Circumcision issue

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to give parents who are planning to circumcise their sons (as we did with ours) something to think about. We chose to have our son circumcised in the hospital by my OB. Apparently, he left too much skin on when he did the procedure. We will have to revise because it does not look normal and I don't want my son to have a moment of self-consciousness about something that we did to him. This means general anesthesia for a six month old, which I am dreading.

My pediatrician told me that between 10 and 25 percent (!) of her male patients would be candidates for such revisions. Obviously, it doesn't have to be done, and I imagine there's a range of "too much skin." Some boys probably look more or less normal. Still, given those percentages, I would never allow an OB to circumcise my child (I might if he were also a mohel and had some extra level of expertise).

If I have another son he will be circumcised by a pediatric surgeon and not by a doctor who may have been up all night doing deliveries. I don't mean to scare parents with this information. But I am frustrated to learn that what I thought was a very straightforward procedure actually has a lot of room for error.

[Anonymous]

There are many things that can and do go wrong with circumcisions. PLEASE reconsider your decision to redo your son's circumcision. The amount of skin left on has changed from when we were born. The reason that more skin is left on is because the old style of circumcision took off too much skin. Many men were left with problems when they get erections such as "bent" penises and skin splitting b/c not enough skin was left to accommodate adult erections. MANY circs. nowdays are "loose" for this reason. Another reason is that the skin you are removing contains many nerve endings. You will be removing skin that will give greater sexual pleasure as an adult. Is that a decision you feel you can make for your son's entire adult life? Regarding looks, only about 60% of boys are circ'd in this country (less than 10% world-wide are circ'd,) and of those who are, most now have much more skin left than we are used to seeing - and it's left for sound medical and ethical reasons. Please look into the matter a little further!

[Anonymous]

We will have to revise because it does not look normal

How are you determining what "normal" is? This is a very interesting question to me. Are you basing it on how your DH looks? If your DH is circumcised, we could make a case that DH is the one who is not normal. Normal would technically be any penis that has all the skin it was born with.

Obviously, it doesn't have to be done, and I imagine there's a range of "too much skin." Some boys probably look more or less normal.

No, it doesn't have to be done. Circumcision is completely subjective. There is no "right" way to do it. It's not like if you take a little off there would be a problem that would be solved by taking off more skin. The reality is that circumcision is a cosmetic surgery, and the vast majority of people worldwide would think there is something wrong with your son already, because part of the skin on his penis is now missing. So you are planning on altering your son's penis - even more - for your own aesthetic preferences. Why not allow your child to choose how he wants his penis to look? If he is not happy with it when he turns 18, then let him know you will pay for any further surgery for him.

There's abosolutely no reason at all to subject your 6 month old child to surgery and general anesthetic just so you will like his penis better. And the PP is correct, there are all sorts of problems that can occur with a tight circumcision. Smaller, painful, or bent erections, scar tissue, thin penile skin which bleeds easily, etc.

I do agree with your message though -- parents should really rethink circumcision, and find out all the details about it before doing it to their sons.

[Anonymous]

OP. Thank you for your post. My son didn't have enough taken off either. In fact, afterwards, one of the nurses came in and asked me the name of the doctor who did the procedure. From the strange way she asked, I just KNEW something was wrong.

Anyhow, we had a difficult year of adhesions - which were very painful for my baby. He's three now and the skin looks much better, but not completely normal. I don't think his situation was enough to get surgery done again though. And yes, many pediatricians have told me that this is more and more normal - if doctor's remove too much skin these days, they are leaving themselves open to lawsuits. So they go to the other extreme.

I think it was shoddy work, and it makes me sad. But I'm thrilled when I read other posts saying that there is no real "normal" penis these days. Hopefully my child will not be ridiculed in the locker room.

[Anonymous]

PP here. Sorry for all the terrible typos. Embarrassing! I was typing too fast.