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5 Things You Didn't Know About Circumcision

newborn baby boy wrapped in blanket
Countless studies have shown the health benefits of having newborn boys circumcised, researchers say. Even so the practice is highly debated and rates are dwindling in many areas. (Image credit: <a href="">rSnapshotPhotos</a> | <a href="">Shutterstock</a>)




1. It was once touted as a cure for paralysis

In the late 1800s, doctors turned to circumcision to "cure" an array of ailments, from childhood fevers to brass poisoning to paralysis. This era was a boom time for genital surgery — women were losing their ovaries to the knife in the name of curing hysteria — but it was an 1870 case that shone the spotlight on circumcision.


During his examination, Sayre discovered that the boy's foreskin had contracted, causing the child great pain. Speculating that the foreskin problem could be the source of the boy's "physical prostration and nervous exhaustion," Sayre conducted a circumcision the next day. In less than two weeks, Sayre reported, the boy was walking again.


2. The foreskin is more complex than you might think

The foreskin isn't just skin. Think of it as more like an eyelid for male genitals. On the inside, the foreskin is made up of mucous membrane, analogous to the inside of the eyelid or the inside of the mouth. It's this moist environment that seems to be responsible for the foreskin's association with sexually transmitted infections. The foreskin also contains a large number of Langerhans cells, a type of immune cell targeted by HIV infection.


3. The first-recorded circumcision happened in Egypt

As far as we know from the historical record, the land of the pharaohs pioneered circumcision. The earliest reference to the procedure dates back to around 2400 B.C. A bas-relief in the ancient burial ground of Saqqara depicts a series of medical scenes, including a flint-knife circumcision and a surgeon explaining, "The ointment is to make it acceptable," likely referring to some form of topical anaseptic.

Ancient Egyptian circumcisions were not done in infancy, but instead marked the transition from boyhood to adulthood. The Greeks saw their Mediterranean neighbors' tradition as rather bizarre. In the fifth century, Herodotus made his opinion known in his work "The History of Herodotus."

"They practice circumcision for the sake of cleanliness," he wrote of the Egyptians, "considering it better to be cleanly than comely."

4. It may have caught on as a status symbol


Writing in the University of Cincinnati Law Review in 2003, Seton Hall University law professor Sarah Waldeck points out that Sayre and his circumcision-promoting colleagues came onto the scene just as hospital births were becoming more common. The wealthy were more likely to go to the hospital and have a physician-attended birth; thus, circumcision became a marker of class. The need to circumcise essentially became a social norm, Waldeck writes. It was what "good" parents chose. As more and more parents made the choice, it became odder and odder not to, which then put more pressure on parents to choose circumcision so their child would be "normal."

5. Circumcisions leave unique marks           



