Dealing with the Dreaded Donut — edema from pumping

What is a donut?

All enthusiastic pumpers will at one point or another encounter the donut phenomenon: A thick ring of subcutaneous edema beneath the glans. The frenulum swells up and becomes stiff, and the foreskin (or circumcision scar) makes a bulging ring — a donut. It sometimes happens with vacuum hanging too.

People who are unprepared and encounter it for the first time can sometimes panic when they notice their foreskin won’t roll back over the glans, and the donut is putting so much pressure on the upper shaft that their glans remains swollen. The phenomenon is actually very similar to a medical emergency called “paraphimosis”, where the foreskin is so tight it gets trapped behind the glans, reducing blood circulation. But don’t worry — donuts are not dangerous and they are quite easy to deal with. I’ll talk about prevention too, but first let’s talk about how to deal with them when you get them — which you will if you do high pressure interval pumping, and especially if you combine it with vibration and large cylinders (ask me how I know…)

Borrowed image of a typical donut

How to deal with donuts:

You know in boxing where a boxer’s forehead or cheekbone swells up? That is called “traumatic edema” and is caused by the blunt force trauma causing fluid from blood vessels to leak out into the surrounding tissues, where it pools beneath the skin. Between rounds, the cornerman comes in and applies a cold ‘endswell’ (sometimes called an ‘iron’) to press the fluid away from the site where it has pooled.

Donut edema is much the same thing, but caused by vacuum, not trauma. It’s still just fluid pooled beneath the skin, because the blood and lymph vessels have not been able to transport it fast enough. And the treatment can be much the same:

First squeeze your glans for a few seconds to deflate it. Then directly beneath the glans, right on top of the frenulum and the top part of the donut, grip with thumb and index finger with an OK grip. Press quite hard for 30 seconds. This presses the fluid further down the shaft. After 30 seconds add another finger. After another 30 seconds, add a third finger. If necessary, repeat the process. Remember: you should press quite hard — like the boxing cornerman with his endswell.

Basically, you are “reverse milking” the fluid further down the shaft, and spreading it to a larger area so that it comes into contact with more lymph vessels which can carry it away.

You can also hold your glans and pull it gently (a sock or a dry tissue can help with grip) and gently use the other hand to massage the fluid down the shaft. But do this after the reverse milking.

How to prevent a donut from forming:

Honestly, there is no 100% effective way. Some guys are prone to donuts, it’s just a fact of life. But you can somewhat limit them by wearing a silicone toe shield or elastic tape over the area where you tend to get them. Tattoo wrap cling-film can work too. But never expect total prevention, just a reduction.

Toe Shields can help, but not 100%

Using intervals instead of static sets can help. But if you do things like rapid interval high pressure pumping (dynamic pumping), the high pressure will cause a donut despite the intervals.

I find it most convenient to just accept the fact that I get this swelling, and then just deal with it after by pressing it away.

Short and sweet one today. Go back to pulling on your peener now.