Preparing Your Baby for Circumcision
Your baby needs to be bathed the night before, or the morning of the procedure. He will not be able to bath for the next five days after circumcision.
Please feed your baby before the procedure, so that he is not overly hungry during the procedure. You will be able to feed him again right after the circumcision.
Please give your son 1ml of infant Tylenol or Tempra drops before leaving home. Should you be travelling a long distance to get to the clinic, give the Tylenol upon arrival at the clinic. You will not be able to give any other medication, including Ibuprofen, Advil or Motrin, as it may increase bleeding. Your son may receive another 0.5ml of infant Tylenol three hours after the first dose, and another 0.5ml of infant Tylenol another three hours after the second dose. Thereafter he shouldn’t require any additional medication.
Please bring extra clothes and diapers for your baby, as well as two blankets.
We will clean the operative area at the clinic, and a quick acting anesthetic will be administered to ensure complete analgesia during the circumcision procedure.
After the anesthetic is applied, you will wait with your baby for approximately 10 minutes in order to give the anesthetic time to work, after which the circumcision procedure will be performed. The circumcision procedure itself takes less than 2-3 minutes to complete, but prepare to be at the clinic for about 45 minutes in total.
During the injection of the anesthetic and during the circumcision itself, your baby will be given a sugar pacifier to suck on, which further reduces pain perception.
You will be required to wait in the room for about 15 minutes after the circumcision for observation, after which time Dr Stearn will discharge your baby.
Pre- and Post-Operative Care for Infant Circumcision
How To Care For Your Baby After Circumcision
The First 24 Hours After Circumcision
Please try to keep your son’s legs tightly swaddled for the first 24 hours after circumcision. This will keep him more comfortable, and minimize the risk for bleeding.
Please check your baby’s diaper hourly for any abnormal bleeding for the first 24 hours after circumcision.
The gauze should be left in place, and removed after 24 hours. Replace the gauze with a fresh 4x4 gauze with about a teaspoon of Vaseline. This should stay on until your son’s follow up appointment two days later. If the dressing falls off before 24 hours, it can be left off. Just replace the 4x4 gauze with Vaseline and place it over the penis.
After 48 hours no gauze bandages are required, but a large amount of Vaseline should be placed on your finger and rubbed generously over the incision site and the entire head of the penis for the following 7 days.
After 48 hours the skin should be pushed off the head of the penis if it has moved up a little, in order to ensure proper healing behind the back rim of the head of the penis.
Healing After Circumcision
Healing generally occurs rapidly and in several stages, just like any other cut.
Firstly, the cut edge seals and bleeding stops. This happens within minutes, hours, or the course of the first day. The area behind the glans will become swollen, and this inflammation will subside after a week or two. In the first two days, you may notice an off-white or yellowish, patchy appearance of the glans. These patches are types of scabs and are normal.
After a few days, the area where the skin was cut will look green and yellow. This is not pus, but merely tissue that is busy healing. It may look this colour for up to two weeks post circumcision.
You may also notice that the glans appears red and glossy and sometimes purple. The skin covering the glans of an uncircumcised penis is mucous membrane, and once exposed mucous membrane covering the glans will toughen over time, and take on a normal appearance. This process will take approximately one month.
General Care After Circumcision
It is entirely normal for your son to be a bit irritable for the first 24 hours after the circumcision. Most babies sleep quite well following the circumcision. The best sleeping position for your baby after circumcision is on his side, supported by a blanket roll. Your son should be kept swaddled for the first day after circumcision, in order to reduce kicking and leg movement, which minimizes the risk for bleeding.
Keeping the area around the penis clean and dry promotes healing. Warm water and a washcloth are recommended for cleaning the area around the penis for the first week. Please avoid baby wipes, alcohol, powders and lotions, as these may cause irritation.
We recommend that you use disposable diapers for the first week after circumcision, as these tend to keep the area dryer and cleaner.
It is advised that you limit the handling of your baby to just a few people for the first 2-3 days after circumcision, and try to avoid unnecessary travel, as car seats may be irritation to the new circumcision.
Appearance Of The Penis After Circumcision
A common concern for parents is aesthetics. Penises come in all shapes and sizes. Some penises “look normal” a few days after circumcision, whilst others do not take on a “completely normal appearance” until they start to grow. Your son’s penis may appear smaller after circumcision, but this is not the case. This appearance is as a result of relaxation of skin surrounding the penis, which prior to circumcision held the penis more erect.
You may notice a swelling of the mucosal tissued behind or under the head of the penis after a few days. This looks like a blister, but is in fact just normal swelling that will gradually subside over time with no long term effect.
Rarely, a poor aesthetic result will occur if too little or too much skin was removed, or more likely when the cut edge of the skin attaches too high or too low along the length of the penis. The latter may be caused by the presence of a hydrocele or penile erections. In almost all of these cases the penis will heal properly and take on a normal appearance over time. Please consult with Dr Stearn if you are concerned about the appearance of your son’s penis.
