There’s a growing community of circumcised men who want their foreskin back, and the medical world isn’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat.

They’re called “restorers,” and their ranks have been getting attention lately, most recently in a New York magazine feature that documented their pursuit of what many describe as feeling whole again. The methods range from surgical grafting to DIY tension devices ordered online. The results, according to the urologists who actually deal with this patient population, are far more complicated than the before-and-after photos suggest.

Dr. Laurence Levine, a board-certified urologic surgeon and professor of urology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told the NY Post he performs a fair amount of penile cosmetic surgery but draws the line at foreskin replacement. “It’s just that I haven’t seen a technique that really works,” he said, adding that patient expectations tend to outpace what’s actually achievable. “Their ego ideal and their expectations are much more than what is typically attainable.”

It’s Best to Let Your Foreskin Go, Friend

Surgery generally involves grafting skin from elsewhere on the body onto the penis. A urologist in Germany retrieves scrotal skin in two procedures totaling around $5,700. In California, one man spent $25,000 for 17 millimeters of foreskin and told New York he cried after sex, he was so happy with the outcome. Others, Levine suggested, won’t be so lucky. The potential complications include tissue loss, infection, wound healing problems, hypersensitivity, and scarring around the glans that can create hygiene issues.

Dr. Fenwa Milhouse, co-founder of Down There Urology in Chicago, has a simpler way of looking at it. “What’s gone is gone,” she told the Post. The prepuce, the medical term for foreskin, is physiologically distinct from shaft skin. Grafting one in place of the other doesn’t recreate the original.

DIY methods are more popular, cheaper, and carry their own risks. The basic principle involves gradually stretching the shaft skin until it covers the glans, using tension devices bought online or manual techniques. Progress takes months, sometimes years. Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, a urologist at Orlando Health, warned that improperly sized or homemade devices can cause swelling, scarring, numbness, or compromised blood flow. “If anyone is doing this, they should stop and get evaluated if they develop pain, bruising, skin tearing, swelling, scarring, color changes, numbness, or changes in sensation,” he told the Post.

Even in the best-case scenario, the original nerve patterns, mucosal tissue, and ridged band aren’t coming back. The skin might cover the head, but it won’t be foreskin.