Circumcision
Please remember that choosing to circumcise or not is a very personal choice and it should be YOUR choice. You can find statistics anywhere that support either choice. Do the research and decide what is best for your family.
I have included some information from the Mayo Clinic below which is written with no particular bias. Another good website is www.nocirc.org This site obviously does not support circumcision but it offers some very good statistics and history of the procedure. In my experience recently, the trend in MN is leading toward not circumcising. This is due to ethnic and religous beliefs and the fact that most insurance companies no longer pay for circumcision.
Circumcision for baby boys: Weighing the pros and cons
If you have a baby boy, you'll need to decide whether to have him circumcised. Consider the pros and cons.Circumcision is the surgical removal of the skin covering the tip of the penis. The procedure is fairly common in certain parts of the world, including the United States and Canada. But is it right for your son? Here's help making an informed decision. Opinions are mixed. For some parents, circumcision is a religious ritual. It can also be a matter of family tradition, personal hygiene or preventive health care. For others, however, the procedure seems unnecessary or disfiguring. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement that says the benefits aren't strong enough to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns. Today, the AAP leaves the decision up to parents — and supports use of pain relief for infants who have the procedure.
Statistics
U.S. hospitals and practitioners are not legally required to report how many circumcisions they perform, so the state circumcision statistics on the map below are drawn from government surveys.
The overall average U.S. hospital infant circumcision rate reported by the National Hospital Discharge Survey as of 2007 (the latest year for which data is available) is 55.4%, reflecting a slow downward trend from a high of about 85% in 1965.
Study: 2009 Average U.S. Circumcision Rate Falls to 33%
An August 2010 study of more than 6.5 million newborn boys presented by Charbel El Bcheraoui from the Centers for Disease Control at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna found that the average U.S. circumcision rate fell from 56% in 2006 to 33% in 2009.
Hospital Circumcision Rates by State
Hover over each state to see specific circumcision data. Percentage rates are from 2008 or 2009 (the latest years for which individual state HCUP data is available). Medicaid funding data is courtesy of The Intactivism Pages.
Other considerations
Circumcision may not be an option if your son has certain medical conditions, such as an abnormality of the penis that requires surgical treatment. In this case, the foreskin may be needed for repair. Circumcision doesn't affect fertility, nor is circumcision thought to enhance or detract from sexual pleasure for men or their partners. After a circumcision, it may be impossible to re-create the appearance of an uncircumcised penis.
The Procedure
Circumcision is often done in the hospital nursery. It may also be done in an outpatient setting within the first few weeks after birth. Your son will lie on his back with his arms and legs restrained. After the penis and surrounding area are cleansed, an anesthetic will be injected into the base of the penis or applied to the penis as a cream. A special clamp or plastic ring will be attached to the penis, and the foreskin will be removed. Afterward, the penis will be covered with an ointment, such as petroleum jelly, and wrapped loosely with gauze. The procedure takes about five to 10 minutes.
Circumcision Care
It usually takes about seven to 10 days for the penis to heal. The tip of the penis may seem raw at first, and you may notice a yellowish mucus or crust. A small amount of bleeding also is common the first day or two. It's OK to wash your son's penis as it's healing. Change the bandage with each diaper change, and apply a dab of petroleum jelly to the tip of the penis to keep it from sticking to the diaper. If there's a plastic ring instead of a bandage, it will drop off on its own — usually within a week. Once your son's penis heals, wash it with soap and water during each bath. Problems after circumcision are rare. Contact your son's doctor if:
- Your son doesn't urinate normally within six to eight hours after the circumcision
- There's persistent bleeding or redness around the tip of the penis
- There's foul-smelling drainage from the tip of the penis or crusted sores fill with fluid
If you choose not to have your son circumcised, simply wash your son's penis with soap and water during each bath. There's no need to clean beneath the foreskin until it retracts on its own, often by age 5. Then teach your son to clean beneath the foreskin during each bath — gently pull back the foreskin, clean the area with soap and water, rinse and pull the foreskin back over the head of the penis. After each bath, pull back the foreskin again to dry the area.
