Circumcision:

To many men the idea of either taking care of their foreskins or even having to look at them on a regular basis is off-putting and they yearn to have the circumcised look. Many anti-circumcision groups have sprung up in the last few years, garnered lots of attention and have played into the hands of the few men who feel disaffected about their circumcised state. To many men, the foreskin and its restoral have become almost a fetish!!

Certainly, some circumcised men have something to complain about, having had too much skin removed making the penis tight and literally dragging the scrotum and testicles forward up the base of the penis. Contrarily, a larger number of uncircumcised men (from 1% to 5%) have foreskins that are tight and even unretractable when they are erect. For many men, the smell of the glans and foreskin, after the normal course of the day's urination and smegma production, always remains objectionable and despite washing in the shower each morning and again after any ejaculation, there is that unmistakeable odor. Some men and even less women, find this collection of odors to be erotic - to most it's an embarrassment.

The following contains information that is crucial for any man about to choose circumcision and reassuring to those who have had it done at birth. I would like to preface this by saying that I chose to be circumcised as an adult and have loved the look and feel of my penis ever since.

Before undergoing the procedure, I became very acquainted with my penis- I kept the foreskin permanently retracted (not everyone should do this) to let it desensitize to see if I would find the 'drastically reduced sensations' impossible to live with and as a medical doctor, I wanted to be able to tell my surgeon what skin I was prepared to part with. To that end I got to know exactly what pleasures it could give me and how.

What is the foreskin?

If you have one you know but many circumcised men have never seen an 'uncut' guy and so to those men this answer may clear up any mystery.

While you are unerect, pull the shaft skin forward over the head of the penis even to the point where the head disappears under the fold of skin. There you have it!! A foreskin. Now try stimulating the glans by the usual masturbation strokes - pulling the shaft skin up and over the glans and back- and you will get the idea of what it feels like to use the foreskin to masturbate with. That is until you stiffen too far and can't get the skin to ride up over the corona (the flared base of the head or glans).

This is what the uncut men feel, more or less. Now every man who loves his foreskin is going to say "Ridiculous! Our glans are so sensitive that we get the greatest pleasure out of this simple act." Well, what are they feeling that is so good? A distant muffled feeling is the answer.

Before my circumcision, the glans was very sensi tive to touch by dry objects like clothing or an unlubed fist encircling it and there was no pleasure in stroking the head or corona as a cut guy can often do, because it was too sensitive. However, this sensitivity is not sexual in nature - it is more like rubbing chaffed skin, so the uncut guy really needs the foreskin to buffer the direct effects of the masturbating hand or the dry rubbing underpants. Therefore it is true! The circumcised man is less sensitive - but NOT to properly applied stimulation.

Once aroused and if even moistened a little, JUST like the uncut guys moistened glans' surface, you will feel sexually pleasurable sensations from gentle friction of your glans.

I have yet to hear from any man, except those sad individuals who have made foreskin restoration their life's goal, telling me that his glans has no feeling.
But wait!! What about that really sensitive glans the uncircumcised men all talk about? Well, who rubs it anyway? In Masters and Johnson's study of men masturbating and in countless accounts elsewhere of the techniques men use, where does anyone describe direct and persistent stimulation of the glans penis? Nowhere!! You know why? If you rub it lightly, it feels OK but not satisfying. You definitely know you want more out of this encounter with your hand!! If you rub it harder it feels most unpleasant, almost setting your teeth on edge. So then, what about the more sensitive glans of the uncut man? Where are those wonderfully increased, erotic, pleasurable sexual sensations? -there aren't any!!!!!!
The reason is that the glans provides wonderfully sexual feelings by being enclosed in a warm, wet place. The encircling organ, vagina, mouth or rectum provides those conditions BECAUSE the receptors for PLEASURE in the glans are deep pressure sensors. Then on TOP of that, the gentle friction of the above mentioned 'enclosures' adds to the overall feeling of SATISFYING glandular stimulation.
Again, it is not reported that men derive great pleasure from exclusively stimulating the heads of their penises at all, and this, I hope, debunks the myth about the need for the glans to be as sensitive as uncut guys claim. Since they don't know what it feels like to be circumcised - very f ew uncut men go to the trouble of keeping their foreskins permanently retracted to feel what the exposed glans ultimately feels like- and because they assume that they must derive more sexual pleasure from their more highly sensitive glans, the circumcised man has been presented with what appears to be a 'slam-dunk' case of inferiority! Clearly, this is not so and is simply based on the ignorance of the anatomy and neurological innervation of the penis by most men, even the NO-CIRC proponents and others of that ilk.

