Hearing the doctor recommend circumcision

Some of you heard a doctor, or other person, recommending circumcision. How old were you? How was it presented to you, and, if under age, to your parents? What were the reasons? How did it end?

Until age 10 I had tight foreskin. The family doctor recommended “Operation” and said he would arrange hospitalization for it, which probably implied circumcision.

I protested and made a scene at his office. Firstly, I did not like to have my penis altered in any way. Secondly I had the feeling that the doctor had been instructed to send boys to that hospital for much greater interventions than just fixing foreskins or the like, and the foreskin problems was just a pretence.

I still think I was right. I experienced that a lot of boys got hospitalized for mystical reasons or had mystical surgeries, especially in their urinary system or genitals, and this pattern continues still.

Then he arranged a second opinion at the office of a private surgeon instead. He happened to be honest and said that it could be fixed with daily stretching for a period. So I did and the problem got solved within some weeks.

I don't know why some doctors are so comfortable with recommending circumcisions, as men have significantly reduced sexual pleasure afterwards. Especially since majority of tight foreskin cases are easily cured with corticosteroid cream, which thins foreskin and makes it elastic, and the problem is gone for every but the most extreme cases.

I don't know why some doctors are so comfortable with recommending circumcisions, as men have significantly reduced sexual pleasure afterwards. Especially since majority of tight foreskin cases are easily cured with corticosteroid cream, which thins foreskin and makes it elastic, and the problem is gone for every but the most extreme cases.

Circumcision has never only been a medical procedure. There are always cultural and religious aspects entwined where it becomes a custom and social imperative, as a means of fostering social inclusion within a group. Doctors aren't immune to social and cultural pressure, even if they are not conscious of being influenced by social expectations and mores.

So they have a socially influenced predisposition towards performing a circumcision in some cultures and nations. Obviously in Muslim and Jewish nations and groups, but also for a variety of historical reasons in the US and to a lesser degree in some English-speaking countries.

Secondly, many doctors prefer definite solutions to medical problems and there is nothing more definite than surgery. And as surgeries go, it is easy to perform with little risk, even a steady-handed person could perform one if necessary. Plus, not to be uncharitable, but physicians can charge more for a circumcision than for prescribing a cream or ointment.

As already posted on zity, I had been 13 years old when a young female hospital doctor, after an embarrassing and painful inspection of my penis as part of a full body exam, diagnosed a "still too tight foreskin" and shocked me, saying that she would recommend circumcision also due to obvious hygiene issues as a result of the tightness (which only was of a relative kind). Luckily noone else was present in this exam and my hospital records doesn't include this questionable diagnosis and recommendation. So this was left as kind of a "lost secret" between this doctor and me, and luckily I left the hospital as intact as I was delivered in.

Sometimes I ask myself why "it" became lost ... was it intentionally, and the doctor only had mentioned it to me as a kind of warning to better care for proper hygiene down there? Or was it really her intention to "sentence" a pubescent teenager to circumcision and simply forgot to transfer it into the records (maybe because it did not seem a major kind of issue to her, or rather not a big deal of a treatment)?

I am sure that these questions will remain unanswered for the rest of my life ...

Needless to say that I never told my parents about that (and also this respective doctor didn't) ... .

I met the mohel when I was very young , because my earliest memories of my penis are the same as it is now ( not exactly but you get the idea ) . And unfortunately there’s no one I can ask who would tell me ( in my birth family everything about health is a state secret nobody discusses , just like family pictures I know there’s a beautiful portrait of me in my moms arms coming home from the hospital that I can’t get from family , my family pictures consist of me as a 2 year old in a Jersey playground and a wedding picture of my parents at Niagara Falls ) there is a metric ton between marriage and birth of 3 rd child and today that I still can’t get copies .

My pediatrician recommended a circumcision because of my long and slightly phimotic foreskin when I was 5-6 years old. As my parents were opposed to any avoidable operation, I got treated with steroid cream instead.

@BillyGreen

As my parents were opposed to any avoidable operation, I got treated with steroid cream instead.

If I might ask: How long did this treatment take, and has it been successful, according to your own and your pediatrician's opinion?

I was 29 when I first when to the doctor to ask for a steroid cream to help me retract…. After some more time and 3 more exams, and a doctor booking me in for a ‘lesser operation’ I ended up with a senior consultant saying I should have a ‘proper full circumcision’.

I had kind of expected him to say that and gulped but it was a big moment to accept that.

