Got circumsised at 9 years old for repitive infections. Was it justified for me to get circumsised as the last resort?

[ProspectOfNature]

Unfortunately, when I was about 9 years old my mother got me circumcised because I was always getting infections. I tried the best I can to keep clean, but my foreskin was inflamed red with infection as well as my glans. Plus I was diagnosed with Aspergers which means touch made it too sensitive to clean. Doctor's appointment after doctor's appointment my mother had no choice. It was just too painful to clean and the pediatrician didn't want to get me circumcised but as a last resort. All the medicines and cremes didn't work and I had to get circumcised for medical reasons. Now, I'm disappointed because I rather have a nasty UTI than lose so much sensitivity. It doesn't matter because the inner foreskin still has 10,000 nerve endings and the body has healed some of the damage with peripheral nerve regeneration.


Fortunately, I have 1.25 inches of inner foreskin left when flaccid and I nevertheless have my frenulum. I'm using Andre's method by achieving 2 minutes every hour of manual method 2 as I don't have enough shaft skin to start with.My daily plan is to start with 2 minutes every hour starting at 5AM-12PM(7 hours) and 1 hour of TLC tugger. I managed to get it too fit comfortably on a CI-1.2 penis(flaccid). If it begins to hurt, I take a break. I have not been consistent with my plan which may hinder progress. I will gradually improve over time chunk by chunk. Within a month I will be abiding by my plan daily.

[RYG]

It seems to me that your mother made the choice she thought was best for you at the time. At least at 9 year old you had anastetic and pain relief afterwards. At least your was at least kinda justified. Many of us had absolutely nothing wrong with our foreskin, it was cut off for the sake of "culture"

Sounds like you have a good amount of remaining tissue and are making a good start with your restoration. Good luck to you!

[MarkMan267]

Unfortunately, when I was about 9 years old my mother got me circumcised because I was always getting infections. I tried the best I can to keep clean, but my foreskin was inflamed red with infection as well as my glans. Plus I was diagnosed with Aspergers which means touch made it too sensitive to clean. Doctor's appointment after doctor's appointment my mother had no choice. It was just too painful to clean and the pediatrician didn't want to get me circumcised but as a last resort. All the medicines and cremes didn't work and I had to get circumcised for medical reasons. Now, I'm disappointed because I rather have a nasty UTI than lose so much sensitivity. It doesn't matter because the inner foreskin still has 10,000 nerve endings and the body has healed some of the damage with peripheral nerve regeneration.


Fortunately, I have 1.25 inches of inner foreskin left when flaccid and I nevertheless have my frenulum. I'm using Andre's method by achieving 2 minutes every hour of manual method 2 as I don't have enough shaft skin to start with.My daily plan is to start with 2 minutes every hour starting at 5AM-12PM(7 hours) and 1 hour of TLC tugger. I managed to get it too fit comfortably on a CI-1.2 penis(flaccid). If it begins to hurt, I take a break. I have not been consistent with my plan which may hinder progress. I will gradually improve over time chunk by chunk. Within a month I will be abiding by my plan daily.

"I tried the best I can to keep clean."

First off, therein lies the problem. As a nine year old, there was a strong chance you couldn't retract at that age. Please correct me if I am wrong.

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/penis-health/Pages/how-to-wash-a-penis.aspx

"Don't try to forcefully pull back the foreskin of a baby or young boy as this could be painful and cause harm. Their foreskin might still be attached to the head of the penis and will therefore not retract fully. At this stage of their development, there's no need to clean inside the foreskin."

Secondly, I don't see the correlation between Aspergers and "touch made it too sensitive to clean." Forgive me for any ignorance, but I looked up Aspegers, and from what I saw, I didn't see any conditions or side effects making any body parts too sensitive to clean. Hope you can explain further.

As far as the medicines and creams, how long did you use them for? Did you see any improvement whatsoever? If you did see some, but stopped, that could've possibly saved you from the cut, I think?

But to your main question, I do wonder if it was really a last resort for you. Because women can get phimosis and recurrent vaginal infections from shoddy care, but I'm willing to bet there is NO doctor in America that would EVER consider circ as a last resort for them (notwithstanding anti-FGM law).

And if that holds true, and these women can be cured without circ, even in the worst cases, I don't see why your foreskin couldn't have been saved. But I am sorry to hear of your situation. Hopefully restoring can help.

[resto-mod]

"I tried the best I can to keep clean."

