Circumcision

If or when you shower with other boys, like at the gym or after school sports, you might notice that some of the other boys' penises look different than yours. A foreskin is at the tip of a penis for a boy when he is born. Many boys are circumcised. Circumcision is when a medical professional or religious person with medical training cuts off the boy's foreskin. The boy’s parents decide on circumcision for personal or religious reasons. For example, most Jews and Muslims are circumcised because of their religion. Both circumcised and uncircumcised boys have to wash their penises when in the shower or bathtub, but uncircumcised boys must clean well under their foreskin. Circumcised penises are much easier to clean. An uncircumcised boy or man can be circumcised at any age, and some boys and men are circumcised later because of a condition called phimosis, which is where the boy or man cannot retract his foreskin and the foreskin is too tight.

Circumcision is performed under anesthesia, so the boy or man doesn't feel much discomfort or pain.

Sometimes boys and men regret being circumcised. Presently, surgery is not available to restore a boy or man's penis to being uncircumcised, exactly as he would be if he had never been circumcised.