Is circumcision reversal possible?
THERE may be help for men who wish to have their circumcisions reversed.
“It is not a surgical procedure but you would have to actually stretch the skin,” Gyno-cosmetic surgeon Dr Kemel Gajraj said. “But it can’t be completely reversed, no. Because the skin is gone (after circumcision). But you can achieve quite a bit by pulling and stretching the rest of the skin and [getting] a fairly good cover.”
Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin that covers the head (glans) of the non-erect penis. Many boys who are circumcised become men who regret the decision.
The amount of skin removed during circumcision varies, depending on the amount that droops down from the end of the flaccid penis. In some men, during an erection, the head of the penis peeks out from the loose foreskin that surrounds it, while for others with a lot of foreskin, the head of the penis remains covered, either partially or completely.
“When you do circumcision the head of the penis becomes very insensitive, Dr Gajraj explained. “It is not as sensitive as it is when you are not circumcised. So people try to get back to the previous state so that they can get some kind of sensitivity on the glans of the penis.”
Because the reversal is not a surgical procedure, what is recommended is that men stretch their own skin over time in order to pull the foreskin back over the head of the penis.
“They pull on the skin of the penis on a daily basis, about two or three times per day for about 10 minutes at a time,” Dr Gajraj said. “A lot of uncircumcised people say that they enjoy sex better compared to those who have been circumcised.”
Circumcision reversal is also known as foreskin restoration. A study conducted by researchers in the Department of Urology, Ghent University Hospital, Belgium, on 1,059 uncircumcised and 310 circumcised men, showed that male circumcision in fact decreases penile sensitivity.
The recent study showed that in a large cohort of men, the foreskin has erogenous sensitivity and the foreskin is more sensitive than the uncircumcised glans mucosa. This means that after circumcision, genital sensitivity is lost.