First off, therein lies the problem. As a nine year old, there was a strong chance you couldn't retract at that age. Please correct me if I am wrong.

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/penis-health/Pages/how-to-wash-a-penis.aspx

"Don't try to forcefully pull back the foreskin of a baby or young boy as this could be painful and cause harm. Their foreskin might still be attached to the head of the penis and will therefore not retract fully. At this stage of their development, there's no need to clean inside the foreskin."

Secondly, I don't see the correlation between Aspergers and "touch made it too sensitive to clean." Forgive me for any ignorance, but I looked up Aspegers, and from what I saw, I didn't see any conditions or side effects making any body parts too sensitive to clean. Hope you can explain further.

As far as the medicines and creams, how long did you use them for? Did you see any improvement whatsoever? If you did see some, but stopped, that could've possibly saved you from the cut, I think?

But to your main question, I do wonder if it was really a last resort for you. Because women can get phimosis and recurrent vaginal infections from shoddy care, but I'm willing to bet there is NO doctor in America that would EVER consider circ as a last resort for them (notwithstanding anti-FGM law).

And if that holds true, and these women can be cured without circ, even in the worst cases, I don't see why your foreskin couldn't have been saved. But I am sorry to hear of your situation. Hopefully restoring can help.

There have been some cases of boys younger than 10 being retractable at that point and I've read posts about boys getting phimosis and infections and the parents did all the right stuff to clean them (no retraction, gentle cleaning, etc.). Unfortunately there are some cases where all options are exhausted and some kind of cutting seems to be the only solution. I hate saying it but at least circumcision was the last resort in this case, and to prospectofnature-- It sounds like the doctors and your parents didn't want to circ. you and that was the only option so try not to feel any anger toward them it won't help to try to blame people. At least your parents didn't just hack off your foreskin right after your were born for no reason like I and so many other men have experienced. It's best to focus on how nice it will be to have a new prepuce once you're finished, it sounds like you have a good tugging regimen so before you know it you'll be restored in no time at all!

[ProspectOfNature]

"I tried the best I can to keep clean."

First off, therein lies the problem. As a nine year old, there was a strong chance you couldn't retract at that age. Please correct me if I am wrong.

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/penis-health/Pages/how-to-wash-a-penis.aspx

"Don't try to forcefully pull back the foreskin of a baby or young boy as this could be painful and cause harm. Their foreskin might still be attached to the head of the penis and will therefore not retract fully. At this stage of their development, there's no need to clean inside the foreskin."

Secondly, I don't see the correlation between Aspergers and "touch made it too sensitive to clean." Forgive me for any ignorance, but I looked up Aspegers, and from what I saw, I didn't see any conditions or side effects making any body parts too sensitive to clean. Hope you can explain further.

As far as the medicines and creams, how long did you use them for? Did you see any improvement whatsoever? If you did see some, but stopped, that could've possibly saved you from the cut, I think?

But to your main question, I do wonder if it was really a last resort for you. Because women can get phimosis and recurrent vaginal infections from shoddy care, but I'm willing to bet there is NO doctor in America that would EVER consider circ as a last resort for them (notwithstanding anti-FGM law).

And if that holds true, and these women can be cured without circ, even in the worst cases, I don't see why your foreskin couldn't have been saved. But I am sorry to hear of your situation. Hopefully restoring can help.

I was able to retract at age 5 and I'm American. My mother was gonna get me circumcised at birth but fortunately my father said no as it was unneeded. She thought it was something you do as a preventive means to complications. Anyway, having Aspergers at such a young age you have symptoms of hyper-sensitivity. Especially to touch so it was very uncomfortable to clean even when not infected.

Aspergers is a neurological condition and its not a mental illness. So its not psychological to have sensory overload.

[BelgianChris]

Sad to read your story, but by the sound of it I’m guessing that circumcision might have been the only option left, as you mentioned that creams and so on didn’t help. I got partially circumcised at 5 because of phimosis, and I’m still wondering now if that was really the only option or if we could have waited longer, as I didn’t really have excessive infections or other problems. Many people on restoration forums are 100% against circumcision, and I understand these feelings as they had no say in something that has a huge impact on many aspects of their lives. In countries where circumcision is primarily practiced for medical reasons, it is observed in clinical studies that less than 1 in 20 boys has actual phimosis, but many of those can be cured with steroid creams. Out of the ones where that doesn’t work, many are completely circumcised because urologists often believe that partial circumcisions have higher risks of complications and a larger chance of the need for a second surgical intervention later on. Luckily, more and more urologists are aware of the possible alternatives. The urologist that did my partial circumcision quite often and would only go for full circumcision if it was requested by parents. I’ve seen friends and relatives that were treated by him and I’m not aware of anybody having complications. According to studies, phimosis would still be over-diagnosed and more circumcisions are being done for medical reasons than necessary...

