Hello lovely hivers, your nurse is here again to discuss an important topic that will help enlighten us as well as increase our knowledge. Am also happy and thankful to everyone here for your unflinching supports.
Alright, today's discussion will be basically on male Circumcision, as my previous post centered on female circumcision which is known to be a barbaric practice.
Although some don't accept the practice of male Circumcision due to religious as well as personal choice ,majority of males undergo this process either mostly as a baby or in few instances as adults.
Before I continue, I want to clearly state that everything I will talk about here will be purely based on medical advice as well as experience and is not in any way to impose any choice on anyone.
So please back to our discussion for today 😊 which is male Circumcision. As I explained in my previous post,
circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin also known as the prepuce which covers the glans of the penis (the smooth tip).
This is majorly on medical grounds or benefits unlike that of the female which is not on medical grounds.
I think it will make more sense, if I explain or describe the original state of the male penis before the process of circumcision as this will help our understanding.
Originally, the male penis which is known to be an organ of reproduction as well as a route for the passage of urine,is divided into
the shaft which can also be called the body, foreskin (prepuce), the glans also known as the head of the penis and then the opening at the tip(orifice), through which sperm and urine passes.
The foreskin (prepuce) is the main structure that distinguishes an uncircumcised penis from a circumcised penis and it varies in length in different individual.
Uncircumcised penis, with foreskin intact
In some males, it is very long that it covers the glans completely leaving only the orifice, while in some others, it covers just some parts of the head of the penis exposing the remaining part.
This foreskin usually retracts (draws back)when ever there is erection, exposing the head of the penis completely. But for those whose own are very long,even after the retraction, the glans of the penis still remains covered unless manually retracted during sex.
Coming back to the practice of circumcision, it is usually carried out on male babies on the 8th day, although it can also be carried out on adults though on rare occassions.
There are three major types of circumcision practiced namely
the plastibell device, Gomco clamp and Mogen clamp and the mechanism of these three types is to cut of blood supply to the foreskin inorder to make it easy for the physician or midwife to cut the foreskin off without bleeding.
Circumcised penis of a baby using the plastibell device
Least I forget, informed consent is usually obtained from the adult male patient or from the parents if the procedure is being carried out on a baby and the procedure is usually done under the cover of anesthesia, so as to block off the pain.
During the procedure,the prepuce(foreskin)is freed/separated from the glans of the penis and then cut off through any of the above mentioned methods.
It takes 20 to 30minutes to carry out circumcision especially using the plastibell device and 7 to 10days for the site to heal and the remnant of the device to fall off.
A circumcised adult male penis
Is there really any benefit associated with male Circumcision?
The answer is yes and some of them includes : Prevention of cancer of the penis in men and cervix in women
how does this happen? Usually, these cancers are caused by the Human papilloma virus(HpV) and
it is seen to multiply in epithelial cells found in the surface skin of the penis, and the foreskin may facilitate virus entry into those cells.
So by cutting off the prepuce during circumcision, the hide out for this virus is removed thereby preventing the cancer for the man, then for the woman because the man doesn't have this virus the woman is safe from contacting it and this is also how cervical cancer is prevented.
In addition to that, circumcision also prevents several other sexually transmitted infections as well as urinary tract infections in which the microorganisms causing them usually are trapped in the foreskin in the uncircumcised penis especially in individuals who are not conscious of their level of hygiene.
It is also known that this procedure when done on the male child, makes it very easy to wash and care for the penile region(good hygiene), there by preventing infections of any kind as there won't be any hideouts for these disease causing microbes.
Prevention/ solution of some penile conditions like balanoposthitis(inflammation of the glans and foreskin)
most often caused by a fungal infection, like a yeast infection, but bacterial infections can cause it, too. This most often happens as a result of improper hygiene, especially because the foreskin can trap moisture, creating the perfect environment for fungus and bacteria to thrive,
paraphimosis(inability of the retracted foreskin to be pulled up) and phimosis (inability of the the foreskin to retract or pull down from the tip of the penis),all these through circumcision are gotten rid of or prevented from occuring.
Improves sexual satisfaction in most women, there by making the sexual life of the couple fun.
Despite all these benefits associated with male Circumcision, it also have some risks which most times can be managed and they include: error in the cutting of the foreskin in which some the skin will remain and will require specialized surgical intervention to correct it.
Pain after the procedure, which can be managed using analgesic.
Bleeding during the procedure this can be stopped through the application of epinephrine topically on the site which has a vasoconstriction action thereby
Stopping bleeding from the site.
Delay in the healing of the circumcision site and this is usually as a result of poor hygiene during change of diapers and poor care of the area which results to microorganisms invading the site causing breakdown in wound.
This can be prevented through* application of antibiotic ointment to the site and great deal of hygiene.
So from our discussion today on the male version of circumcision, even though it's seen to be majorly done based on culture and religion,it also involve some discomforts. It is seen to have so many great benefits to the male and even extending to their female partners unlike that of the female circumcision also know as female genital mutilation which has no record of any medical or health benefit to the woman.
It is crucial to note that even with the benefits associated with male Circumcision, individuals still have there full rights to decide whether they want to be circumcised or not and so it should not be imposed or forced on anyone.
So having discussed this, I hope this post didn't bore anyone here, and also hope we gain something from it to add to our existing knowledge?
At this juncture, I will call it a day and I anticipate a positive response as well as input from anyone who reads this.
Thanks to you all for sticking around patiently. Expect more interesting and brain teasing posts from me.
Reference
Abnormalities in penis prevented through circumcision
Inflammation of the glans and foreskin