: Should I or should I not circumcise my little baby boy?
Sheldon Marks, MD Urologist: The answer really needs to be individual. You need to decide from a personal point of view, from a social point of view and a religious point of view what is best for your child.
I used to say that if the father's circumcised from an identity point of view it's always good for the son, because when he looks in the shower looking up at dad,
it's nice that part A matches part A, they bond that way.
But the truth is there's not any clear absolute, reason to have to have it. Yes, better hygiene.
Yes, it's easier to maintain your cleanliness, the risk for penile cancer is lower in circumcised men but that's extremely rare in this country.
If you maintain normal hygiene, penile cancer is unheard of.
So the benefits are really more social, we do know there are some studies that it's rarer to contract HIV and other illness because the circumcised penis, the skin becomes a little bit thicker,
so it's a little less likely to be torn during sex, less infections introduced.
The uncircumcised penis again has more risks as far as scarring as you get older, its called phimosis,
where it scars down or you have to have a circumcision or other technique to open it, and also concerns over hygiene.
But realistically in this day and age if the boy is clean, there's no biological need to have it, it's really more of a personal or religious social.