Hey all,

I'm a 32 year old guy who JUST got circumcised 2 days ago and wanted to let you know what my experience was like and why I had it done. I think it's really important to know, since it's such a "crazy" thing to do. It's something I've thought about doing since I was probably 14. Back then it was more because I felt different and embarrassed, which is sad to say but it really messed with me self esteem as a teenager. But I grew out of that mindset, once I found that even if the initial reaction wasn't the greatest, they were okay with it after that first moment.

My parents decided not to have the procedure done to me and my brother as babies because they wanted us to make the decision ourselves. They're not anti-circumcision. They're just Pro-Choice on the matter, and I feel strongly that this should be the case. I don't think a baby should have a huge decision like this made for them, and in my case, I decided that it was something I wanted to have done.

Why in the world would I want it done? Well, it came down to cleanliness and my sex life. I've been having recurring blotchiness on the shaft, near the head. I shower every day and make it a point to keep it clean. I even rinse him with water after I pee whenever I can (at home mostly). My wife wouldn't have sex with me when the redness was present, and it was seeming to be a 50/50 chance that it'd be irritated. I went to a urologist, who gave me some medicine, but he recommended that I have the circumcision. In the back of my mind, I thought maybe he was just a pro-circ doctor because he had a Jewish name, or maybe he wanted the business? Lol. But in the end, I started thinking that I should have it done just to make things easier on me.

I should also mention that my wife doesn't care either way and just supported my decision as long as I had a good reason.

In addition to the cleanliness issue, I simply felt that the extra skin was a bother. I was adjusting myself all the time and I was always aware of the skin being there. Imagine having a sleeve on your index finger. It's actually kind of annoying.

I admit that in my 3 years of marriage, I've only masturbated 3 or 4 times. It's just not something I've ever been into, although being uncircumcised makes masturbating really easy. I guess that's something to consider if you're a single guy thinking about doing this and enjoy pleasuring yourself. I am not allowed to participate in any sexual activity for about 3 more weeks, after my follow up visit, by the way. On the subject of sex though, I should mention that I felt like it was a fairly big hassle, having to always have one hand holding the skin back when I was making love, in order to feel the friction. One time on purpose I let go of my foreskin and immediately it was not pleasurable, and then it's nearly impossible to grab it and pull the skin back during intercourse without stopping. Also, before I was married and I used a condom, I had to readjust the condom several times, as it would always slide off, or nearly come off. I've just been really tired of always having to have one hand holding the skin back during any form of sex, so that was somewhat of a big factor in my decision making, in addition to the cleanliness aspect.

Oh, before I forget. I had this procedure done at a urology clinic rather than by a general practitioner and I highly recommend anyone who's thinking about doing this, consider that too. My doctor had done "hundreds" of adult circumcisions and he answered all of my questions, so I felt very comfortable that he was extremely experienced in the procedure. I wouldn't trust something like this to a doctor who heals broken legs and arms and just happens to know how to perform a circumcision. The doctor who did this, also did my vasectomy about a year earlier and I didn't have any problems with that.

As far as the procedure itself, I went up to the surgery area, changed into a hospital gown, had a few wired discs put on my chest, did a deep breathing exercise, and then I had needles inserted into the tops of both hands so they could give me fluids. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight the night before, and the surgery was at 3:30pm so I was starving!

After that, I walked to a room where they had a hospital bed. I laid down on my back, they put a mask over my mouth and nose and had me breathe in and out really deep so they could knock me out. Funny, because I'd never been put under. I took 3 deep breaths, the fourth was kind of blurry, and then I woke up. It took about 40 minutes. The shaft and about half of the head were wrapped up in a thin white cloth with tape to hold it. I had to leave it on for the next 24 hours or so. All I could see was a dark purple tip.

They prescribed me Vicodin for the pain, which the urology center's website said they would. They also gave me a medicine for nausea, as I felt dizzy when I sat up.

The doctor said I shouldn't be worried for a few days if it looks like I have a Frankenpenis, which I got a laugh out of. And 2 days later, the tip of the head is still purple, but the bottom part is more red like I'm used to. There's purple bruising still, all over the shaft. I pee as slow as I can because I'm scared it'll burn. But the medicine really really helps. I wondered how effective it was and didn't take one before I went to bed last night, but woke up around 1:30am with a fairly strong burning feeling. I took a pill and went back to bed and since then, I just take one every 3-4 hours and I'm fine.

It's still a little bloody on the bottom side, and there are sutures that will disolve over time on their own.

That's about all I can say for now. As far as the pain goes, it's not bad, and shouldn't be something to make or break the decision if you're on the fence. In all honesty, I thought it was going to be really painful and it's one of the primary reasons it took me so long to do this. Thankfully, I had plenty of vacation time at work so I will have 7 days to get better. The doctor said I can start working out again about a week after the procedure, so that's good. Once I'd made the decision that I actually wanted to go through with the procedure, I was at ease with whatever came after that as far as pain goes. Similar to getting a nose job, I suppose.

I can't say this is for everyone, but I hope this helped answer some questions about what it's like for an adult male. Unfortunately I can't answer any questions about the difference in sex yet because that's off the table for a few more weeks. Maybe I'll regret the decision and maybe I won't, but on a scale of 1-10 (10 being happiest), I was probably a 4 before the surgery. The worst that can happen is maybe I feel like a 2 or a 3, but a 4 isn't that great so in my opinion, it was worth it.

I'm really happy that the decision was mine to make. I'm very thankful to my parents for giving me the choice.