[MarkMan267]

But that's the thing. Part of me wonders if circ is ever a last resort, because if there was a young girl with phimosis and recurring infections (and women can indeed get it), I personally have a hard time believing they would ever use circ as a last resort, in any way, shape, or form.

[MarkMan267]

I was able to retract at age 5 and I'm American. My mother was gonna get me circumcised at birth but fortunately my father said no as it was unneeded. She thought it was something you do as a preventive means to complications. Anyway, having Aspergers at such a young age you have symptoms of hyper-sensitivity. Especially to touch so it was very uncomfortable to clean even when not infected.

Aspergers is a neurological condition and its not a mental illness. So its not psychological to have sensory overload.

Did they have you wash under there with soap?

[MarkMan267]

There have been some cases of boys younger than 10 being retractable at that point and I've read posts about boys getting phimosis and infections and the parents did all the right stuff to clean them (no retraction, gentle cleaning, etc.). Unfortunately there are some cases where all options are exhausted and some kind of cutting seems to be the only solution. I hate saying it but at least circumcision was the last resort in this case, and to prospectofnature-- It sounds like the doctors and your parents didn't want to circ. you and that was the only option so try not to feel any anger toward them it won't help to try to blame people. At least your parents didn't just hack off your foreskin right after your were born for no reason like I and so many other men have experienced. It's best to focus on how nice it will be to have a new prepuce once you're finished, it sounds like you have a good tugging regimen so before you know it you'll be restored in no time at all!

Infections don't just happen out of thin air, though. Neither does pathological phimosis. I still suspect that some improper care took place. If not, the child must've been born with an extremely rare medical condition? As I've said, if op was a girl in the same situation, would they ever bypass FGM law as a last resort?

[resto-mod]

Infections don't just happen out of thin air, though. Neither does pathological phimosis. I still suspect that some improper care took place. If not, the child must've been born with an extremely rare medical condition? As I've said, if op was a girl in the same situation, would they ever bypass FGM law as a last resort?

There was a guy on here a while back that was seeking help for his 6 year old son that had severe phimosis and his foreskin was almost closing up to where the child could barely urinate. The father said he never did any sort of improper care but yet the child's foreskin began having problems regardless, I know there are many parents and doctors even that don't understand proper intact care and forcibly retract but who knows what prospectofnature's case is. As for female phimosis I am not very educated on the probability of a girl getting phimosis or it getting infected but I assume that female phimosis cases are usually not as severe as male cases. Even though male and female genitalia is similar in many ways the form and function of these parts can be different like the female doesn't pass urine through the clitoral foreskin so in theory there is less chance of contracting foreskin infections in females. It's hard to say that any male circumcision is necessary and I wish it wasn't but since our "modern" medicine treats foreskin like the plague (at least in the US), just doing a quick google search I have seen some "medical" sites claim that foreskin is retractable as early as 2 years old but there isn't any official studies to back it up. They just go off what the parents reported or what the men with the foreskins reported looking back on their childhood. So until we do more research on the male prepuce and put work into solving problems with it instead of just cutting it off unfortunately circumcision will continue to be a "viable" option

[ProspectOfNature]

Did they have you wash under there with soap?

Mild soap yes, but I would prefer to wash with water as it was to sensitive.

[Reality]

But that's the thing. Part of me wonders if circ is ever a last resort, because if there was a young girl with phimosis and recurring infections (and women can indeed get it), I personally have a hard time believing they would ever use circ as a last resort, in any way, shape, or form.

Your very wrong, this needs correcting, and here's why"

You can "wonder" all you want, but doing research into the clinically accepted indications for circumcision, of course as a last result, is far better than just "wondering". Wondering is for those who don't have a view of how this world, and human disease, works.

Ask your insurance carrier for the guidelines from Milliman, as an example. Circumcision, aside from RIC, is always done "as a last result". This is mandated by the sets of clinical guidelines which providers HAVE to follow, or their request for payment is denied. Yes, "request"; they have to request for permission to perform circ. The tired old mistaken idea that "doctors" can do what they want is the same tired forum myth.