He drew a picture and said that anything lesser like a preputioplasty etc wouldn’t help

He did say I had a ‘perfectly good big penis’ though so!

I was 7 or 8 and having a school medical. The doctor lowered my underpants and started examining my penis. She retracted my foreskin, which did hurt at the time. She did it a second time and said to the nurse who was in the room that I needed circumcising. This upset me, mainly because I was terrified of having any surgery. This was included in a letter home to my parents. I was taken to my GP in the next school holidays and he examined me, and agreed with my mother that a circumcision wasn’t necessary (she didn’t want me to have one), but that I was a bit tight. My mother did sone stretching during baths fur a few years, but the issue kept being raised as I was examined by the same doctor at school fur three years. I was never circumcised, my foreskin retracts, but it’s not as loose as it could be.

@Examined You understood the word "circumcision" at that age?

@Jacana No, I didn’t fully understand. I just knew she meant some kind of operation on my penis. I would have been as upset if she had said I needed my tonsils out. I very much knew what it meant at the medical the following year.

@Examined How did you learn what it meant?

(Excuse my curiosity. At about the same age as you, I was circumcised, but I still recall my surprise at the outcome of the surgery!)

Slightly off topic to the question, but during my examination it was my mother who said " I would like him circumcised" Clearly the consultant agreed. I remember the words so clearly.

I experienced that a lot of boys got hospitalized for mystical reasons or had mystical surgeries, especially in their urinary system or genitals, and this pattern continues still.

@Velociraptor What reasons / surgeries did / do these boys undergo?

In USA in 1980 and 1990 years the circumcision was strongly recommended.

For the new born , child and teen.

At each medical exam the doctor spoke whit my parents about the circumcision benefits.

@Randomino :

As far as I remember, this first steroid cream treatment was done for maybe 2-3 weeks. After that my foreskin could be retracted further backwards more easily and the strain on my frenulum while beeing retracted was lower, but my foreskin still was a little bit tight and my frenulum quite short.

In hindsight, it was somewhat of an improvement, but as I had no major problem (like pain while peeing or similar issues) beforehand, I couldn't feel any improvement back then.

The pediatrician kept trying to convince my parents that I should be circumcised before entering elementary school, but the topic fizzled out when we moved and I went to the new GP of my parents instead. I don't think that my parents would have agreed to a circumcision.

Only when I was 13-14 years old I became interested in regularly trying to retract my foreskin and this was also the time when it became easily retractable without putting an uncomfortable strain on my frenulum. As a small boy I had tried a few times out of curiosity before, but even during my first masturbation attempts I didn't retract it, so it was still somewhat tight.

As a young adult I could easily retract and expose my head completely without discomfort, but I had to repeat the steroid cream treatment for at least 2 times during the last 10 years and my frenulum is still a little bit short. So summing it all up, steroid cream treatments helped, but I still have to work with the the anatomy of a long foreskin and short frenulum I got dealt.

@UK_Patient :

May I ask why your mom preferred a circumcision instead of a conservative approach?

@daiv :

Did you get circumcised? If yes, are you satisfied with the outcome?

I have written about this in another thread, but for me it was at a school medical when i was around 7.

Not knowing what was happening, the doctor went to retract my foreskin and it would not pull back. My skin was so tight that no part of the glans could be exposed. It was very embarrassing as from what should have been a quick check, i spent ages with my underpants down while the doctor discussed my foreskin with my parent. The school doctor said i needed circumcising and that i should go and visit the family doctor to get it arranged.

A few days later i had another examination with the GP but it was decided to try manually stretching with cream before having to go to hospital.

From then on, very regularly i had to sit in front of my parents and show them how far i could pull my foreskin back and if it was improving.

It took ages before i was able to expose the entire glans and in the meantime i dreaded getting called for another medical at school. I knew that if the school doctor was to see me again and i still could not fully pull back i would be sent straight to the hospital for surgery.

To my amazement i now have a very flexible foreskin and praise the family GP from saving me from being cut.

@daiv :

Did you get circumcised? If yes, are you satisfied with the outcome?

