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Parents of baby boys face a big decision: To circumcise or not? Date published: 7/6/2008
BY MARCIA ARMSTRONG FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR Alice Whalen didn't know what was happening in the hospital nursery. It was 1975, she'd just had her first child--a baby girl--and the hospital quiet was pierced by a cacophony of painful, frightened cries coming from the newborn nursery next door. Whalen asked her doctor what was going on. The baby boys are being circumcised, he told her. DECLINING RATES The cries were so full of misery that Whalen vowed not to subject any sons she might have to the painful procedure. When her three baby boys were born years later, she kept her promise. "I was a 22-year-old crusader with my first child and was extremely protective," said the King George resident. Circumcision--the practice of removing part or all of the foreskin from the penis--is typically done in the first few days of a baby boy's life. Fifty-six percent of boys born in the United States in 2006 were circumcised, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. That's a dramatic decline from the early 1960s, when circumcision rates in the U.S. peaked at about 90 percent. Typically, circumcision rates are highest in the Northeast and lowest in the West. In some states, such as California, Medicaid and some insurance companies refuse to cover the procedure because it is considered cosmetic. Circumcision rates in the Fredericksburg area are between 70 and 80 percent, said Fredericksburg pediatrician Roxanne Allegretti. SHIFTING VIEWS While some doctors and parents cite medical reasons for the procedure--a decreased risk of urinary tract infection and sexually transmitted diseases--the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't recommend it. Neither does Allegretti. "It's unnecessary," she said. It is true that circumcision reduces urinary tract infections and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, she said. "But, if you use a condom--which you should be--it doesn't make a difference. And, urinary tract infections are so rare in baby boys that the increased risk of it isn't significant," she said. Though circumcision remains extremely common, opposition to the procedure has become widespread.
I suppose that if Dave has a daughter, he breaks her hymen because of improper hygiene practices, and she gets numerous infections that lead to her needing surgery, he'll conclude that she "suffered by not getting a hysterectomy early".
David's son was a victim of bad advice, bordering on malpractice. A baby's foreskin is firmly attached to the glans. Forcing it back tears it and the wound may seal the surfaces back together, increasing the risk of infection. The layers separate naturally over several years, more than most medical textbooks claim – sometimes not until puberty. Modern advice: “Only clean what is seen.” Sadly ,stories like David’s lead to even more unnecessary circumcisions.
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