Has retracting changed your opinion on circumcision?

[Kylar]

Thanks for posting these, Heroic!

[HeroicGlance]

Thanks for posting these, Heroic!

NP - I hope the info I provided is helpful.

I also should point out: Perhaps the three negative reviews I have heard came from people who all inexplicably went to the same awful doctor - a bored, sloppy guy (or gal) who just grabs the foreskin and lops it off with a plastic knife left over from spreading mayonnaise on their ham sandwich. 

Further, I don't doubt there's one star doc out there who has mastered a circumcision procedure that removes the least skin & nerve endings - a true artist that leaves porn-star level dicks in his wake.

That having been said: I still think it's an absolutely bizarre idea as a default societal practice, because it's a violation of the individual, before the individual can consent.

If someone of the age of consent wants to get cut, more power to them - because it's THEIR informed decision, rather than someone else's.

[Nexolaris]

Seriously:  I would say that I was between a CI-10 and a CI-9 when I was around 14-15 years old.  I'd say I am now between a CI-3 and a CI-4 both flaccid and erect, after 20 years of retracting.  You can check my posts for pics (Not a showoff, here.)

Now- as far as my references:

1:  An interview with a russian jewish guy who was never cut at birth, but when his family moved to Israel, he got tons of peer pressure to get cut when he was drafted into the armed forces.  He said he had pretty much lost all sensation, and sex was far less pleasurable.

2:  I knew a driver for a rehab facility who had to get cut in his early 50's (because, quite frankly, he slept around a lot, and wasn't clean.)  After the operation (which he complained about a lot) He reported he could definitely last longer, but the orgasms were about 50% strength.

3:  An online discussion with a man in the USA whose experience in the US Military was similar to example 1 above.  He was a common poster on an autocirc subreddit, and was an avid preacher against the practice.  He apparently didn't like the look, the feel, or just about anything about it.

Now, let me acknowledge two things:

1:  We're all built differently, physically, and mentally.  Most men take what they are dealt with, on either side of the practice, and the debate.  I don't doubt you can find an equal amount of people who were circumcised later in life who absolutely love it.

2:  I've seen enough cut dicks in my life to understand that there as many ways to cut a dick, as there are dicks.  I've seen men whose entire inner foreskin was cut away, leaving just the shaft skin attached to the glans.  I've seen others that were cut far further back on the shaft, preserving most of the frenulum and ridged band.  I don't doubt that some are far superior to others - but that's entirely up to the owner.

Thanks for providing those details.
The power of your brain shouldn't be underestimated here. Guys who embrace their circumcision will usually have a more positive experience than those who resent being circumcised and can't stop mourning the loss of their foreskin.

[Kylar]

NP - I hope the info I provided is helpful.

I also should point out: Perhaps the three negative reviews I have heard came from people who all inexplicably went to the same awful doctor - a bored, sloppy guy (or gal) who just grabs the foreskin and lops it off with a plastic knife left over from spreading mayonnaise on their ham sandwich. 

Further, I don't doubt there's one star doc out there who has mastered a circumcision procedure that removes the least skin & nerve endings - a true artist that leaves porn-star level dicks in his wake.

That having been said: I still think it's an absolutely bizarre idea as a default societal practice, because it's a violation of the individual, before the individual can consent.

If someone of the age of consent wants to get cut, more power to them - because it's THEIR informed decision, rather than someone else's.

Sadly, often, it's hardly an informed decision and even in non-cutting countries it's all too common that the solution to the slightest problem is a trip to the urologist for some scalpelwork.

[HeroicGlance]

Thanks for providing those details.
The power of your brain shouldn't be underestimated here. Guys who embrace their circumcision will usually have a more positive experience than those who resent being circumcised and can't stop mourning the loss of their foreskin.

Let me start this response by saying that going forward: Neither of us is 100% wrong, and neither of us is 100% correct.

I wanted to put that out there, because we have a good conversation going here, and I wanted to make sure that we both know there is respect behind any disagreements.  Internet discussions tend towards craziness, otherwise, and you are a worthy person to have this discussion with.

Judging by your pic, our "equipment" is of similar size & architecture (at least when erect.) However, we reached different solutions to our common problem, and are successful & individually happy with our respective decisions.

Now- that having been said:

Absolutely - the mind is an important factor in this situation.  In my experience, the process of adjustment was more mental, despite its core physicality.

However, let me point out a core difference:

Once you have been circumcised, you have gone down a one-way road. 

You, Nexolaris, seem happy with the work the doc did on you - I can only say "Mazel tov!"  You should give him five stars on Google reviews, and show pics of his work!

...But assume you got some lazy urologist with his own freaky ideas of what a penis should look like, and they wanna get your procedure done quick, because they are 20 minutes late for their lunch.

