I need medical proof that circumcision is beneficial.?

Question

This is worth the 5 points. So My wife and myself sit on the two opposite ends of the "debate". I am for having our baby circumcised. She on the other hand is in with these anti-circumcision groups. So we are at a full stand-off. Their are websites, the pro ones give "supposed" medical information, but the anti sites find ways to discredit it. Some of these tactics look like they were done with PETA.

So, I say yes to it, since I am, and I don't know anything about it or how to clean it, I want to avoid teasing, and I don't want to risk the increase of urinary infections s he is young and other complications as he gets older.

She believes it is a procedure done just to make money and that not having it done prevents the urinary infections and so forth, also believe that it causes permanent psychological problems, and that she will regret it her whole life.

Thanks for the fast answers. I do want to say that I feel just as passionately about having it done as she does about not having it done. And definitely a big babycenter person. This isn't our only debate. We have the "vaccine" debate, the "cloth diapers vs. regular diapers" debate. We can't agree on one thing, haha. I think the hardest part is that this is our first child, so really, neither of us knows what we are doing exactly, but this is starting to get a bit crazy.

@Siera - Not born yet, he is due right around christmas.

@Blair - She WANTS cloth diapers... supposedly they have some new ones that have an absorbent liner? Yet, I really don't think it will be easier.

Amazing, you would think just having a baby would be stressful enough, I never knew their were such heated debates over things that most of us consider just standard. Can someone find me Dr. Brown, I want to go back in time just before the Internet was easy to use.

An Amazing Flip on "general" views of circumcision, went from pure pro answers to pure anti. Based on the times of the answers, looks like certain geographical areas have stronger thoughts. East coast and such being more pro, then the more you move west, the more it changes. This is really a topic on which their is such a strong debate, that no one will win (in general). I was originally looking for solid medical evidence, which I think I got, since she brought home a anti-circ DVD, which was crazy. At one point they say that removing he prepuse was done because we thought it wasn't useful, just like the appendix, now we know that both are very useful. Not true, they just found the actual purpose of the appendix, and it was no where near what the DVD claimed. Also had a lot of noticeable "staged" interviews. I have to question something that has to take "PETA-Like" tactics. So, the Answers are amazing so far, and showing a lot more than I had expected.

Also, I see a lot of when "we" pull the foreskin back to early.. what about him? They tend to yank and play with it.

Answer 1

Oh no, your wife is one of those! Does she spend a lot of time on babycenter.com? There's a lot of those, "anti-circumcision" and "Im going to breastfeed until my kid is 18" types over there.

I had my son circumcised and Im so glad I did. No permanent psychological problems here. Tell your wife to back away from the anti-cric. groups for a minute so she can come up with her own opinion on the issue.

Answer 2

Absolutely, but unfortunately our society believes that baby boys have no rights, while baby girls deserve to be protected 100 percent. It's illegal to ***** the clitoral hood of a female child, but you can hack off the prepuce in a male child without anyone blinking an eye. Medical "benefits" are tepid at best. People would like you to believe that if you don't get circumcised, you'll suffer from life-threatening painful infections. It's overblown. I come from a long line of uncut men and at least as far back as my grandfather, none of us have suffered from any infections. Besides, last time I checked, the men in Latin America, Europe, Asia, Canada and Austrailia were all still healthy and hearty. For some sick, strange reason people feverishly believe that the foreskin is "dirty" and come up with all sorts of foolish reasons why it MUST be removed that they would never come up with for any other body part. Cultural brain washing is a very sick and powerful tool.

Answer 3

How about let your son decide? It's his penis. He could easily get it done as a teen or even a child if he wants. He will have the benefit of making a decision and also will get anaesthetic which a baby won't. Plus there are risks, with any surgery, but say the possible complications of the operation are far worse than the possible complications of having a foreskin. The main reason I'm against it though is that it doesn't leave the child a choice. In the incredibly unlikely case of terrible infections, unbearable teasing etc. he can always get cut later down the road. There is no point in doing something like this just because he "might" wish he were circumcised. You can't reverse it! What if he wishes he weren't? Many men regret it.

So far I haven't seen medical proof it's beneficial. I'm against it being done on newborns, but I didn't always feel that way, it was actually when I started researching it in depth and found a complete lack of real evidence in favour of it. Sure, it's needed medically in some very rare cases, but that's no reason to do it pre-emptively or as a first resort. Neither is the supposed HIV protection - I thought the studies were a bit dodge but even if what they say is true, nothing beats condoms and being careful with your partners, because unsafe sex will lead to STDs, circumcised or not. And besides your kid won't be having sex for a while, who knows what progress about treating/curing/vaccinating STDs they may make in the next 15-20 years? The HPV (cervical cancer) vaccination just recently came out.

Intact penis care is very easy. The foreskin doesn't retract for the first few years of life, sometimes until puberty, so you don't need to clean under it or anything. Just wash the outside. Easier than looking after a girl, or a circumcision wound.

About teasing it depends where you live but I agree with the answer given above ^ if somebody laughs there's a pretty good response "why are you checking me out down there?" also rates in the US have dropped to about 56% circed, so intact is no longer a rare minority. Most girls have no issue with guys being intact (many prefer it) and this will become even more normal in the future with the rates dropping so fast. Stuff like it being gross is ridiculous. Most girls who say that are relying on urban myths and never actually have experience with a clean intact guy. (Their loss) Anyway a shallow woman repellant could be a good thing.

About making money I suspect that is a huge part of the reasons why it's still done. The doctors get a lot for a simple procedure and they also use the foreskins to make face cream. I thought it was a joke...but it's true. Go figure.