There is however, a terrible thing that can happen to an adult being circumcised that leads to a most unsatisfying result. That is removal of so much of the inner lining of the foreskin that the frenulum, the strip of skin that runs from under the urinary opening or meatus, is removed. This simple little bit of skin, less than an inch long, flares out and blends with the inner layer of the foreskin, otherwise called the mucuous membrane. This inner layer is pink in color, no matter what t he rest of the shaft skin looks like and is the layer that lies directly against the glans, touching it when the foreskin is pulled all the way forward. If you are circumcised, it is the skin that lies behind the corona and extends to your 'cutline'. You will see a change in color of the skin and in many men, the 'cutline' is slightly browner than the rest of the skin.

Many, but not all men, have discovered the pleasure of their frenulums during the exploration of their penises and have found that just stimulating the frenulum alone can produce the most powerful orgasms they are ever likely to experience. This really IS a most important piece of the foreskin and its removal often happens in adult circumcisions -due, sadly, to the surgeon's lack of understanding of his own penile erotic tissue!!

The frenulum contains a highly concentrated set of nerve endings that respond, not to touch or external friction, but to stretch!! During almost all masturbatory activity, males RARELY stimulate any more of the glans than just the edge of the corona as we noted, so that glans sensitivity is not that crucial in the buildup to orgasm - but the stretching and releasing of tension on the frenulum as the hand moves the shaft skin up and down actually propels the sensations upwards towards orgasm.
Whether it is intercourse or masturbation, the greatest sexual stimulation is from this tiny strip of skin. Try this. Masturbate by placing the tip of your index finger on this strip and pressing into the urethra lightly (once you are erect, the urethra is the bulging tube you can see and feel running from the meatus, under the frenulum, then to the base of the penis and in between the testicles) and then make faster and faster little circles with your fingertip which will lead to a stunning climax,but only if you can be completely alone - it takes a little time to 'plug' into this technique and you musn't be distracted.

Once you succeed though, you will know why I have stressed the need to preserve this tissue so much. During intercourse or masturbation, in addition to the feelings generated by the frenulum, there are the added benefits of compression of the urethra in the encircling hand (masturbating) or other 'enclosure' (intercourse), as well as the pressure and light friction applied to the receptors in the glans on the in-stroke -and the pressure and friction on the corona on the out-stroke., all of which combine and add up to the overwhelming sensations that finally lead to orgasm. None, however, contributes as much to this process as that tiny strip of skin - the frenulum.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET CIRCUMCISED

First, you really must know your anatomy as I have described above. If you draw a circle with a colored marker around the opening of the foreskin in the UNERECT state (and be quick, a lot of you will find this erotic and you will start erecting) and another circle on the foreskin at the base of the glans, or corona, and pull your foreskin back, the area between the 2 circles is what nee ds to come off. You will have the frenulum safely protected and the 'cut' line should be at least 11/2" to 2" back from the base of the glans. TELL THE SURGEON THAT THIS IS ALL THAT IS ALLOWED TO BE CUT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will then be assured of the perfect cut - the same as the optimal circumcisions that are done in the newborn period - and you will have lost NO significant erotic tissue. Do not be tempted to go for extreme tightness as some men feel they should. Intercourse is made unpleasant and the resulting enormous tension that this places on the frenulum will drive you into a rapid orgasm. You need to keep all the benfits that Mother Nature provided you with and only lose the hassles. You don't want to add new (but different) problems to your organ - you have already put up with enough!!!

Then, try 'wearing' your foreskin pulled back at all times. A little tape helps and over a few months you will notice that your glans is not as sensitive to your clothes rubbing on it. At this point you can decide if you feel that you are less erotically endowed -and if you think you are, then circumcision is not for you.

If for example, you like to spend most of your time stimulating just the tip of your foreskin with it always pulled over the glans, this means one of two things.

1.
If you can easily retract your foreskin but choose to keep it forward and just use a finger to pull on and rub the tip of the 'elephant's trunk' and this is your primary means of penile simulation, then DON'T undergo the operation. You will really miss what has become your preferred method of sexual pleasure.

2.
If this is the only way you can get erotic sensations because you can't ever pull the foreskin back, cirumcision is a NECESSITY for you, as you have a condition called phimosis. This not only increases your risk for penile cancer but may increase your female partner's chances of cervical cancer. Plus you are missing all the benefits of being able to expose your glans and stimulate it and you are yet to experience the sensations your frenulum can give you!

