Circumcision is the most commonly performed surgical intervention in the pediatric age group in our country. Circumcision is performed mostly for social and sometimes medical reasons. The necessity of circumcision practice in operating room conditions by a trained physician is no longer a matter of discussion, and the rules of this subject have been determined with the changes made in our legislation.
According to our observation, the most curious point by families about circumcision is what the appropriate age for circumcision is and whether newborn circumcision is the best. It is seen that families mostly have the opinion that the baby does not feel pain in the newborn period and that circumcision can be performed without the need for any anesthetic medication, based on the information they obtain from social media and the internet. It is a fact that circumcision can be done easily without general anesthesia in circumcisions performed during infancy, wound healing is fast, cosmetically satisfactory and post-circumcision wound care is easier for babies than for older children. The fact that the newborn baby does not feel pain does not coincide with the scientific facts. Babies feel pain and react to painful stimuli. Therefore, neonatal circumcisions are also performed using local anesthetic drugs that provide regional numbing. On the other hand, the first month of the baby may pass with problems such as adaptation to the new world, sucking problems, and sometimes neonatal jaundice that require medical follow-up. For these reasons, I think that circumcision of the baby as soon as it is born does not have any advantage, and I recommend circumcision until the end of the 5th month after the first month of the baby to the families who want circumcision under local anesthesia in the early period. After this month, circumcision is healthier under general anesthesia as the baby starts to move a lot. Regarding the fact that circumcisions between the ages of 2-6 may be harmful in children psychologically, I think that there is no such inconvenient period anymore thanks to the appropriate pre-procedure preparation and general anesthesia, and I recommend circumcision to families of all ages, provided that it is performed under general anesthesia.
As a result, after the neonatal period (0-30 days) until the end of the 5th month, early circumcision performed by numbing the area around the penis is easy to care for, wound healing is fast, and cosmetic results are satisfactory. It does not require general anesthesia. After this period has passed, circumcision can be performed at any age under general anesthesia.
