Circumcision is a personal decision, one made based on research, culture and faith. Furthermore, circumcision forms part of their child’s healthcare.
Before the procedure begins, your baby’s urologist will review his or her medical history and conduct an exam in order to ensure a successful circumcision procedure. This ensures that circumcision can take place safely.
Procedure
Infant Circumcision Melbourne can take place either in a hospital setting or an office environment, depending on where it takes place. When brought to either environment, they will be brought to a designated surgery area where restraining devices will prevent them from wiggling or moving during the procedure. When ready, one of two forms of anesthetics (topical cream or injection anesthetics) will be administered: either topical cream or injections are given.
Once anesthesia has been administered, the doctor will stretch and firmly crush the foreskin over the bell of the penis, in order to squish its blood vessels flat so they won’t bleed through. Once complete, surgical tools will cut away at it before cutting up into pieces with plastic rings such as Plastibell devices or Mogen clamps attached as coverings for wounds.
Plastic rings may remain in place until they fall off on their own – typically 10 to 12 days post procedure. At that point, the penis may appear raw or yellowish until healing occurs without complications.
Preparation
Circumcision is often performed as part of newborn hospital procedures. Although the baby remains awake during surgery, they will receive local anesthetic (numbing cream or injection) and acetaminophen to alleviate pain. A plastic clamp or ring will be used to separate foreskin from glans before using a scalpel to cut away foreskin.
Penis tips may appear reddened or swollen for several days after diaper changes, with yellow secretions present for up to fourteen days afterward – both symptoms indicate healing in progress. It’s wise to apply lubricant after every diaper change until the dressing falls off, to help avoid friction against diaper material or sticking. Plastic rings typically fall off between 7-14 days.
Anesthesia
While neonatal pain management has seen significant advancements over time, male circumcision remains one of the few procedures for which no effective anesthetic method has yet been discovered. [3]
Newborns typically remain conscious during circumcision, and their doctor may try to ease any pain by administering a penile nerve block or anesthetic cream; however, these remedies take time to take effect and could wash off when the infant urinates.
Researchers conducted a clinical trial comparing the effects of anesthetic injection and cream on newborns who were circumcised either using a Plastibell or Gomco clamp (group 1) or the Mogen clamp without analgesics (group 2) without birth characteristics differing between groups; infants in group 1 however experienced proportionately less crying during circumcision while facial action recordings revealed they were more relaxed during circumcision than those in group 2.
Pain relief
Studies have demonstrated that infants receiving DPNB or sucrose experienced less pain during circumcision, although this does not completely alleviate it. Many indicators of pain have been used to measure infant responses such as crying time, facial expressions, sweaty palms and heart rate during circumcision.
After having removed foreskin and clipped off excess skin, a plastic ring may remain at the penis’s head; it will fall off naturally over time. Following this procedure, your doctor will then apply ointment and wrap your area with gauze.
As it takes seven to ten days for a penis tip to heal, during this period use soapy water during diaper changes and apply lubricant such as petroleum jelly on an as-needed basis.
Post-circumcision care
Circumcision is an integral component of infant health care that can reduce urinary tract infections in babies as well as sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) later on, including HIV.
Circizing newborns typically requires minimal downtime after surgery; however, if a urologist detects an anomaly with their penis (such as undescended testicles or hypospadias), circumcision may need to be delayed until this condition has been corrected.
After circumcision, it is essential that your son keep his glans clean and apply petroleum jelly liberally to help avoid irritation. Apply it at each diaper change until his glans has completely healed – normality for most boys following the process will include being irritable or sleepy during this period; but as his healing begins this should improve.