Did The Doctor Botch This Circumcision?

Posting Date: 04/13/1999

Mike: Is it possible to screw up a circumcision?

Dr. Dean: Are you kidding me?

Mike: Well, here's my question. My son is two years old. It looks like they didn't cut enough from the head of the foreskin. It seems like the head of his penis tilts upward. He urinates vertically. We have to hold his penis down and point it toward the floor to help him pee.

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Dr. Dean: Any surgery can have mishaps. Sometimes adhesions and scarring can bind the penis in an odd position; sometimes the circumcision is a botched job. And some infants are born with hypospadias; the penis is tilted, causing the boy to urinate sideways.

Since he is so young, maybe this can be fixed. You might consider talking to a pediatric urologist to see what he thinks.

This is one of the many reasons I tell people not to circumcise their sons. Are we all on the same wavelength here? We beat this one up last month, when the American Academy of Pediatrics finally took the position that there is no medical reason for circumcision.

Search your hearts and souls to find why you're doing this to your little boys. To make him look like Daddy? That's ridiculous. If Daddy is bald, are you going to shave the kid's head? If you examine your heart and learn as much as you can about circumcision, most of the time, you'll elect not to do it.