What are the pros and cons of having a newborn boy circumcised?

Question

We are about to have a boy and debating whether or not to circumcise. I dont feel it is needed in this day and age but my wife does. Little help now..

Answer 1

You sir are very right! Circumcision is a very unnecessary mutilation.

Some females think the foreskin is just a "flap of extra skin"; that flap of skin contains more than half of the pleasure sensors of the penis. Ask her how she would feel about being strapped down and having more than half of the nerves cut from her most personal place.

Cleaning the intact penis for a boy: just wipe it like a finger, do not try to retract his foreskin. Never retract a boy's foreskin, let him do it when it is ready to be retracted. Never let heath care providers retract him either, even if it means physically stopping them. Forced retraction is the main danger an intact boy faces, it is the cause of most of the "infections" that seem to require circumcision. Forced retraction is like peeling back your thumbnail to clean under it, that would get infected too.

When he is older and the foreskin separates from his glans instruct him to just skin it back in the shower or bath. Later on when you have that "talk", suggest to him that girls will like him better if he is clean. Most boys will pick up on that real quick and the tip of that tool will be kept unbelievably clean. If we can learn to shave our faces, we can spend a few more seconds in the shower washing willie. I know which I would rather do!

Think about it, there is nothing wrong with a little open talk with your son. Teaching him the proper care for his penis is a great start, it will show him you there to help him with his personal questions. Mothers teach girls personal care and hygiene, boys get yelled at to wash behind their ears. Which is more likely to feel they can confide in their parents?

A boy's penis is his most prized possession, there is nothing else that will matter more to him. It is so personal, no one else should ever make such a personal decision for anybody. Bad results are actually very common, and almost impossible to remedy. YOU CANT UNDO IT!

Before you have this procedure done you should know that there is a very real risk of loss of sensitivity as this study shows.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16037710&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum
Exerpts from the report:
Masood S, Patel HR, Himpson RC, Palmer JH, Mufti GR, Sheriff MK.
OBJECTIVES: Currently no consensus exists about the role of the foreskin or the effect circumcision has on penile sensitivity and overall sexual satisfaction. Our study assesses the effect of circumcision on sexually active men and the relative impact this may have on informed consent prior to surgery.
Penile sensation improved after circumcision in 38% (p = 0.01) but got worse in 18%, with the remainder having no change. Overall satisfaction was 61%.
CONCLUSIONS: Penile sensitivity had variable outcomes after circumcision. The poor outcome of circumcision considered by overall satisfaction rates suggests that when we circumcise men, these outcome data should be discussed during the informed consent process. 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

One out of five men circumcised suffers loss of sensitivity and one out of three is not satisfied with the results, these are not very good odds.

I would point out that while this study shows that adult men should be warned of the possibility of sensitivity loss before they can give "informed consent" to circumcision, there is no way that a newborn boy can give his informed consent to an elective procedure that has a 1 in 3 chance of leaving him with an impaired sex-life.

Baby boys suffer the same damage that these men in the study did, in many cases it just won't show up for many years.

His body. His choice.

sara r: you have been researching in old references put out by doctors trying to sell the public on circumcision.

Many European nations do not circumcise their baby boys and their rate of cancer of the penis is no worse than it is here. The rate of cancer of the penis is at most 1 out of 100,000. One hundred thousand boys would have to be circumcised to prevent one case of cancer. Cancer of the female labia is twice as common, are you going to go in for that surgery? Actually smoking is a greater risk factor for cancer of the penis. If you smoke, wash your hands with soap and water before going to the bathroom.

Cancer of the cervix is caused by the human papilloma virus, it is transmited to females in the semen from infected males regardless of their circumcision. Always use a condom!

Your brother needed a better doctor not a circumcision.

The men that you say like being circumcised simply love their penises, however they are, cut or not. They also love their football team even if they are loosing. The one that seemed to be embarassed was due to your reaction. He was amazed that in this day and age anyone would think that he would have to have his genitals mutilated to be accepted. That is such a primitive desert tribe idea. Boys do not need to be cut on to please girls any more than girls need to be cut on to please boys.

