by Janea Washington

Created on: November 03, 2008

I am opposed to circumcision on an infant. I do not have medical information to throw at you or pecentages and numbers. I speak as a mother who has had a horrible experience with the circumcision procedure. I was 21 when I gave birth to my oldest son and he was cicumcized in the hospital after birth. He was circumcized not due to religious beliefs. He was circumcized because I thought he had to be. I was a young mother and had not done any research on the issue. I brought my son home and was given informationon on how to treat the area. I followed the instruction word for word and he seemed to be healing well.

Two days later I uncovered the bandaged area only to find that the cicumcumcized area had begun to fuse back together. His skin had healed halfway around the penis and was extremely tight. I called the doctor and he recommended that i try to pull the healed skin apart. I was mortified. Reluctantly, I attempted to seperate the skin and my son screamed. I took him to the doctor where he was strapped down to a mini board and given a local numbing cream on the healed area. The doctor had to cut his skin back apart with a small scalpel. I was sent home again and again followed the diresctions I was given. Three days later the same side has fused closed again. I was in shock. My son is a normal child , he does not have miraculous healing powers, how could this have happenned. We went back to the doctor and went thru the entire ordeal again.

The circumcision healed the best it could and my son is 10 now. He complains sometimes of feeling a tight tugging on the skin around his penis when he urinates. He may need to have the skin cut again. I will leave that decision up to him. Since then I have given birth to 2 more sons. I did a lot of research before they were born. Circumcision is not dangerous. Yes there is a chance of infection but that can be handled with proper care and hygeine. My husband and I agreed to skip the cicumcision and allow our sons to decide for themselves if they wanted it done.

If they decide to have it done as adults they can be put to sleep during the procedure. Also as adults the skin around the head of the penis has had time to detach and stretch. This would make removel less painful on the head of the penis and do less nerve damage on such a sensitive area. I couldn't bare to put my babies through the same pain my first born had to endure. Why should we make this decision for these young men? Is it medically necessary? Or is it really a cosmetic procedure? A baby will not die from not being circumcized so why make the decision for them? Let them choose for themselves.

Learn more about this author, Janea Washington.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.