More and more men in Lithuania are requesting the following surgery: prolonged sexual intercourse, lower risk of infections and cancer

Prevalence of circumcision in the world: its benefits have long been believed

Circumcision of the foreskin or circumcision is one of the oldest operations in the world to remove all or part of the foreskin. According to urologist Marius Anglickis, a doctor at the Northway Medical Center in Lithuania, circumcision is performed only for medical purposes, in the presence of a foreskin that is too narrow (phimosis). Phimosis can affect a man from birth or develop due to fungus or other inflammation of the foreskin.

It is true that there are countries where circumcision of the foreskin is performed for religious or aesthetic reasons, and in the past, this procedure was often unavoidable for boys in many countries.

“In prehistoric times, in many countries, circumcision was an inevitable part of boys becoming men. Part of the foreskin was removed as a sacrifice to the gods. It was believed that children sacrificed to the gods what was most precious to them: part of their reproductive organ. This was to obtain the blessings of the gods in later life. It was believed that such a sacrifice, happy gods gave man health and wealth, ”says M. Anglickis.

He goes on to say that circumcision was later used as a way to classify oneself as a social or religious group. In ancient Egypt, all slaves and their descendants were circumcised, and the Jews inherited the tradition of circumcision from the Egyptians. They are believed to have been the first to perform this procedure on newborns.

“Muslims circumcise boys between the ages of five and twelve. Although the circumcision was done for religious reasons, it had very practical benefits. People who lived in deserts and hot climates did not have many opportunities to bathe, so removal of the foreskin allowed to maintain hygiene and prevent inflammation of the foreskin ”, explains the urologist.

The circumcision procedure is one of the most common surgeries performed in the United States today. It is estimated that there are about 50 percent here. circumcised men, and 30-40 years ago up to 85% of women were circumcised. American men. According to Anglickis, in the 19th century, circumcision in the United States became popular because of the belief that it protected men from wanting to masturbate and cured women of “hysteria.” In those days, masturbation was believed to harm men’s health, harm their fertility and potency, harm the psyche. And to this day, the circumcision of boys and men in the United States is very popular: it is considered the norm and is even allowed to be classified in a higher social class.

Some American doctors of the Victorian era went even further. They believed that circumcision cured syphilis, epilepsy, and mental retardation. It all started in 1870, when one of the leading physicians of the time, Dr. Levis E. Sayr, presented a report to the American Medical Association on the link between various diseases and phimosis.

Those were strange times when doctors treated women’s “hysteria” by removing the ovaries and men’s diseases by removing the foreskin. It all started when Dr. Levis E. Sayr noticed that a 5-year-old boy who couldn’t walk had noticed that he had phimosis. According to him, two weeks after the circumcision, the boy began to walk. Hundreds of American doctors began publishing articles confirming LE Sayers’ discovery.

“Year after year, the list of diseases caused by phimosis expanded. Some doctors have even described deaths from phimosis. Circumcision was performed by qualified and not very qualified doctors. If a person dies after the operation, phimosis and negligence they are to blame. If a person has not recovered, the disease is too advanced. Phimosis was even the culprit in the murder of the president, “says the urologist.

Men are ashamed of this – they apply too late when it’s hard to help

As M. Anglickis observes, to many, phimosis seems an innocent and safe condition. But not all is so easy.

“Phimosis is a dangerous condition for several reasons. One of them is that the foreskin does not come off the head, so dirt accumulates there, inflammation is repeated. These men have been found to have a significantly increased risk of penile cancer. Meanwhile, circumcised men have almost no penile cancer. There are several cases of penile cancer each year. Sometimes just removing the foreskin is enough, and often the entire penis needs to be removed, ”he says.

Another dangerous condition that can affect men with phimosis is paraphimosis. According to a urologist, a narrow foreskin “strangles” the head of the penis during an erection, and then it is very difficult to restore the foreskin. After a while, the foreskin swells, swells, and it becomes even more difficult to restore it to its place.

“The problem is that men are very ashamed of this problem and often go late to medical institutions, when the skin of the foreskin begins to gangrease. In the early stages of paraphimosis, paraphimosis can be restored by applying petroleum jelly or another lubricant and pulling the foreskin up and pushing the head of the penis down. In the meantime, in case of delay, the patient should be immediately rescued in the operating room. For these reasons, it is better to solve this problem in time “, emphasizes M Anglickis.

According to the doctor, circumcision is not a complicated procedure, it is often enough to apply local anesthesia. Then the nastiest part: some needle sticks at the root of the penis. According to M. Anglickis, in most cases a man’s life after circumcision improves dramatically.

“Very often, the foreskin is so tight that urine hardly escapes. For such men, recurrent inflammation of the foreskin, constantly pierced. A simple procedure dramatically improves your quality of life, but all surgical procedures inevitably have complications. The biggest headache is nocturnal erections, which can cause the strings to leak and bleed from the wound. Also, an unsightly scar can form at the incision site, which sometimes irritates men, but usually depends on the individual characteristics of the body. Sometimes after the biggest surgeries, the scar heals in such a way that it is difficult even to say that the person had surgery, ”he says.

Symptoms negatively affect sex life

With the tightening of the foreskin, men can experience a variety of unpleasant symptoms. According to urologist Rosita Bazarauskaitė, a physician at Northway Medical Center, some of the symptoms have a negative effect on a man’s sex life.

“A tight foreskin causes several symptoms: pain, redness of the skin and cracks. Urine further irritates the affected skin, so you may feel burning when urinating. It hurts during an erection and can cause sores due to cracks in the skin. In the absence of irritation on the head of the penis, pleasure decreases during sexual intercourse ”, explains R. Bazarauskaitė.

According to the urologist, surgical treatment is usually the only and best treatment for a narrowing of the foreskin.

“According to studies, circumcised men experience greater pleasure because the erogenous zones of the vagina are directly irritated: the head of the penis and its anterior surface. It has been found that circumcised men are less likely to have sexually transmitted infections and cancer This is associated with better hygiene. In addition, the partners of a circumcised man value it positively for a more aesthetic image, better hygiene, lower risk of infection “, says the urologist.

R. Bazarauskaitė states that some men considering circumcision surgery are concerned that their erection will not get worse after the procedure. However, the urologist explains that the operation is not affected.

“The most important question for men is whether the erection will not worsen or whether the penis will not shrink. The size of the penis, however, depends on blood flow during an erection and removal of the foreskin is not involved. Sometimes it is feared make him look strange in front of a partner. So I joke that circumcision is so common in western countries that an uncircumcised man in North America looks more strange than a circumcised one, “says R. Bazarauskaitė.