What Are The Side Effects Of Circumcision?
What Are The Side Effects Of Circumcision?
Circumcision refers to the removal of the foreskin found on the head of a male's penis. It is a short procedure that takes very few minutes to perform. In most cases, the procedure is performed by a qualified doctor in the hospital.
Circumcision can be done at different ages depending on individual decision. The process is also influenced by a person’s social, cultural and religious beliefs. In most cases, it is performed on newborns between 24 hours and 8 days old. However, a person can undergo the procedure at any age, although having it done at a younger age is considered safer.
How Is Circumcision Performed?
In most cases, a person will be admitted in a hospital for less than a day for the surgery to be performed. A doctor will use a cutting instrument such as a scalpel or a scissor to cut the foreskin right from behind the glans.
To do this, an anesthesia is used. There are three types of anesthesia used when performing circumcision. They may include:
- General anesthetic: This is where a person is asleep the entire procedure.
- Local anesthetic: For this one, only half of the body is a numb. Body parts below the waist are numb the entire period.
- Spinal anesthetic: It is not common but is also an effective method. Once this method is used, the penis and the surrounding parts are numb during the procedure.
Side Effects of Circumcision
Circumcision is a procedure accompanied by several benefits. However, there are a number of side effects that arise from the procedure. It is important to note that not all of these side effects arise upon every circumcision case. Such side effects include:
- Infections
These are rare cases that mostly arise from poor care for the penis after circumcision. The infections can be as a result of accumulation or entry of bacteria into the wound. To avoid this, proper cleaning measures should be employed after circumcision.
- Excess Tissue Removal
This happen in case the person performing the procedure removes excess tissue from the penis.As a result, the victim may suffer several side effects. These effects may include pain during erections as a result of shortened skin surface. A person may also have some curvatures on the penis.
- Decrease In Length
Immediately after circumcision and during the healing period it is known that the penis loses some length. This is brought by dormancy during treatment.
- Decreased Sensitivity of the Glans
These are very rare. For people undergoing circumcision at adulthood, it is known that it interferes with the sensitivity of the glans penis. This is especially pronounced during sexual intercourse.
- Breastfeeding Relationship
This is a type of effect that happens only to newborns circumcised while breastfeeding. The procedure and the healing period affects the child’s health, leading to poor breastfeeding and general loss of appetite.
Irrespective that circumcision has a number of side effects associated, there are many benefits of circumcision. Most of these benefits are health related. They may include:
- Lowering the risk of getting HIV
- Lowers the risk of sexually transmitted infections
- Gets rid of the chances of getting foreskin-related infections
- It also helps in maintaining hygiene
- Lowers the risk of getting penile cancer.
The Bottom Line
Most of the side effects of circumcision are short-term. They go away within few days as the penis heals. However, in cases where you notice that the side effects such as bleeding are persisting it is important to contact a doctor as soon as possible.
