Labor and delivery (11)
- Inducing labor: When to wait, when to induce
- Labor pain: Weigh your options for relief
- Stages of labor: Baby, it's time!
- see all in Labor and delivery
Postpartum care (7)
- Maternity leave: Tips for returning to work
- Exercise after pregnancy: How to get started
- Weight loss after pregnancy: Reclaiming your body
- see all in Postpartum care
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Circumcision for baby boys: Weighing the pros and cons
By Mayo Clinic staffCircumcision is the surgical removal of the skin covering the tip of the penis. The procedure is fairly common in the United States, but is it right for your son? Here's help making an informed decision.
Opinions are mixed
For some parents, circumcision is a religious ritual. It can also be a matter of family tradition, personal hygiene or preventive health care. For others, however, the procedure seems unnecessary or disfiguring.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says the benefits aren't strong enough to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns. The AAP leaves the decision up to parents — and supports use of pain relief for infants who have the procedure.
The benefits
Circumcision may have health benefits, including:
- Easier hygiene. Circumcision makes it easy to wash the penis — although it's simple to clean an uncircumcised penis, too.
- Decreased risk of urinary tract infections. The risk of urinary tract infections in the first year is low, but these infections may be up to 10 times as common in uncircumcised baby boys. Severe infections early in life can lead to kidney problems later on.
- Prevention of penile problems. Occasionally, the foreskin on an uncircumcised penis may narrow so much that it's difficult or impossible to retract. This can also lead to inflammation of the head of the penis.
- Decreased risk of penile cancer. Although cancer of the penis is very rare, it's less common in circumcised men.
- Decreased risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Safe sexual practices remain essential, but circumcised men may have a slightly lower risk of certain sexually transmitted diseases — including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes genital warts. Some strains of HPV also cause cervical cancer.
The drawbacks
Circumcision also has drawbacks, including:
- Surgical risks. Excessive bleeding and infection are uncommon, but possible. The foreskin may be cut too short or too long or fail to heal properly. If the remaining foreskin reattaches to the end of the penis, minor surgery may be needed to correct it.
- Pain. Circumcision hurts. Local anesthesia can block nerve sensations during the procedure.
- Permanence. After the procedure, it may be impossible to re-create the appearance of an uncircumcised penis.
- Expense. Some insurance companies don't cover the cost of circumcision.
(1 of 2)
