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The decision to have your child circumcised should be considered by both parents before the birth of your child. Circumcising is a surgical procedure that removes the foreskin of the penis of male infants. When your child is circumcised, sometimes a small plastic ring is placed around the penis, this can cause the child considerable anxiety.
Circumcision has its historical roots in both ritual and health issues. Circumcision does prevent balannitis, an infection beneath the foreskin, or phimosis, the inability to retract the foreskin. These problems can cause swelling of the foreskin and even cause obstruction of the urinary stream. Phimosis only occurs when the foreskin is not retracted and cleaned regularly, it does not occur when cleaned properly. Infants who are not circumcised tend to more likely to develop urinary tract infection than boys that are circumcised do. But studies show that the majority of uncircumcised boys never develop medical problems.
Only less than five percent of newborns have retractable foreskins, by three years of age over ninety percent have retractable foreskins. It is difficult and it is not necessary to retract the foreskin in a newborn infant, the ability to retract the foreskin becomes easy after several months. Phimosis is usually seen in children who are beginning to take the responsibility of their own bathing and do no not retract the foreskin and wash the glands of the penis carefully.
There have been complications from circumcision and it does and can occur, although it is rare, these complications can include damage to the penis itself. In some children the end of the penis has not completely developed, and the child is unable to produce a forceful stream of urine. This problem called hypospadias, is not a dangerous medical problem, it can be an emotional obstacle for young boys. It can create difficulties if boys find that they are unable to use the urinal like everyone else. It can also be a cause of infertility. One of the surgical procedures that are done to correct this problem requires the foreskin. But, some foreskins are removed by circumcision without first checking for this condition. It is standard medical procedure that a newborn boys foreskin should not be removed in a circumcision without first checking to make sure that the child does not have this condition known as hypospadias.
There have been numerous arguments for and against circumcision, all have been made with different levels of scientific support. Some researchers have stated that Cancer of the penis has been said to be more common in males that have not been circumcised and that Cancer of the cervix is more common in the sexual partners of males that have not been circumcised. Some researchers have stated the males who are not circumcised and engage in unprotected sexual intercourse, they are more likely to acquire infections more often that circumcised males. There have been numerous arguments about sexual pleasure for males that have not been circumcised. Researchers state that the sexual pleasure for the male has been enhanced by the presence of the foreskin and others state that the sexual pleasure has been diminished by the presence of the foreskin. Neither of these arguments has been substantiated.
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