A good reason to circ?

[Bethan_77]

The nocirc website has good info.

[purpledayz]

Originally Posted by iris0110 There is a medical condition called Hypospadias where the opening to the urethra is not where it should be. It doesn't specifically necessitate circumcision however the foreskin is frequently used for the reconstructive surgery. It is a somewhat common congenital condition though I think severity effects whether surgery is needed or not. Intact or circumcised status really has nothing to do with it, but if a boy is intact then there is the benefit of having the tissue of the foreskin available for use in reconstruction. In extreme cases chordee may be involved as well. But this wouldn't be something that would need done urgently at birth. In fact it is recommended that boys born with hypospadias not be circumcised until the time when the surgical repair of the urethra is performed.

Ah, ok that's probably what it was. Thanks.

[Rodeo Mama]

Originally Posted by vittoriosmom Yes they did. Obviously I did not feel too strongly about the whole thing. Maybe I was manipulated into this. I admit, it is easy to get me to believe something. Maybe I would have done it differently now, maybe I wouldn't. I probably did not do enough research to be strongly against it... I would love to read an article that talks about why not to circ. So please spam me!Link me! I am open to learning about this. There is just too much on the internet about this and I don't know where to start reading and which article to believe. Hey, teach me something :-)

Great article on the purposes of the foreskin:
http://www.drmomma.org/2009/09/funct...rposes-of.html
Caution: graphic images

[ExuberantDaffodil]

When I was pregnant (before we found out we were having a girl) I asked my husband WHY he would want to circ a boy, and his reasons were the following:

1. To look like him
2. It's "cleaner" right?
3. Doesn't it protect from STD's?
4. So he won't get made fun of in the locker room at school
5. Doesn't it protect from penile cancer or something?

So, I countered:

1. Can we pierce a baby girl's clit when she's born? I have a piercing and would like her to look like me. (The answer to that one is a big fat NO)
2. Research. A washed penis is a washed penis. An intact one is not "dirty" just because it is intact.
3. No, safer sex habits protect from STD's.
4. Cosmetic surgery on a non consenting newborn seems like more cruel and unusual punishment than locker room ribbing. Besides, circ is on the decline. Who's not to say the circ'd boys will be the minority and the ones picked on?
5. Do we perform routine mastectomies on newborn girls to protect them from breast cancer, which is much more common than penile cancer? No, we do not.

ETA: When my sister had her son, I tried to show her that circ is more harmful than helpful, but ultimately she and her husband decided to have it done anyway. The circ got botched and my nephew will have a deformed pen!s for the rest of his life.

[Zandersmommy09]

I know I chose to circ my boys but thought Id try to help out just tell him if you infact do decide to do it it may not work right my son had the plastibell thing done and I can take him to any Dr for a check up and they automatically think he is whats the word "intact"! so he went through the procedure to still have foreskin that looks as though he never was circd! just a thought I still chose to circ my 2nd boy but I think hes having the same issue wont know until he is older...

[Fairycat]

Originally Posted by Zandersmommy09 I know I chose to circ my boys but thought Id try to help out just tell him if you infact do decide to do it it may not work right my son had the plastibell thing done and I can take him to any Dr for a check up and they automatically think he is whats the word "intact"! so he went through the procedure to still have foreskin that looks as though he never was circd! just a thought I still chose to circ my 2nd boy but I think hes having the same issue wont know until he is older...

This is not a rudeness thing, but why circ your boys to have them left looking uncirced? It seems like you don't get any of the benefits doing it that way?


To Vittriosmom- I want to say, that most likely in the two cases you mentioned for the children being circed and having issue came from bad care. The issue in the past was too many Drs lost the skills in dealing with intact penises because such a huge percentage of what they saw was just circed. They used to think it was best to constantly retract the intact penis which left injuries to get infected. If they had left the penis alone the boys most likely would never have, had any issues at all.

I want to note that circ can help penile cancer, but the rate of that particular cancer is super ridiculously low. In fact the percentage of serious issues or death due to infants who are circed is actually higher then men who get this cancer. It would be far wiser to remove breast tissue from all women if this is the best arguement, since breast cancer is way more common, and we know that isn't a good idea.

[Zandersmommy09]

[QUOTE=Fairycat;10934710]This is not a rudeness thing, but why circ your boys to have them left looking uncirced? It seems like you don't get any of the benefits doing it that way?[QUOTE]


well I didnt really know it would look like that until after the fact and I circd my 2nd thinking it would work this time around so no I really didnt get the benefits from it with my first son and even asked the Dr about it but he said he would just have extra sensitivity when he is grown as opposed to most circd boys and we should leave it alone (just to add I would not have tried to have him circd again). with my 2nd son I wont know until he is older as my 1st looked circd until he was about a year old kinda like it grew back or something IDK but I do get what your saying

[Janine]

Originally Posted by vittoriosmom I agreed to do it because of a talk I had with a mom that did not have his son circed. He got many bad infections and the doctor recommended to circumcise him. Well she agreed and told me that when she saw his suffer through that as a 4 year old she regretted not doing it when he was an infant. That spoke to me more than any other pro-circumcision reason. Actually no other reason spoke to me. I was dead set on my point of view. Well hearing what the little guy went through as a 4 year old, and that he will always remember the pain- as oppose to an infant-that was enough.

I just have to say that the incidence of infection of the penis is rare and easily avoided given proper care. If possible infection was a good reason to remove something at birth, then I would surely think the appendix and tonsils would be more important things to remove than a foreskin. I also want to say that just because a newborn goes through circumcision does not guarantee that they will never have to endure the pain of circumcision later in life. My boyfriend and high school sweetheart had to go through surgery on his penis at the age of 14 to fix his botched circumcision that he received at birth. Trust me, he definitely remembers the pain of both dealing with a botched circumcision for 14 years as well as the pain of the surgery to correct it.

[Dmpmercury]

Here are some links. I definately reccomend looking into the research papers on the anatomy and phsiology. It is a lot to read but worth it.

http://www.gr8birth.com/circumcision.html

http://www.intactamerica.org/sites/d...ousMistake.pdf

CIRP
www.cirp.org
http://www.cirp.org/pages/anat/
http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/cold-taylor/ (Research paper by BJU)
http://www.cirp.org/library/sex_function/ (research on sexual functions of foreskin)
http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/ anatomy
http://www.cirp.org/library/statemen...s/1996-02_ACS/ penile cancer myths
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/UTI/ UTI myths


Doctors opposing circumcism
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcisi...tatement0.html
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcisi...atement03.html supposed medical benefits
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcisi...atement06.html long term effects
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcisi...o/prepuce.html

NOCIRC
http://www.nocirc.org/
http://www.nocirc.org/touch-test/touchtest.php penile touch sensitivity study
http://www.nocirc.org/articles/ articles
http://www.nocirc.org/articles/fleiss1.php
http://www.nocirc.org/touch-test/bju_6685.pdf

[NorahsMom]

I think Dr. Sears does a great job summing it all up concisely. Plus, he isn't extreme one way or the other, the way that a lot of people get when it comes to heated issues like this one. He just states the facts and lets you decide. (Just to be clear, I'm not referring to anyone else's links--I haven't even read them. I just think Dr. Sears is very moderate and that should appeal to both sides.)

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/1/t012000.asp