Answer 2

How would you feel if a female circumcision had been forced on you as a child? Do you think that you would like it if your own genitals had been permanently mutilated and scarred? Circumcision is genital mutilation, whether male or female. It is normal for a male to have a foreskin; normal people don't mutilate the genitals of children. There are no advantages to circumcision, it doesn't prevent any diseases or infections, the only things that circumcision prevents are complete, natural and normal sexual sensitivity, function and ability----the same is true for males and females. Most of the males in the world are not circumcised---about 80%. Even in the USA the rate of male genital mutilation, called circumcision, has fallen to about 32.5%, according to a recent article in the New York Times, published August 16, 2010. And it's far easier to take care of a non-circumcised infant; the foreskin should never be retracted until about the age of 10. It's fused to the glans, and is neither supposed to be retractable, nor retracted. It doesn't need to be cleaned under, any more than you would need to douche a female of the same age. Premature, forcible retraction of the foreskin causes infections and damage to the foreskin. Hundreds of thousands of males, if not millions, hate and resent the mutilation forced on them by infant circumcision; I know, I'm one of them. Circumcision caused complications for me which have lasted for years. Circumcision is a fraud and a hoax. A foreskin is not a birth defect; it is a birthright., ERIC

Answer 3

My son was circumcized for a number of reasons. I wouldn't try to convince you one way or another, since I don't feel "educated" enough about it to give good advice. But we chose circumcision and are happy with it.

However, I wanted to give you a heads-up that I wish someone else had given me. If you do choose circumcision, your son will sleep most of the day on the day he is circumcized. This is okay, and it's normal, but if your wife is breastfeeding, you might want to have the lactation consultants ready... my milk came in on the day my son was circumcized and all of a sudden my son was sleeping all day and wasn't interested in eating. I needed help with the engorgement from a lactation consultant. After that, he healed quickly and nursed like a pro. We are still happily breastfeeding at 13 months, so this need not be a problem. I just wanted to warn you like I wish someone had warned me so I could have been a little more ready and aware!

Good luck!

Answer 4

Most boys in the United States today are circumcised, however, it is far less common worldwide.

Many parents choose to have their sons circumcised because "all the other men in the family were circumcised" or because they don’t want their sons to feel "different." If you choose not to have your son circumcised, you may notice as he gets older that his penis looks different than some of the other boys. If your son seems concerned about this, you may need to talk to him about why he is not circumcised.

Reasons Many Parents Choose Circumcision

Research studies suggest that there are some good medical why your son should be circumcised. These include:

Circumcision lowers your son’s chances of getting a urinary tract infection (UTI) in the first year of life.
Although a rare condition, cancer of the penis is essentially eliminated in circumcised males.
Research shows that males who are circumcised have a slightly lower risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Circumcision eliminates foreskin infection that occur at the peak ages of 3 to 5 years.
Circumcision prevents phimosis, a narrow opening that makes it impossible to retract the foreskin at a later age.
Genital hygiene, which is particularly important in unsanitary conditions, may be easier after circumcision.
Reasons Many Parents Choose Not To Circumcise

There are also good reasons why parents choose NOT to have their son circumcised. Circumcision may be more risky if done later in life. Parents should try to make a decision about circumcision before or soon after their son is born and not wait until later.

As with all kinds of surgery, circumcision has some risks. Although uncommon, complication such as local infection and bleeding can occur as a result of the circumcision. On rare occasions, the foreskin may be cut too short or too long, or circumcision may heal improperly. Since many parents see circumcision as a cosmetic procedure, they choose not to have their son exposed to these risks.

Many view the foreskin as an important part of the human body that is necessary for the protection of the penis. If the foreskin is removed, the exposed end of the penis may become irritated and cause the opening of the penis to become too small. This may cause difficulty in urination and may need to be surgically corrected.

Many also believe that the removal of the foreskin can desensitize the tip of the penis, causing a decrease in sexual pleasure later in life.