Yes! After months of not hearing anything from the hospital after that consultation I called up and they said, can you do this Friday? So I had a bizarre and short 4 days to mentally get ready. I then got the bus to the hospital and arranged for a friend to meet me after as is required when you’ve had a general anaesthetic. It was in the height of covid so I was sat alone in a gown in a big ward waiting to be called through to theatre, where they then put in an IV and knocked me out immediately

@daiv

Thank you for your reply. Looks like you got lucky that they squeezed in your circumcision during covid, in my country even more urgent cases were rescheduled for months. Maybe you just called in the right moment to fill the gap of a cancelled appointement. Anyway, your story sounds like a special experience on multiple levels. And 4 days is really short to get prepared for an operation - not only mentally.

And 4 days is really short to get prepared for an operation - not only mentally.

I would say an operation is better sooner done as quickly as possible. Who would wish to brood and worry for a long time? I've had two pretty major surgeries and I was in the hospital and operated on within the next day.

I would say an operation is better sooner done as quickly as possible. Who would wish to brood and worry for a long time? I've had two pretty major surgeries and I was in the hospital and operated on within the next day.

Have to agree with that. My wife had precautionary surgery -and had to wait for over a month for it, lots of worry time!! Just this summer they found a large tumor near her ovary, and she had to wait 6 weeks for the surgery, not knowing if it was cancerous or not (fortunately not). We'd rather get rolled right into the OR after a diagnosis than wait even a few days. A lot goes through your mind during the waiting period!!!

When I had my ankle replacement, I had to put it off for over a month due to work requirements - while I wasn't overly worried, I was frustrated not just getting it over with!!

I think that’s exactly what happened yes, I called up at just the right minute.

The ‘worrying’ I’d first had a little bit when we’d agreed in the consultation - but especially with covid-19 it felt completely abstract at that point and a very distant future thing. I did start trying to retract a bit to desensitise my glans though, which I think definitely was a good decision and meant I could even walk pretty easily in the days straight after the op. Friends have been driven mad by glans sensitivity if they’d previously been very tight.

I think that getting a date long in the future may have left a bit more of an anxiety.

But of course it’s really a very minor surgery, I’m surprised they put you under for it here - I was almost more worried about the general anaesthetic than the op!

@Bad_Princess Depending how it's done, the circumcised male may end up, like me, with a fragile circumcision scar which is easily irritated during sex and, even more, handjobs. So that's definitely an inconvenience! A rather minor one, sure, it does not prevent from having intercourse or an orgasm… but it's not like there is "nothing wrong"!

@agracier , @Rigel :

Your points are valid. But in my opinion it depends on the circumstances. If the operation is done to treat a very unconvenient or painful condition, it should be done as soon as possible. Same applies if delaying the operation might result in a health risk or drives the patient nuts because he or she is worried of the outcome.

But even if it is just a minor elective operation like a circumcision, you have to take off from work (just imagine being self-employed), arrange your pick up from hospital etc. Depending on your personal situation, this might be a little challenge.

Taking this into consideration, I would personally prefer a preparation time of 2 weeks before undergoing minor elective surgery.

@Jacana

In some cases "minor" operations are more inconvenient or troublesome than major operations during the recovery period. It depends on the individual case, but shoulder surgery generally is often more painful than bigger operations on the lower limbs for example. Being not able to use your arm as you were used to for some time adds up, too. Some patients also report pain while urinating after a circumcision due to swelling or strain on the stiches, so I can totally understand the "inconvenience", even if everything heals just normally.

@BillyGreen I was not referring to the healing period but to the long-term consequences.

@Jacana

I got your point, but I just wanted to add a more general aspect of often overseen affects of "minor" surgery. Although a circumcision is a minor procedure considering the surgical risks, it is life-altering for the male. Some patients won't have any difficulties to adjust afterwards, but it is a fact that removing the foreskin changes the way your penis functions dramatically. Hence the patient and his partner will have to adjust and get used to it.

The problem of fragile skin you described might be related to an irritation of the remaining inner lining of the foreskin, a reason why many doctors in Europe remove as much of the inner skin as possible. Not all patients report this problem, but it is more common after a high circumcision.

@BillyGreen Indeed, it seems to be the inner lining. I seem to have it midway between "high" and "low", and somewhat tight.

@Jacana You are lucky to got midway circumcision.

Normally each country have his circumcision. USA is tight and sometime very tight depend in which state you live and Europe is low and loose.

It happened a few times during my pediatrician examinations. I remember expecially one during puberty when the doctor after a complete physical on me discussed with my parents and repeated the genital exam showing my phimosis to them saying a further examination by a surgeon was necessary. He said a little cut on my prepuce will be done to expose the glans, I was dreaded about his words.