Every "journalist" in the United States covering health and medicine should be fired. Each and every one is utterly incompetent. Bringing you the latest medical studies in an accessible format so you can make intelligent decisions is apparently beyond the scope of what these people do for a living. They are a disgrace. It has been two weeks, and not a single one has published an article on this study. But one media's failure is another's opportunity.
In this diary, you'll get what the Mainstream Media think you don't need or want: A summary of the latest medical study addressing the impact of circumcision surgery on males.
Should you go beyond this diary article, study abstract, and press release to read the study in its entirety? Of course you should. If you'll soon be asked to sign one of those consent forms, doubly so. Because while failing to disclose this crucial information may invalidate proxy-consent, no lawsuit settlement or judgment will ever return what a circumcision removes. Now, on to the study.
Ok, you've decided to read the diary, so you want my distillation of this 5 page medical study. It's not because I'm more qualified than you are to interpret these results. You could read the study yourself and probably write a better summary. Mine has one advantage though; I've already written it, and you can read it now in the next sentence and beyond.
Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis
(abstract, press release, full study pdf)
Sorrells, et al.
British Journal of Urology (BJU International)
Volume 99 Issue 4 Page 864 - April 2007
Will everyone so inclined please let out a big laugh and giggle, acknowledge vast array of penis jokes, then set the silliness and joking aside for the duration of the diary? This isn't funny penis talk. This is medical study with bearing on the real world talk. Surgery is a serious subject.
Now that we are among only intellectual adults (of all ages), let's get down to business.
What did they do?
Well here's something you weren't expecting to learn about today. They used a contraption called a "Semmes-Weinstein monofilament touch-test sensory evaluator." Huh? Not as bad as it sounds, actually:
Link (slightly condensed):
Touch-Test Sensory Evaluators feature individually calibrated nylon filaments with a unique pen-style handle for quick application. When applied against the skin to its bending point, each sensory evaluator will deliver a targeted force within a 5% standard deviation. No other monofilament meets such rigorous standards. Touch-Test Sensory Evaluators yield the most accurate, noninvasive evaluation of cutaneous sensation levels throughout the body.
In 1987, The Journal of Hand Surgery published "The Repeatability of Testing with Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments." The study concludes that "the filaments are a controlled, objective, reproducible force stimulus available for use in clinical testing of peripheral nerve function," (161).
Fine, so we've got a well established method for delivering a precise stimulus.
163 subjects were enrolled, men 18 or over, in good health, with no genital alterations except circumcision. Various factors like age, ethnicity, etc. were controlled for.
How was the measurement device used?
It was used to measure the ability to sense touch at 19 sites on the penis. 8 sites were unavailable for testing in the circumcised group due to being absent, while 2 sites were available only in circumcised group (scar tissue). See the full study (pdf) for details, including Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 on the second page of the study, which show the description/location of each measurement site.
What did they find?
The data paint a clear picture. Circumcision so effectively cuts off the most sensitive areas of the penis that the circumcision scar itself is the most sensitive area on the penis left. It's really what almost any intact man could have predicted. But especially for a circumcised man, these results could be a big surprise.
Table 2. shows mean fine-touch pressure threshold results at each site. For areas in both groups, I'll list the sensitivity for uncircumcised.
The penis shaft (sites 1,17), and the outside the foreskin (site 16) are relatively insensitive; they are suited to bearing the friction of everyday life. Mean sensitivity scores were .681 and .759 respectively. The lower the score, the more sensitive the test site.
The tip of the foreskin (all the way around) (sites 3,15) is the most sensitive part, with a mean sensitivity score of only 0.093 and .230! That makes sense, because it needs to sense the area's suitability for the glans, to keep it protected. That's important because the glans itself is rather insensitive (sites 9, 10) with mean scores of 1.141 and .979.
(At this point it's worth noting that this test measures only static pressure, not friction. That's like the difference between resting a towel on your skin, or dragging it across; a big difference, and an important area for future study.)
The inside surfaces of the foreskin including the frenulum and ridged bands (sites 13,14) are also highly sensitive, with mean scores of .177 and .159 respectively. These sites all lost to circumcision.
In addition to the most sensitive areas being removed in circumcised men, areas not removed from circumcised men were consistently desensitized in them.
So this means what exactly?
This means that women and circumcised men now know what intact men already knew: the foreskin is an integral, and indeed the most capable sensory component of the penis. (This study did not directly measure the "pleasure" or "quality" of the sensation; Kim/Pang did in another recent study totally ignored by the MSM. Spoiler: It significantly reduced sexual satisfaction)
In the words of Doctors Opposing Circumcision:
The study found that the most sensitive part of the penis on non-circumcised males is at the tip of the foreskin, an area which is always removed if a male is circumcised.
The study also found that the glans penis in circumcised males is significantly less
sensitive to fine touch than in intact males. The five most sensitive areas are found only on the non-circumcised penis.
This study conclusively shows that circumcised males have a significant penile sensory deficit as compared with non-circumcised intact men.
This study was released on March 19th. Since that date, an estimated 49,500 American boys were circumcised. How many of those parents/guardians were fully informed, including the results of this study? How many might have made a different choice if the effects on sensitivity were clearly spelled out, as being "fully informed" implies and requires?
A while back I wrote a diary so brief I can quote it all here:
Proof of Circumcision Harm
by RealityBias
Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 02:18:12 PM CDT
- Sensation represents a person's physical connection to the world.
- Touch is a primary sensation.
- The penile prepuce (foreskin) produces significant sensation to touch.
- Removal of prepuce decreases it's sensation capability by 100%.
How can anybody possibly be okay with doing this to a child?
That was before the Kim/Pang study which found circumcision reduced sexual satisfaction.
That was before this study (Sorrells), which finds circumcised men are missing much of their sensory hardware.
But what about inertia?
Look, RealityBias, I hear what you're saying. But Americans have been circumcising for generations, and some cultures have done it for much longer. There's a market for it; For whatever reasons, parents approve, doctors provide, money changes hands, what's more American than that? Well, I'll tell you what. Autonomy. Individuality. Freedom, and the right to keep the whole body you were born with.
I think that inertia has met it's match, in the "internet".
That's why you are now aware of this study, even though the MSM doesn't think new information applicable to the most common surgery in America is worth telling you about.
That's why you can now learn all you need to know, access medical studies, and hear candidly from others anonymously. Times are changing, and when it comes to abandoning the penis reduction/desensitization surgery we call "circumcision", the sooner the better.
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