There has to be documented, repeated trials of conservative treatment before anything beyond a conservative treatment is even considered. Circ is "the last result" treatment for intractable infection with pain and a specified measure of dysfunction, ongoing and encroaching tissue damage and/or necrosis, and of course, malignancy. Does anyone get the underlying concern here? TISSUE. The concern for tissue-sparing treatment is paramount.

Sadly, disease and dysfunction happens. So anyone who drank the internet koolaid and thereby thinks they have a valid opinion based on forum BS rather than knowledge of the real world, needs to wake up. Want to be an intactivist, or at least sound like one? Intactivism always begins with knowing who you are, where you are, and how it all works. Anything short of that is..........well, you know. Let's call it "chatter" (to be kind).

[Guest]

There have been some cases of boys younger than 10 being retractable at that point and I've read posts about boys getting phimosis and infections and the parents did all the right stuff to clean them (no retraction, gentle cleaning, etc.). Unfortunately there are some cases where all options are exhausted and some kind of cutting seems to be the only solution. I hate saying it but at least circumcision was the last resort in this case, and to prospectofnature-- It sounds like the doctors and your parents didn't want to circ. you and that was the only option so try not to feel any anger toward them it won't help to try to blame people. At least your parents didn't just hack off your foreskin right after your were born for no reason like I and so many other men have experienced. It's best to focus on how nice it will be to have a new prepuce once you're finished, it sounds like you have a good tugging regimen so before you know it you'll be restored in no time at all!

It happened to me when I was 5 for some kind of infection or another. I'm kind of posses that thru didn't try anything like antibiotics first, but my dad wouldn't have allowed it if he didn't think it was necessary.

[Guest]

Your very wrong, this needs correcting, and here's why"

You can "wonder" all you want, but doing research into the clinically accepted indications for circumcision, of course as a last result, is far better than just "wondering". Wondering is for those who don't have a view of how this world, and human disease, works.

Ask your insurance carrier for the guidelines from Milliman, as an example. Circumcision, aside from RIC, is always done "as a last result". This is mandated by the sets of clinical guidelines which providers HAVE to follow, or their request for payment is denied. Yes, "request"; they have to request for permission to perform circ. The tired old mistaken idea that "doctors" can do what they want is the same tired forum myth.

There has to be documented, repeated trials of conservative treatment before anything beyond a conservative treatment is even considered. Circ is "the last result" treatment for intractable infection with pain and a specified measure of dysfunction, ongoing and encroaching tissue damage and/or necrosis, and of course, malignancy. Does anyone get the underlying concern here? TISSUE. The concern for tissue-sparing treatment is paramount.

Sadly, disease and dysfunction happens. So anyone who drank the internet koolaid and thereby thinks they have a valid opinion based on forum BS rather than knowledge of the real world, needs to wake up. Want to be an intactivist, or at least sound like one? Intactivism always begins with knowing who you are, where you are, and how it all works. Anything short of that is..........well, you know. Let's call it "chatter" (to be kind).

Maybe in the UK- seeing as though this is the U.S. I think the standards are lower here.

[Guest]

There was a guy on here a while back that was seeking help for his 6 year old son that had severe phimosis and his foreskin was almost closing up to where the child could barely urinate. The father said he never did any sort of improper care but yet the child's foreskin began having problems regardless, I know there are many parents and doctors even that don't understand proper intact care and forcibly retract but who knows what prospectofnature's case is. As for female phimosis I am not very educated on the probability of a girl getting phimosis or it getting infected but I assume that female phimosis cases are usually not as severe as male cases. Even though male and female genitalia is similar in many ways the form and function of these parts can be different like the female doesn't pass urine through the clitoral foreskin so in theory there is less chance of contracting foreskin infections in females. It's hard to say that any male circumcision is necessary and I wish it wasn't but since our "modern" medicine treats foreskin like the plague (at least in the US), just doing a quick google search I have seen some "medical" sites claim that foreskin is retractable as early as 2 years old but there isn't any official studies to back it up. They just go off what the parents reported or what the men with the foreskins reported looking back on their childhood. So until we do more research on the male prepuce and put work into solving problems with it instead of just cutting it off unfortunately circumcision will continue to be a "viable" option

If a kid gets phimosis that requires circumcision, you should only cut off the end of the foreskin because that is all that needs to come off.