Almost all uncircumcised Boys can be taught proper hygiene that can lower their chances of getting infections, cancer of the penis, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Answer 5

I hope I can help. I have been researching circumcision for a friend of mine...it seems like the are more reasons to do it than ever before. Not only does it preven penis cancer, it even helps prevent cervical cancer:

A good listen on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1141513

Circumcision is hard when left to be done when he is older. My younger brother needed a circumcision later in life and that wasn't fun for him and took almost a month to heal....compared to my boys they healed up in a week. I should add that modern circumcision is not painful for boys; here is a good link that shows an actual circumcision:

www.circumcisionvancouver.com


Men seem to like being circumcised. And, talking to my girlfriends I know women expect them to be circumcised. I've only had one uncircumcised boyfriend and he was pretty embarrased about it, not to mention it was the only time I ever got yeast infections. Its too bad there is so much fear mongering out there...its a pretty simple procedure and well worth it. Some other interesting health benefits :
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15593753/
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/fishman/2006/circumcision.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/12/13/hiv.circumcision.ap/index.html
There is actually evidence of more sexual dysfunction in uncircumcised men:
http://loveandhealth.worldgroups.com/Article.cfm?Topic=2&SubTopic=30&Article=171

Talk to your doctor, read the links, and hopefully that will help...it is one of the harder decisions a parent has to make.

Lots of love,
Sara
[e-mail]

Answer 6

My husband had a lot of foreskin and was not circumcised as a baby. He would continually get infections underneath the skin even with cleansing. They were painful. He was circumcised when he was 40. The doctor felt that would be better, because of repeat infections could lead to cancer. My boys were both circumcised when they were born because of this.

Answer 7

Wow, that IS a hard one.

Pro:
>No memory of the pain.
>Is cleaner (no matter what the otherside says, I personally know 3 adult males who were forced to get circumcisions in adulthood. They were not caused by uncleanliness but due to another medical problems (diabetic who kept getting yeast infections), the 3rd was an older male who yes, maybe non-cleanliness, but he was slightly disabled, so that played into it.
>For men, they may have more "Staying power" in bed

Con
>baby screams, must keep it clean until heals
>other otherside of "Staying power" is a reduced sensitivity.- that is why they can stay longer (due to lack of foreskin there to help things along)
> Can't be undone.

the argument that the children want to look the same in the locker-room in school is not as founded as it was 10 years ago. Less and less are getting circumcised, so I would not use that as an argument one way or another.


____________

in addition: the poster below mentions this:

"Circumcision prevents phimosis, a narrow opening that makes it impossible to retract the foreskin at a later age"

That is exactly what happened to the 3rd person- my husbands grandfather. He was in the hospital and they could not get the catheter in. The man had to have a circumcision at age 89!

Answer 8

In the past males were circumcised because it was believed to be cleaner and that it would prevent penile cancer. Now, according to research by the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is no medical reason to circumcise a male. So, unless it's for religious or asthetic reasons, he won't need it. As a NICU nurse, I'm noticing fewer and fewer babies getting circumcised so if you're worried that he'll be "weird" when he is older, don't; lots of other boys will be uncircumcised as well.

Answer 9

Other than the fact that most women I know prefer a circumcised man, if you do it at the hospital right after he is born, he won't have to go through the pain later in life if he decides to. It's much easier to have it done while they are little and it heals in a few days. It's not as bad as it seems.

Answer 10

I know adult men who have had to have it done because if infection. The little boy across the street had to have it done at 2 years old due to infection. I didn't want to have my son circumcised either, but I knew that it would be better in the long run. Yes, some men go through life with no problems at all. I didn't want to take the chance of not doing it then having my son go through it when he was older. It is better to do it when they are newborns.If you chose to not have it done, just make sure it is kept very clean. I am so glad that I chose to do it for my son.

Answer 11

Pros-
It is done with. Could you imagine being 10 and having to go in and get that done?

It is cleaner. No matter what other people say. I had a friend that had to get it done when he was 10 because of constant infections. The other guys made his life Hell too.

Cons-
It is so hard to see it. When I saw our sons after it was done in the hospital I wanted to cry. It looks so painful and I am sure that is. I just kept vaseline on it at all times.