Circumcision: The Painful Dilemma, Chapter Eleven: The Complications of Circumcision, Pages 200-228. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey (out of print), 1985.
Circumcision: The Painful Dilemma, Chapter Eleven: The Complications of Circumcision, Pages 200-228. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey (out of print), 1985.
Note:
The Complications of Circumcision,Chapter Eleven of Circumcision: The Painful Dilemma, by Rosemary Romberg, Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 1985 (Quoted with permission of the author.)
The risks are many and can be devastating.
ammoniacal urine burns on the unprotected glans … Possibly over half of all circumcised infants develop this.(p. 200)
results from prolonged or repeated episodes of meatal ulceration. The repeatedly irritated meatus becomes narrowed… . pain and difficulty with urination… . can result in infections and kidney problems.(p. 204)
excessive bleeding… . a fairly common complication of circumcision.(p. 206)
the ring fails to fall off and instead becomes buried under the skin along the shaft of the penis [and has to be surgically removed]… . leaves … a permanent ridge or groove along the shaft of the penis.(p. 210)
the penile shaft, following circumcision, retreats into the surrounding skin and fatty area and cannot be seen.[Must be corrected surgically.] (p. 211)
a hole going from the side of the male urethra to the outside of the penis… . results either from accidental crushing of the urethra by the circumcision clamp, an abnormality in the urethra, or from a stitch placed in the underside of the penis to control excessive bleeding at the site of the frenulum.(p. 214)
occasionally the remaining piece of foreskin becomes tightly attached to the sides of the glans …(p. 215)
Occasionally a baby will not urinate for several hours following circumcision. Sometimes the cause is an overly tight bandage wrapped around the wound. In other instances the cause is less clear.(p. 217)
the death of body tissue… . has happened to the glans following circumcision due to an overly tight bandage or a Plasti-bell ring that is too small.(p. 218)
Occasionally the glans can be injured or entirely cut off during circumcision… . Usually a permanent deformity results.(p. 219)
devastating complications result from cutting off too much skin… . Excessive skin loss can result from the operator severing too much foreskin, from infection of the wound resulting in tissue death, or from a burn caused by an electrocautery device. Sometimes the entire penile shaft becomes denuded and skin grafting is necessary… . as the individual grows older his penile skin becomes too tight, causing discomfort on erection.(p. 219)
a complication in healing of the [circumcision] wound, by which a piece of skin from the shaft of the penis has become attached to the glans, or another point along the shaft, forming a 'bridge' that must be surgically corrected.(p. 221)
cessation of breathing, usually for a short period of time… . can be life-threatening.[Baby cries from pain. Mother nurses baby. Baby vomits and inhales vomit.] (p. 222)
Sewing the skin edge to the glans, with consequent burying of the corona.(p. 223)
Accidental laceration of the penile skin and scrotum following circumcision has been seen.(p. 223)
a congenital deformity in which a fistula naturally occurs in the underside of the penis… . corrected by plastic surgery. The foreskin provides an easily available piece of tissue for use in skin grafting… . If an infant with hypospadias is … circumcised, this potentially useful piece of skin has been destroyed and the operator must resort to more complicated types of skin grafts to reconstruct the penis.(p. 223)
an abnormal, closed pocket of body tissue which contains fluid or solid material. Occasionally cysts develop along the remaining edges of foreskin at the site where the skin was severed.(p. 223)
Complications can ensue from use of any type of anesthesia for any medical procedure, including circumcision.(p. 224)
Mezizah [rarely done today] is the third step of the Jewish ritual circumcision ceremony, in which the mohel applies his mouth to the fresh circumcision wound. Diseases have been spread due to this practice.(p. 225)
long strands of human hair wrapped around the coronal sulcus.(p. 225)
a collection of air or gas in the membranes that surround the lungs or pleural cavity… . an infant developed a pneumothorax as a result of mechanical assistance with breathing for severe respiratory distress at birth… . [then] the infant was circumcised. His excessive crying from the pain of the operation caused the pneumothorax to recur …(p. 225)
a clot of blood which travels through the circulatory system and becomes lodged in one of the blood vessels in the lungs. This causes severe breathing difficulties and can result in death.(p. 226)
an abnormal development consisting of a raised, firm, thickened, red piece of scar tissue. Such a formation at the site of circumcision creates a grotesque deformation of the organ, with obstruction of its function.(p. 226)
swelling or obstruction of the lymph vessels… . can result from circumcision.(p. 226)
her two-year-old son had tried to amputate his [own] penis and was bleeding profusely… . had witnessed his baby brother's ritual circumcision …(p. 227)
The Gomco clamp and Plasti-bell devices … if applied crookedly can … result in cosmetic problems. Older methods such as smashing the skin with a hemostat and slicing it off present greater risk that an uneven cut will result.(p. 228)
There have been cases in which the penis has been lost due to circumcision… . In some cases enough penile shaft remained so that after extensive operations a functional penis could be reconstructed. In other cases the child has been surgically made into a(p. 228)girl.
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