Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Circumcision
Circumcision is a surgical procedure to remove the foreskin from the penis. The foreskin is the loose skin that covers the tip of the penis. In the United States, circumcision is often done before a new baby leaves the hospital.
As parents, it is your decision whether to have your baby circumcised. When making your decision, you should consider your own religious, cultural, and personal preferences, as well as the medical benefits and risks. You can discuss these with your baby's health care provider before you make a decision.
The possible medical benefits of circumcision include:
- A lower risk of HIV and some other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
- A slightly lower risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs) during the first year of life and penile cancer later in life. However, these conditions are rare in all males (circumcised or not).
- Prevention of certain penile problems, such as foreskin infections and phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin can't be retracted (pulled back).
- Easier hygiene.
The risks of circumcision include:
- A low risk of bleeding, infection, or scarring.
- A very low risk of having too much or not enough skin cut off.
- Pain. You can ask the health care provider to put a numbing medicine on your baby's penis to lessen the pain.
These risks are higher when circumcision is performed on older babies, boys, and men.
Premature babies and babies born with health problems should not be circumcised until they are healthy.
If have your baby circumcised, ask their provider how to care for the penis as it heals.
If your baby does not get circumcised, their provider can teach you how to keep your baby's penis clean. It's important to know that a newborn's foreskin may not retract completely. Over time, it retracts on its own.
It sits within Children and Teenagers, Men and Male Reproductive System.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Circumcision
166 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Effects of Therapeutic Touch and Music on Children's Anxiety, Pain, and Nausea Before and After CircumcisionIgdir University
- Comparison of the Effects of Sacral Erector Spinae Plane Block and Dorsal Penile Block on Postoperative Pain in Circumcision ProceduresKonya City Hospital
- Efficacy and Safety of Circumcision Alone on Risk of Febrile Urinary Tract Infections in Boys With Posterior Urethral Valves: a Prospective Randomized Open-label Multicentric Trial Enriched With Historic Controls.University Hospital, Bordeaux
- Compared Reversed US-Guided Dorsal Penile Nerve Block (RUSDPNB) With DPNB in Circumcisions for Pediatric PatientsCentre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois
- Inflammatory Biomarkers and Postoperative Delirium in Pediatric CircumcisionAnkara Etlik City Hospital
- VIrtual Reality Induced Pain and anxiEty Relief in Outpatient UROlogical ProceduresIstituto Oncologico Veneto IRCCS
Research already completed
- The Effect of Two Different Interventions Applied During the Transfer of Children to the Operating Room for Circumcision on Fear, Anxiety, Comfort and Pain LevelsMELİS CAN KESGİN GÜNGÖR
- Safety Profile of Ropivacaine in Dorsal Penile Nerve Block for Male Circumcision: a Large Cohort Study in ChildrenUniversitair Ziekenhuis Brussel
- Children's Anxiety and Fear Before CircumcisionAdiyaman University
- Evaluating the Efficacy of 2-Octyl Cyanoacrylate (2-OCA) With Four Interrupted Sutures in Adult Male CircumcisionUniversity of Manitoba
- Hydrodissection Circumcision Versus Conventional CircumcisionPeking University
- Assessing the Impact of a Digital VMMC PlatformUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- CircumcisionNemours Foundation
- Circumcision (Male)Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Related Issues
- Care for an Uncircumcised Penis: What Parents Need to KnowAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Should the Baby Be Circumcised?American Academy of Pediatrics
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: CircumcisionNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Circumcision, Male. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Circumcision, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.