Every year, as the summer and winter holidays approach, more and more parents consult our hospital clinic about whether their child’s foreskin needs to be removed, and the most frequently asked questions during the consultation process are: is my child circumcised (or circumcised), is it serious, will it affect the child’s development, what will be the sequelae, when is the most appropriate time for surgery, is the surgery risky, will it be painful, and so on. I hope the following article will help parents to have a more comprehensive understanding.
First of all, what is circumcision or prepuce?
The foreskin is long, although the foreskin can be turned over to reveal the head of the penis. What parents see is a long foreskin on the front of the penis, and every time a child pees there will be residue on the foreskin. The definition of prepuce is a small foreskin opening where the foreskin cannot be flipped over to reveal the head of the penis. In children before puberty, the glans is often not exposed, but we cannot just assume that it is because the glans is probably not exposed due to the adhesion of the foreskin.
Patients who are not diagnosed as circumcised only need to perform simple separation of foreskin adhesions in the outpatient clinic and do not need to undergo surgery, but personally, I think that the separation of foreskin adhesions without anesthesia is still very painful and has a large psychological impact on children.
Secondly, let’s briefly talk about their hazards.
As a result of circumcision and prepuce cleaning is not easy, secretions accumulate under the skin to form foreskin scale, if not timely cleaning, in early childhood can cause the head of the penis foreskin inflammation.
The inflammation of the foreskin glans can lead to the child repeatedly scratching his penis, which in the long run may develop a bad habit of masturbation, which has an impact on his body and mind. And repeated inflammation will lead to scarring prepuce, adult circumcision or prepuce is prone to penile cancer, long-term glans cannot be exposed leading to abnormal sensitivity of glans, prone to sexual disharmony, and also prone to consequences such as vaginitis, cervical erosion and cervical cancer in spouse women.
The third point is the choice of surgery timing.
Chinese and foreign views are different, mainly due to differences in religion, culture, medical treatment and parental decisions, and also foreign countries are more likely to perform circumcision in the neonatal period.
In our country, due to the relative lag in health education and the traditional concept of bondage, circumcision is mostly chosen in the preschool period. In general, after parents understand the risk of circumcision, the choice of surgery is mainly based on the parents’ choice, and the doctor will only suggest, but not require.
The fourth point is the issue of circumcision indications.
Many parents will not understand why my child needs surgery and theirs does not, and for this reason are often confused and do not understand. What exactly are the indications for circumcision surgery?