi, welcome to the forum.
I've experienced the same thing in the begining. Puffiness should go away in a few minutes. Excessive skin flaking should not occur, IMO.

I would recommend you to lower tension and tugging time, or simply make some breaks (remove the device, wait a few minutes and reapply).

Are you following the 4-hour rule?
In short, it means you need to fine-tune your tugging tension until you are able to wear the device during 4 hours in a row *with no issues*. Issues include pain, discomfort, needle-pain, itching...

With the proper tension level, you'll forget you're wearing the device.

I use an aloe-vera moisturiser which is absorbed in a few minutes and leaves no oily residue. I apply it after taking off the device, specially if I get an itchy sensation.

Keep on tugging!

[mega_loud]

Thanks for the advice!

Actually, I have made note in the past about how long I can tolerate the device, and surprisingly, 4 hours (and even 8 hours) of wearing the device gives no issues (it's only when I take it off after say, 4 hours, that it begins to get itchy). The thing which stumped me was that in the beginning I didn't get itchy, it only just started recently, concurrent with using the pusher.

So I will take that advice and try less tension with the pusher, and report back!

[zepphead2011]

I've had this issue too. I've only been restoring for two months now and whenever I take off my t-tapes, usually after 4-8 hours, I get really itchy, sometimes for up to two days. Is itching a normal part of restoration?

[RAnonUS19B]

(Deleted)

[CheesePlatter]

Hi, welcome to the forum.
I've experienced the same thing in the begining. Puffiness should go away in a few minutes. Excessive skin flaking should not occur, IMO.

I've never heard or read that skin flaking should occur. What does it mean if it does?

What is considered excessive skin flaking?

[Allie2k14]

I've never heard or read that skin flaking should occur. What does it mean if it does?

It happened to me in the beginning, when I was getting used to the TLC-Tugger. I was tugging with too high tension and didn't have the habit of using a moisturizing cream. The next day, the skin that was under the tugger felt sore, dry and numb. The following days it started to peel off.

After I learned the importance of using a moisturizing cream (and the 4-hour rule for tension level), this hasn't happened anymore.

What is considered excessive skin flaking?

Perhaps I didn't express it properly. I meant that flaking/peeling should not occur at all. The OP said "the usual puffiness and small patches of peeling skin". In my experience, some swelling after removing the device is usual (for just a few minutes), but flaking is definitely not.

As it is known, our skin is continually being renewed. Quoting this article: The epidermis,

"The epidermis (From the Greek epi, on top and derma, the skin) is the skin's outer structure serving a protective function However, the part we can see, the horny layer, is only a minute part of this stratified squamous layer. It is the ultimate result of the keratinisation process and marks the final stage of a 4 to 6 week journey undertaken by the keratinocytes."
[...]
"The desquamation of cells on the skin's surface should naturally be compensated for by renewal of the epidermis, a process undertaken by the keratinocytes (85% of the cells in the epidermis). These possess two properties which successively come into action - the ability to actively divide and the ability to differentiate."
[...]
"Once they arrive at the outermost layer of the epidermis, the horny layer , the keratinocytes become corneocytes, anucleate flattened cells, filled with keratin. This is a water insoluble protein accounting for 95% of all proteins present in the epidermis and it is in part this substance which gives the epidermis, and therefore the skin itself, its protective function. Under the programmed action of specific enzymes, the corneocytes lose their cohesion and separate from the surface one by one in the desquamation process."

("the ability to actively divide" is key for foreskin restoration (mitosis) but this is another subject.)

Well, this desquamation of old dead skin cells isn't normally seen. You wipe off these old cells from your body when you use a towel to dry you off. These old cells form a great part of the dust you swipe off the floor of your house every day. But when it happens at a mayor scale, in the form of small patches of skin peeling off, that's what I call excessive flaking.

Regards..

[CheesePlatter]

Got it! Thank you very much for the very informative response. It was like that for me in the beginning also. When I started, I did tug a little too tight. However, I finally got it right after a couple of weeks.