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A Look at the Issue of Circumcision (Part I) - Page 2

© Jeri Carr

A circumcision can be botched up. Sometimes the doctor cuts too much off. Sometimes a child ends up needing to have another surgery to correct their doctor's mistakes at a later date, and, of course, sometimes the mistakes can't be fixed. Some babies do die as a result of complications resulting from their circumcision. According to the AAP, "Complications occur in 1 in 200 to 1 in 500 circumcised newborn males and are most often minor; the two most common are mild bleeding and local infection" (Press Release, New AAP Circumcision Policy Released, March 1, 1999). On the website mothersagainstcirc.org it says that "one out of every 500 circumcisions results in a serious complication. [Schmitt] About 4 out of 100 are either considered unsatisfactory or result in some sort of complication" (The Common and Not-So-Common Complications of Routine Infant Circumcision by Mary G. Ray ©1997).

Whether botched up or not, circumcisions are incredibly painful. Thankfully, pain killer is now recommended by the AAP, though surprisingly they didn't come out with their recommendation until March 1999. There are, however, some concerns involved with using it. Plus, it is not always effective. An informational pamphlet put out by the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC) states, "Anesthetics injected into the penis don't always work. Being stuck with a needle in the penis is itself painful for a baby, just as it would be for anyone else. Babies are rarely given pain medication right after they are circumcised or during the week to ten days it takes the wound to heal. Pain medication is not always effective and is never 100% effective" (Answers To Your Questions About Infant Circumcision). The following page on their website has information about the pain of circumcision, different types of anesthesia, etc., plus links to articles where you can find further information: Pain of circumcision and pain control. Please also remember that just being strapped down is frightening for a baby.

Another reason that some parents get their sons circumcised is fear that cleaning an uncircumcised penis will be difficult. For infants and young children, the cleaning "procedure" is very easy. It's so simple, in fact, that parents do not have to do anything special at all: to keep it clean they should rinse the outside of the intact penis with warm water. Until the foreskin separates, there is no need to--indeed it would be wrong to do so--pull it back and clean underneath. But once it separates, keeping it clean continues to be easy. Usually starting around the age of five or six, boys should be taught to retract their own foreskins and rinse with warm water. For more information on keeping it clean please see the article Contrary to Popular Myth Cleaning is Easy by Mary G. Ray, ©1997.

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