The Risks of Circumcision are Low
• For 1 in 500 circumcisions there may be either a little bleeding (easily stopped by pressure or, less commonly, requiring stitches (1 in 1,000)), the need for repeat surgery (1 in 1,000), or a generalized infection that will require antibiotics (1 in 4,000). Although there can be a local infection, often what seems like a local infection is actually part of the normal healing process.
• Serious complications (requiring hospitalization) are rare – approx. 1 in 5,000.
• Mutilation or loss of the penis, and death, is virtually unheard of with circumcisions performed by a competent medical practitioner.
• If a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia runs in the family, then the doctor needs to be advised as circumcision may require special pre-operative treatment.
• Anesthetic is imperative, preferably a local, since a general anesthetic carries risks, and is unnecessary. For age 0–4 months local, not general, and for older children or teenagers a mild sedative might be considered in addition to the local. Young children who wriggle can be gently restrained. For pain after the anesthetic wears off, an oral analgesic medication is often prescribed.
• Delay can mean stitches being used for circumcision of older children, teenagers and men, although tissue tape and glue are now available.
• If circumcision is delayed past 4 months, total cost will become increasingly greater.
• Proper scientific research shows there are no long-term adverse effects in the vast majority of males. Claims to the contrary reflect men who have been duped by anti-circumcision organizations into thinking their sexual problems have something to do with having been circumcised. This is ridiculous! Some of these groups convince men to restore a ‘foreskin’. This is a waste of time and can lead to mutilation of the penis. Be very wary of anti-circumcision propaganda.
Thus, benefits of circumcision exceed the risks by over a hundred to one. These days, the medical evidence is so strong that the decision to circumcise an infant boy really is a simple ‘no-brainer’ — Just seek a competent doctor and get it done!
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I want of it to vomit every time I see his repugnant face on the Clean! He would like to mutilate everybody this crazy! To all to take, I would prefer the Nazis again to this imperfect!
As far as I can tell, nobody cares about what the baby thinks. Sure it may be a tiny bit cleaner to cut off moist foreskin from the penis, to keep it dry, but wait! Doesn't anyone other than me believe that a man should decide if he wants part of his penis cut off and not his parents or doctors before he even had the chance? The foreskin fully retracts by adulthood so their is no need for routine infant circumcision. Plus it just hurts! It's his skin, on his one special place, so why would you want to take his special skin away from him? Foreskins are natural and normal in land mammals so why does America think circumcision is good? It goes completely against nature, we weren't born with brown scars on our penis's so why put them their? Let the boys choose, don't cut off their foreskin!
Morris says serious complications (by his definition ONLY those that require hospitalization) are rare. This is completely false.
First of all, adding the qualification of "requiring hospitalization" trivializes the serious complications so many men have even though they did not require hospitalization. That is shameful in itself.
But worse is to completely ignore ALL complications that did not require hospitalization.
The complications I experienced, mostly psychological, were EXTREMELY serious. They are just a little more serious than the physical complications I still experience.
The loss of a truly important body part, as any psychologist can tell you, is traumatic, no matter how much anesthesia is used.