Circumcision is a huge decision. It’s right up there with the vaccination debate, but the facts are much more clear cut with circumcision (no pun intended). At any rate, my husband and I spent weeks reading and praying about whether or not to circumcise our newborn, should it be a boy. In the end, we both felt strongly about leaving our son intact.
Through this experience we have had many interesting conversations with our family and friends. Many people believe that circumcision is necessary for health and cleanliness reasons. It is not. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) revised their circumcision policy in 1999 stating that “the benefits are not significant enough for the AAP to recommend circumcision as a routine procedure.” In addition, I appreciated my father’s concern about our son having to have a circumcision later in life should it be medically necessary, as was the case with his brother-in-law. The likelihood of that happening is 1 in 100,000 (see Circumcision Information Resource Center) — statistics that put my father at ease. All in all, circumcision is not suggested by the medical community, nor is it beneficial.
The other comment that we’ve heard is that parents circumcise their boys so that he will look like his father, older brother, or friends. Circumcising a boy merely for the way he looks in comparison to others is presumptuous. Circumcision does not provide any health benefits, but doctors are still performing them because of these weak, cosmetic concerns. The circumcision rate in the U.S. is now around 60%.
All in all, if you are leaning towards circumcision, you ought to at least be aware of the different methods used and the pain that is experienced by the newborn. Three different kinds of anesthesia can be used, but none of them completely numb the area. Research regarding infant response to circumcision is dreadful, including problems nursing and much worse.
There is a great deal of information out there on this issue from doctors and experts who are much more learned than I am. Please review the following sites, pdfs, and articles. It will be well worth your time.
Top 3 Sites (in my opinion):
- Circumcision Information Resource Center — amazing site with lots of medical and practical information; before viewing graphic photos, a warning comes onto the screen; great site
- Not Just Skin — site with info on lots of baby topics; circumcision FAQ sheet written by a dr
- National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers — great site dedicated solely to circumcision info; has circ video
Vivian said
Thank you for this article! I was a little less aware when we decided to have our son circumcised two & 1/2 years ago at his birth. We were concerned most for his own feelings in the locker room, so to speak. My husband is one of the one in 100,000 you spoke of, whose embarrassment lead him to request a circumcision while in middle school. However, when our poor baby’s healed wrong and cost us $9,000 when he was just 9 months old to correct the procedure for medical reasons instead of cosmetic, boy, did I wish we had given some more thought and prayer to that decision in the first place!
Again, thanks for all the information and resources!
Vivian said
Okay! At Lisa’s request, I would be happy to share a few more details regarding what went wrong with my son.
As you noted, there are different methods to circumcising. One is to somewhat draw the foreskin into a pinch and clip it off. This leaves a lot of excess skin that you have to remember to push back constantly in the first month or so and apply salve at every diaper change (as if new mom’s don’t have enough to think about!). When I first had my son, I was unsure as to just how hard and thorough I had to be about pulling back this tiny foreskin that was bloody and full of antibiotic ointment anyway. At our monthly doctor’s appointment’s, I asked several times for our pediatrician to check if everything is healing right, because I’d noticed the skin was starting to adhere to the head of the penis a little. I was always reassured that it was normal and to just keep pulling it back. This went on until he was about 8 months old. Finally I took a more insisting stance because while bathing him and always pulling it back I could no longer make out the ridge of the “cap” and was seeing what looked like build up under where the skin appeared to be attaching. On top of that, his little urethra opening looked as if, as he continued to grow, the tightening would get worse as the attached foreskin was pulling open the hole.
At last my pediatrician gave a really proper look and appointed us to see a urologist.
Sure enough, everything I had suspected had been the case, and the urologist feared that as my son got bigger he would get a condition I can’t even remember the name of, which is essentially that the urethra is being pulled from the inside out.
Luckily, because this was a medical need and not cosmetic, our insurance covered the 80%. However, it meant putting our 9 month old baby under complete anesthesia, (Tylenol up his rectum, just horrible things you don’t want to see your precious ever go through!). It cost us about 1,500 dollars out of pocket and took about 3 weeks post surgery to believe he would ever look normal down there (as they had to literally scrap off the attached foreskin and for a while he looked all cut up.)
Suffice to say, it was JUST AWFUL. If I were an outside observer, I’d speculate that mommy should have tried harder to make sure that skin was pulled back. But let me tell you, that kids body was GOLD to me and I was following the doctor’s orders to the tee, as far as I knew.
He is now 2.5 and luckily has healed remarkably and looks like none of this ever happened. But it sure was NOT WORTH it to go through all that.
Hope that helps some of you make your decision! I’m sure things going wrong aren’t extremely common, but trust me, if it could happen to me, it can happen to you.
For the record, the reason we wanted that “type” of circumcision in the first place is because of some one we knew who’s son had the other kind, where they go in really close with a razor, and he bled and bled for a long time and had to have stitches!
Again, does not seem worth it!
Lisa said
Thank you so much, Vivian, for your story! I am so sorry for what you went through with your son. I’m pleased to hear that he is doing well now. Best wishes to you and your family!
peacecrusader said
The command to have all male children circumcised came from the true God—and it must be good. Why did He not have female children circumcised?