Penile Wounding: Complications of Routine Male Circumcision in a Typical American Family Practice

Abstract

Men 18 years and older seeking medical care in a private, full-service, well-established family practice in New Mexico were offered evaluation as to circumcision status and examined with regards to documentable surgical damage from circumcision. Despite the fact that every circumcised man had visible and definable obvious and undesired surgical side-effects, ranging from minor scarring to extreme twisting and bending, only a tiny fraction of these men, including gay men, were aware of any penile abnormalities, and almost all believed their own penises were “normal”. The vast majority of the circumcisions had occurred in the newborn period and had been done for standard non-medical reasons. Contrary to assumptions by parents and physicians, most, if not all, newborn circumcisions leave the victim of the surgery in an obvious physically damaged state, which is universally ignored by the patient, his parents, and the physicians performing the surgery or caring for the male child or adult male victim of circumcision.