I have decided to touch on subjects that I was never informed of before having a child. I know that the subject of circumcision is useless for anyone expecting a girl or parents of girls, and I know that the topic of circumcision often sparks debates, but as someone who chose this for their son, there are things I wish I had known before the procedure. NO, this is not in any way, shape or form a 'don't do it' rant.
I chose to have my son circumcised. It was a decision my husband and I made based off our own feelings, knowledge and (in my case) research. I am not Anti or Pro either choice, it just felt like the best decision for us.
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My husband and I attended birthing classes when I was pregnant. We started attending them when I was 8 months along; every Thursday night from 6-9 pm at the hospital. We sat in a conference room, in really uncomfortable chairs, listening to a nurse lecture or watching movies from the 80's. I had done so much research, soul searching, reading, googling- everything, so I knew labor would be a breeze. (Incidentally I was right.) Every once and a while a guest speaker would come in and lecture us. This is where we met our sons pediatrician. He came in and addressed all the usual topics, including circumcision. I asked a few questions- which helped him to remember me (to this day he knows who my son and I are anytime we walk into his office or see him in public- that's the sign of a good doctor!).
Dr. A told us about the different ways to do a circumcision. The three types of circumcisions preformed are the Gomco clamp, Mogen clamp and the Plastibell device. Dr A. said that he preforms the Plastibell circumcision and felt that this was the least painful as well as produced the best looking end result. I went home from the birthing class full of questions about circumcision and was disappointed to find little information and a ton of opinionated articles on the internet. It frustrated me to the point that I stopped looking and made an appointment with the doctor to ask him to walk me through the procedure step by step. Dr. A went so far as to give me the instructional leaflet that comes with the Plastibell tools.
I just didn't get enough direction on after care. I was told to Vaseline my sons penis to keep it from sticking to the diaper and to come into the pediatricians office the day the bell fell off. That was it.
My sons circumcision went beautifully. He didn't fuss, didn't cry, and the bell fell off at exactly 14 days. On the 14th day my husband and I looked at the penis and it didn't look right- there was no 'head' to it.
The day it fell off we marched into the doctors office and the doctor brought us back to an exam room. What proceeded was beyond any information I had found on the internet and more than I read in the pamphlet- the doctor took off my sons diaper and took this metal tool (the best I can describe it: it was like a paperclip that was unfolded into a straight line) and used this tool to separate the skin that had attached to the head of my sons penis. I assume that this is what is referred to as 'preventative retraction'. My son wasn't too happy with this, I had trouble watching, but the end result was a normal looking penis.
I was instructed to continue with the Vaseline until he finished healing.
Fast forward to now, at 10 1/2 months old my son is a happy, healthy, and super active little boy. The only issue is the complete penile adhesion. A Penile adhesion is when some of the skin from the shaft of the penis attaches to the head. In my sons case, there is skin attached completely around the head.
There is conflicting research out there on treatment, but I think it mostly has to do with the severity of the adhesion. Some pediatricians recommend detaching the skin often until it stops reattaching. Some doctors say that they resolve themselves over time. My concerns about detaching the skin over and over is the pain and scarring involved. But my fear about waiting to see if it resolves itself is that the longer the skin stays attached the stronger the adhesion will get and surgery will be the only option left if it does not resolve itself.
In my sons case he is lucky in the sense that he is still able to painlessly have an erection, and oddly enough his penis looks almost normal at these times. This leads me to believe that his issue could resolve itself in the future with his own natural stretching of the skin. I will be mentioning everything at his 1 year doctors appointment with Dr. A and seeing if he will give us a referral to see a urologist just to put my mind at ease. I would hate to have to send Nathan in for surgery to correct his adhesion, but when the alternative is to worry about my son becoming self conscious about his body (as I have seen is a big problem for grown males with penile adhesion through my research) I can honestly say I would seriously consider it.
My advice is to research, research, research. If you decide that a circumcision is best for your child, then please ask about after care. As it turns out it is best to make sure you pull the skin back at every diaper change and bath and in some cases where the child has 'extra' skin it may be smart to continue to put Vaseline on his penis well up to 18 months old (and then teach the child to do it themself) to keep an adhesion from becoming an issue.
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