After the initial wrapping comes off, and you see the stitches, you realize that the doc pretty much ignored every concern you had before the procedure, and your dick looks unlike anything you thought.  You can't really do anything, because it was covered in the waiver you signed, before the guy even picked up a scalpel.

The only ways back are through a foreskin stretching process that takes longer than the two decades I have been retracting, or a surgical reconstruction that will cost a ton more than a circumcision, and will look even worse.

The alternative is to say "yeah- I am absolutely HAPPY with what happened!"

Like you said:

"The power of your brain shouldn't be underestimated here."

Once one is on the other side of a one-way street, they have no alternative but to accept it as the best outcome.

Now- while I have absolutely zero intention of doing so - I still have the option of going back on what I consider to be a successful autocirc.  I tried pushing my foreskin back down over my glans about six or seven months ago.  It felt weird, and didn't stay there for more than a second - but I know that if I worked on it, I could push everything back down.

A two-way street is always a better option than a one-way street, when it comes to bodily autonomy.

BTW:  I might very well be wrong.  I'm interested in your perspective.

[HeroicGlance]

Sadly, often, it's hardly an informed decision and even in non-cutting countries it's all too common that the solution to the slightest problem is a trip to the urologist for some scalpelwork.

I don't doubt that you are right - When I was a kid, I had a problem with bedwetting.  My parents took me to a urologist, and that was literally the first time in my life I heard the word "Circumcision."

Of course, circumcision does not cure bedwetting, any more than it prevents masturbation. 

Thankfully, I avoided that.  After looking "circumcision" up in my encyclopedia, I was so absolutely terrified, I guess something switched in my brain, because I never wet the bed again.

However - that was back in the early 90's and I think back then there was one internet connection in our small town. 

Back then, and for decades before, I figure people just went along with the doc's instructions.

These days with the internet, there's no excuse for someone "just going along with it", other than laziness and ignorance. 

If a doc told me "yeah- need to cut that off." I'd demand a full work-up on why such an operation was absolutely essential, along with images of the problem. 

If they waffled and spouted bullshit such as "yeah- it's a general problem, we just need to get rid of excess skin," I'd meet them in the operating room with a surgical marker in hand, directing them PRECISELY where they CAN and CANNOT cut.

I'd also refuse general anesthetic, so I could punch the doctor, if they ignored my directions.

After all, it's my penis - I'm sorta attached to it...

[PossibleMagician130]

Never had a good view on circumcision once I saw the level of deception that went into it to make people carbon copies of a different culture and ideology, and the deception was pervasive.

The view now is even worse when I've discovered that self-retraction is the most natural and least harmful method out there, and it's common, and it can be an instinct.

But my sharing this isn't meant to polarize people further. I'd like people to know that circumcision is not an ideal, and it's not a "cure-all" or "must do" to fix all the anxieties and uncertainties we have about our sexual desirability.

[paul214]

Could you provide more insight into your personal experience. What has changed in terms of sensations after you lost your foreskin? It's not a circumcision forum but I think this topic is important.

Yeah, sure.

It's definitely quite different, but I imagine if you retracted for long enough it'd actually be fairly similar. I didn't really notice much difference in sensitivity after a few months, but in the first months it felt a bit dulled. And ovbiously things become quite different, like for the first six months or more you just can't masturbate at all without lube (later you can). But in general I was surprised how normal it felt after a while, but again that's probably a point you can get to with permanent retraction.

I was circumcised with the Pollock technique, which I think gives a good result. I wanted to keep my frenulum (which this technique does) and I think it leaves a nice amount of inner foreskin. It's also fairly accessible - in Australia the clincs take online bookings and you don't need a referral from a GP or anyhting. It cost me about $1600 Australian and only took half an hour.

Mine had a minor complication in that usually by that process they can use a skin glue instead of stitches but it didn't quite close up enough with the pressure of the clamp so he had to stitch it in the end. But he didn't think the appearance should be any different and it healed up well, if you look very carefully you can see the tiny dots of the stitches but just looking at from a normal distance you can't really see them at all.

I had a lot of swelling, that took weeks to fully go down. But I'd had heaps of issues with swelling when pulling back too, and maybe I just hadn't pushed through for long enough.

I really did enjoy pulling back and it was cool to be able to do either pulled back or pull the foreskin forward. But I just loved the look so much and hadn't been able to reach permanaent retraction. It was definitely a gradual process - for many years I was sort of interested in the circumcision look but totatlly against the procedure itself. It wasn't until many years later that I decided it was for me, but it's definitely not for everyone. And there are definitely risks involved, luckly it came out well for me and I'm really happy with it!

[paul214]

Here are some pics comparing from before when I was retracting, to now being surgically retracted for two years  .

[ux]

Here are some pics comparing from before when I was retracting, to now being surgically retracted for two years  .

Nice look, really!

Have you noticed any decrease in pleasure during sex or decreased orgasm intensity?