THE OPERATION

I had my operation done under local anesthetic. You will feel a little sting as this is injected into the penile skin but that is all the discomfort there is. After the operation which takes less than 30 minutes, the penis will be tightly bandaged almost up to the urinary opening. This prevents erections from pulling on the suture line. The sutures should come out in 10 to 14 days and you need to be careful not to tug on the sutureline ('cut' line) yet as it takes about 3 weeks for the incision line to be firm and unbreakeable. Many men feel so much stimulation occurring as a reflex from the suture line, that they are sexually charged all day long and simply have to masturbate the moment the dressings come off - possibly even before. You can do this by lightly stroking the shaft and glans with a water based lubricant until you ejaculate. I was able to rub the frenulum as it was just exposed and it was worth the wait of 48 hours of dealing with a constant erection and production of masses of pre-cum. The orgasm was powerful and I was able to think again of things other than my erect penis. Just don't go into a full blown jerking off frenzy!! You can do a lot of damage to the cut line but you can certainly try a more vigorous, but still cautious workout, 3 weeks after the surgery if you feel so inclined -and if the surgeon has said that the penis has healed well when he sees you at your final post-operative visit.

The sexual benefits of circumcision Are you kidding, Doc?? You mean there ARE some?????? Indeed there are! Observations of circumcised versus uncircumcised men during intercourse almost always show that the 'cut' guys are slower to ejaculate. This is indeed a benefit and presumably is related to the increased frictional sensitivity that the 'uncut' man has to deal with immediately on inserting his penis at the start of intercourse.

My observation is that once the normally dried skin of the glans in the 'cut' state becomes moistened and as sexual tension mounts, there is NO difference in the sensations between the two. But the cut guy gets a little lead time before plunging into orgasm. Few people find this a negative experience! Also, the tighter skin of the shaft allows more frictional feelings to be transmitted to the whole length of the penis, som ething that rarely happens in the 'uncut' state. This was a totally new and pleasant surprise to me.

With the uncircumcised penis the foreskin pulls up over the corona and then further, it covers the glans, on each out stroke, just as if a condom hadmagically appeared and covered the head -and it dulls the otherwise pleasurable sensation of penile withdrawal. In the 'uncut' state the shaft skin is so loose that it barely moves with thrusting- the body of the penis literally slides in and out of this 'glove'. Again, it is a dull and distant sensation. The circumcised man can feel the grip of the vagina, for example, up and down the whole organ with each thrust and withdrawal and he can focus his mind on wherever he wants from the glans, the frenulum or the pressure of the vagina's (or rectum's) muscles as they grip the shaft, stimulating the skin by light fric tion and pressure from the base of the penis to the glans!!!

The uncircumcised man does not feel these sensations so acutley - they are distant and duller. I realize that this is the exact OPPOSITE of what you may have read and heard from people like NO-CIRC. Remember, that many of these people are disaffected individuals with an agenda and they are the last people you would want to get information from on THIS topic.

I have had so many men write and call me on this subject after having been circumcised as adults, invariably telling me that they have loved the results. If there is any regret, it is in not having had it done sooner, though some also wistfully say that there are less variations in the masturbation repertoire, but that this trade-off is worth it, as the gains noted above more than compensate.

Well, it serves to stress that you can't have it all !!! BUT, some men have had really radical surgery and the results then, are disastrous as discussed above.

POST CIRCUMCISION

The penis should be tightly bandaged including covering most of the glans. This constricts the penis which following the reflex stimulation from the surgery, has a mind of its own and as I mentioned above, wants to 'pop' up all day long. The bandages come off in 3 to 4 days. Your penis will be bruised and the mucous membrane layer will be swollen. This all goes away as the blood vessels rejoin over the next 2 weeks.

You will notice that each time you erect, the 'cut' line will tingle in a most pleasant fashion. Enjoy this sensation while you can as it passes in about a year. Though once in a while you can still feel it, especially as your penis erects and swells.

For those of you who are going to get it done, congratulatio ns on making a difficult decision. For those of you who were circumcised as children and were wondering about what you are missing, I hope this helps.

For any further discussion on this I can be contacted on AOL as AussieDoc1@AOL.com. AussieDoc@AOL.com. Feel free to write. I would also be happy to talk to any of you directly and help you plan your visit to the surgeon you select.