Even though over 12,200 circumcisions happen in the UK every year for medical reasons, the operation is something of a mystery to many members of the population and there are a variety of myths surrounding it.
The procedure itself involves removing the foreskin with a scalpel to leave the glans permanently exposed, before the lower edges of remaining skin are then stitched back together and questions are invariably asked about cleanliness and protection from nasty diseases.
Does circumcision mean you’re cleaner? The foreskin protects the glans of the penis and is full of glands which contain oils called smegma that keep the head of the penis moist and lubricated. This smegma is anti-bacterial so it keeps germs at bay so the absence of a foreskin would tend to suggest that hygiene might become a problem. However, as long as you are washing your penis every day, circumcision makes no difference to cleanliness.
Can circumcision reduce your risk of STIs and cancer? The theory is that circumcision slightly reduces your risk of getting penile cancer which is often caused by the wart virus. There is some evidence to show that less circumcised men carry the wart virus than uncircumcised men so there is a reduction in risk but not an absence of it.
Penile cancer is very rare but circumcision as a child does reduce the risk further and circumcised men often have less STIs, but this is no substitute for wearing a condom.
Does circumcision affect sex? After circumcision, the skin covering the glans changes from very delicate and thin to much tougher keratinised skin – like the difference between hands that regularly do housework and those that live a pampered life. This means that the glans of the foreskin becomes less sensitive and, therefore, it can affect the sexual experience for those who have the operation when they are older.
If you read the post at Circumstitions.com, you will learn that the most sensitive part of the circumcised willy is on the scar in the middle underneath (19). But several places on the foreskin (3, 4, 13, 14) are more sensitive than that. The glans (8, 9, 10 11) is the least sensitive part of the penis, contrary to a common claim, but where it is covered by the foreskin (8, 9,11), the glans of the intact penis is more sensitive than the circumcised.
My own questioning of men with circumcised willies has certainly led me to believe that their impression is of less sensitivity than they had before.
Yes. My husband had his done for medical reasons – over sensitive or a while, then less so. We both missed his foreskin.
I’m glad to see some of the myths being debunked – don’t know why people feel the need to do this to their infants.
PS those blue penis diagrams look a bit like scary zombie cocks!
Jo, I have friends with children (and teenagers) for whom it was a medical necessity because of repeated infection but to just whip it off because ‘it looks better’ is never an adequate reason and, indeed, doctors here are less and less inclined to do it for asthetic purposes.
@Jo bwahahaha! The stuff of nightmares!