Circumcision - Not Enough Cut?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
To the OP -- is your biggest concern the cosmetic affect, or are you concerned about health issues? If you are mostly worried about cosmetic issues, you really don't need to stress! Approximately 40% of the boys born in DC Metro this year will not be circumcised at all, and of those who are, many doctors are leaving circumcised boys with more foreskin then they did when we were young, so it is fairly safe to say that you don't have to worry that he will be weird at all. He is essentially "the new normal."

Also, if you get it redone, than you risk the chance that the doctor winds up removing too much skin, which can lead to painfully tight erections once your son is older -- this actually happened a lot in our generation, thus the trend toward leaving more skin on the penis. So in this case, too much foreskin is definitely preferable to too little skin.

If there are adhesions, you need to pull back to foreskin and apply vaseline exactly like PP said. Otherwise the skin will adhere and get infected. Believe me, we've been there and have talked to nearly a dozen doctors. ALL said the skin must be pulled back nightly. You can also google the topic and get the same reply. Not sure why this poster is writing incorrect information. I think there's a bit of a political motive here. Anyhow, my son is three now and it's a lot better. Thank GOD no more painful adhesions.




I second your opinion. You have to pull back the skin to clean it, otherwise it becomes unhygenic. Isn't that one of the main reason for circumcisions?
IMHO, the best time to clean is when the child is taking a bath. The kid is very relaxed and in the water. You gently pull back the skin and pour water
over it and it becomes clean. I would think wiping with a tissue paper would be painful and not the most effective way to clean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I too am in OP's boat and am frustrated with the "lots of boys aren't circumcised today" response. I understand that there are lots of uncircumcised males and don't think that being uncircumcised would warrant any teasing. The problem is that a lot of our sons are half circumcised, and I think they will stand out as being somewhat unusual if their circumcisions are not corrected.

But if a lot of your sons are "half circumcised" then wouldn't that mean that they won't stand out? Penises vary not only according to circumcision status (or lack thereof) but also according to temperature (see Seinfeld "the water was cold")- and activity, heh- so really, I think the whole issue is overblown as all our insecurities tend to be when looked through the filter of how our children will be affected. I empathize with your concern and I hope everything goes well for every DS out there, but the whole different looking penis issue is just not a big deal in the long run. If boys will tease, they'll tease for any reason. We have to raise our DS's to overcome any teasing no matter the target of said teasing.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if anyone is watching this anymore, but my DS is 2.5 and has had this same problem since birth. We were told to roll it back and apply vasilene as well. Well, just last night it seamed to rip further back from the head and caused DS much pain. It is now very swollen and still painful. He is seeing his Dr today for it, but I'm wondering has anyone else had the foreskin rip back from the head? Ouch!

[Anonymous]

So funny you should resurrect this post. I was going to after searching for this myself last week. DS (also 2.5) has the pig in a blanket described here, and has had adhesions that we've had to have fixed by the urologists at Childrens. DH wants is worried that he's going to be disfigured (circumcision was his idea, not mine) and thinks that it needs to be redone. I'm not sure what to do, but think that maybe we should just leave it alone.

[Anonymous]

Just got back from the Dr. It's infected, she gave a prescription for ointment and antibotics and said if the swelling doesn't go down, to see a Urologist on Monday. I'm hoping he gets a little better this weekend...

[Anonymous]

he will get better - it sounds like he had adhesions, and you loosened them - if you went to the urologist, they would have done what you did with some local anesthetic.

[Anonymous]

The latest train of thought seems to be that the adhesions will resolve themselves with time. Repeatedly breaking the adhesions can cause infection and scarring, sometimes the body is very eager to try to re-adhere. Provided they're not on the circumcision scar I would allow them to be and they will resolve with time as an uncircumcised boy's would. I would not allow them to be broken on my own son.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10893633

[Anonymous]

Also, the reason they're leaving more skin these days is that many men of older generations didn't have enough foreskin left to "grow into" -- your sons will use that tissue as they age. Don't worry about what you're seeing as growth from 0-2, they have all of adolescence to grow into it, if that makes sense. More skin is definitely better than not enough. Even if there were "extra" left over, it retracts while erect so it would look the same anyway.

[Anonymous]

My son is 8 months and at his 2 month check up the ped looked at his penis and said, "is he circumcised?" We said that we did get him circ'd but that it looked like it wasnt to us. She then informed us we should be pulling the skin back at diaper changes and in the bath to clean. there was some dead skin (white) and we are still now at 8 months pulling the foreskin back at every diaper change. Seriously, I have read this entire thread and am very confused about what exactly adhesions are. I will def. be asking about this at our next doctor visit.

[Anonymous]

Adhesions are what can regrow attaching the foreskin to the glans again, rendering a circed boy non-retractile.

As a side note, the "dead skin" you mention sounds like smegma, which is totally normal and not harmful -- we all have it.

[Anonymous]

Doctor recommendations for a re-circumcision, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13:33, thank you.

Does insurance usually cover this?

Did your pediatrician think you were nuts?

Was your DS, as the OP referred to it, barely a "pig in the blanket" (i.e., how much skin was at or over the penis head)?

How old was DS when you "revised"?

Is it a full surgical procedure (i.e., anesthesia)?

How long for recovery?

Thank you very much.

We just had a revision done on 9mo ds. There was no head showing at all. One doc told us he would never looked circ'd but it wasn't medically necessary - ie insurance wouldn't cover. However, another doc told us it was medically necessary and it will therefore be covered. Yes, I feel slightly guilty about the manipulation, but not that much. Mostly I'm pissed that our baby had to go under anesthesia for somethat that should have been done right the first time. Recovery time was minimal, although I'm sure it gets longer with age. It is possible, op, that it will look normal once your ds hits puberty. I would have your pediatrician refer you to a pediatric surgeon or urologist and get at leats two opinions on how they think it will grow out. It does require full anesthesia at almost any age beyond a still-in-the-hospital newborn.

Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:13:33, thank you.

Does insurance usually cover this?

Did your pediatrician think you were nuts?

Was your DS, as the OP referred to it, barely a "pig in the blanket" (i.e., how much skin was at or over the penis head)?

How old was DS when you "revised"?

Is it a full surgical procedure (i.e., anesthesia)?

How long for recovery?

Thank you very much.

We just had a revision done on 9mo ds. There was no head showing at all. One doc told us he would never looked circ'd but it wasn't medically necessary - ie insurance wouldn't cover. However, another doc told us it was medically necessary and it will therefore be covered. Yes, I feel slightly guilty about the manipulation, but not that much. Mostly I'm pissed that our baby had to go under anesthesia for somethat that should have been done right the first time. Recovery time was minimal, although I'm sure it gets longer with age. It is possible, op, that it will look normal once your ds hits puberty. I would have your pediatrician refer you to a pediatric surgeon or urologist and get at leats two opinions on how they think it will grow out. It does require full anesthesia at almost any age beyond a still-in-the-hospital newborn.

Good luck, OP.

You should feel guilty. Sorry, but it wasn't necessary and you risked general anethesia for your benefit, not your child's. I am not anti-circ but you are the poster child for those who are.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hijack...but how long to keep pushing back and putting on vaseline? Until what age? I have stopped doing this b/c it feels weird now that DS is 22 months but if I need to I will...

[Anonymous]

The risk of anesthesia is lower than the risk of driving to the grocery store, so please get off your high horse.