I think you should go with your wife on this one. Congrats and good luck.

OK to your update. I can see how something drastically anti would scare you - it would me too. But as would anything drastically pro (there are a lot of gay men, paedophiles and others out there who are very much into circs, tight circs, they do have some fetish sites). Just ignore the drastic people on both sides. About him pulling it own foreskin back - that's okay when kids do that. In fact natural touching of it helps the separation process. An infact is unlikely to force it back or push it too far so that it gets damaged (like an adult could do to their penis), because they probaly don't have the strength to force it and would definitely stop when it became painful.

Answer 4

Since you and your wife disagree, let's look at the consequences of your son's future views on the matter. If you leave him intact and he doesn't agree with your decision, he can get cut when he is an adult. If you cut him and he disagrees, there's not a whole lot he can do about it -- foreskin restoration is long and uncomfortable, and the results are not always all that good. He may bitterly resent having the choice taken away from him. Why not let him decide -- it's HIS penis.

He's not going to look like you down there anyway. There are lots of differences besides foreskin between an adult's organ and a child's. In all probability most of his peers will be uncut -- the procedure has fallen out of fashion since you were born.

So don't take this choice away from him. YOU may be fine with being cut, but there are a lot of men out there who are not, and many are quite bitter and angry about it. Let your son choose for himself.

Answer 5

I'd be fighting a losing battle against all the previous answerers who insist it is more hygienic, cleaner and looks better, etc.
So I'm just going to say that if your son is born without any medical defect with his foreskin then there's no need to cut it off. Washing under my foreskin takes a few odd seconds each day in the shower and I've never had yeast or infections. Anyone who says they have or knows someone who has had foreskin problems, just had terrible personal hygiene!
If your son gets to the age of 18 for example and hates having his foreskin intact, he can make the decision as an adult to have it chopped off. For now, its not your penis and there's no need to remove part of it.

Answer 6

I disagree with newborn circumcision for the following reason:

The medical benefits are few and far between, making it effectivly cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery decisions should be decided by the owner of the equipment in question. Yes there are some minor medical benefits, however I believe that ethically the choice belongs to the child.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

as an uncut guy i can say that I never got teased about my penis, never worried that mine looked different as my mother told me the truth that mine was natural, I have never had a problem with it, never had a girl say she will not have sex with me because of it and wash it every day so it doesn't smell.
My son has known how to clean his since he was about 4. Only takes pulling the skin back, wash, rinse all done.
You need to ask yoursefl "why get it done'?.

Answer 9

Well, for just about any pro proof that you find, there's data on the against side that will invalidate it. Perhaps you should research the against side so you know how she'll hit you back.

By leaving your son uncircumcised, if he's not satisfied with it he can always get cut and end up satisfied in the end. One survey found that about half of circumcised guys would have preferred to had made the decision themselves:
http://www.jackinworld.com/qow/q15.html

That may play a part into why circumcision rates have fallen so much. For example, circumcision rates were as high as 90% back in the 1960s and 1970s (that's partly why today's adults are so... for it at first, I supposed you could say, about thinking that circumcision is better) but they have fallen to as low as 14% in some states. Here are the statistics:
http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/staterates2004/

So now there are many more uncircumcised boys. They don't get made fun of anymore due to that (I know, I'm one and I'm 18, a pre-med student). It's no longer the fact that there's only 5% uncut guys in the school... that, and nowadays showers at school aren't done as much.

In addition, there are medical reasons that I'm against it, too. For example, medical studies have found that it reduces sensitivity:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,285532,00.html

Makes masturbation more difficult:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2006.06646.x

Which makes sense, that's how it was made popular in the USA:
http://english.pravda.ru/science/health/27-03-2006/77873-circumcision-0

Increases erectile dysfunction rates:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14979200&dopt=Abstract%7C

There's pain involved, often why doctors don't want you in the room when it's done:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9712/23/circumcision.anesthetic/
http://www.cirp.org/library/procedure/plastibell/

Of course, there are other risks associated, but those are typically the ones due to surgery. You can research it more here:
http://circresearch.googlepages.com/ (here you can find all the risks and claims that invalidate most pro claims... you'll know how she'll fight your claims)
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/against-circumcision.html

Best of luck.

As far as cleaning it goes, it's quite simple. At a young age (typically up to around age 4 or 5, but it can be up to puberty or age 10 or so), the foreskin is attached to the head to prevent stuff like feces from getting in. The foreskin should not be pulled/forced back, simply because it won't. And as you said, he'll pull it back eventually. He wouldn't pull it back if it hurts him, but he'll eventually discover that pulling it back feels good because it's like your eyelids, that is, moist inside, so it gives a good feeling to rub it against the head. Once he slides it back, all it takes is 5 to 10 seconds to pull it back and rub the head when he showers; it even feels good. And you have to admit, if he's not circumcised, your wife will be mostly in charge of this; she sounds like she's really done her research.
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/against-circumcision.html

Answer 10

Don't do it, it's not your body so that you can permanently change it, it should be your son's choice, i know that this is a complicated issue in America becuase most of men are circumcised, but that doesn't make it right
here is a clip of circumcision, why would you put your son thru that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fa_qn6i1Y0

Answer 11

Circumcision is only beneficial in one respect, it decreases the likely hood of contracting an std. Now keep in mind just because you have straight sex with someone with HIV, does not mean you will become infected, you could but its not 100 percent or even 70. However the likelyhood does increase if you were not circumsized. However if you use a condom or are more selective or your partners their is little difference