Circumcision Debate

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here, but I have a question...

My son is 2 and a half, and I did have him circ'd when he was born, mostly because I thought it was "normal" to do and I was completely uninformed on the topic. One of the few things I regret...

Anyway, now it appears that he has a skin bridge. Well, actually two small ones, one on the front and one on the side. I was referred to a urologist who said that it won't fix itself and booked him for surgery. I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this. I'm going to cancel the surgery, because I don't want to make yet another uninformed decision that will put him at risk. If it's possible to wait for a few years and have it done with just a local anesthetic, I'd like to hear somebody's experience with that. Or if there is any natural solution to this problem. They don't want to do it with local now, because they think it would traumatize him. Why nobody mentioned to me the risk of trauma involved with circ'ing in the first place, I have no idea. Could have saved me and my son alot of pain.

So... thanks for reading and for any advice or experience you might have!

These adhesions have become very commonplace in the last two decades since many doctors changed the way they do circumcisions to a looser style.  They may or may not release on their own depending on how they formed.

To give the long explanation so that you understand completely and can make the best decision, there are two ways they can form and it makes all the difference.  When boys are born, the foreskin is bonded to the glans with a tissue that is identical to the tissue that bonds the fingernails to the nailbeds.  During the circumcision, a blunt instrument is inserted between the foreskin and glans and they are forced away from each other, tearing this tissue bond.  The body sees this as an injury and sets about to repair the injury.  If the skin of the glans or foreskin is torn during the procedure, these tears will heal with scar tissue.  If there is no tear, it will heal with epithelial tissue or synecchia.  The scar tissue will never release on it's own.  With the epithelial tissue, just like a boy who hasn't been circumcised, the bond will release spontaneously.  This usually happens between 3 and 5 years old.

Along with this release, in a circumcised boy, there is often pain involved because the mobile foreskin is no longer there.  In a boy who has not been circumcised, there is sufficient skin to accomodate erections without pulling at these adhesions.  For boys who have been circumcised, each erection can pull at the edges of the adhesions.  Think of it  as someone pulling at your fingernails and you'll get the idea.

OK, so how do you tell the difference?  It can be difficult but the scar adhesions usually occur at the scar line where the foreskin was removed and these adhesions will require surgical intervention.

The common wisdom is to circumcise boys at birth to avoid the possibility of a later required circumcision but especially with this new style circumcision, it is much more common for circumcised boys to need the circumcision revised or to have other surgical interventions such as this one.  As you apparently have seen, the promise of the benefits of circumcision are false and deceptive.  They just do not exist.  The only benefit is to the doctor who gets paid to perform the circumcision.

Frank