Cut vs. Intact Outcome Statistics

The following statistics are averages from a literature review of studies cataloging the medical outcomes of circumcised vs. intact boys between 1989-2009.

Out of 100 Circumcised boys:

  • 75 will not readily breastfeed post-op
  • 55 will have adverse reactions from the surgery
  • 35 will have post-op hemorrhaging to one degree or another
  • 31 will develop meatal ulcers
  • 10 will need to have the circumcision surgery repeated to fix prior surgical problems/error
  • 8 will suffer infection at the surgical site
  • 3 will develop post-operative phimosis
  • 2 will have a more serious complication (seizure, heart attack, stroke, loss of penis, death)
  • 1 will require additional immediate surgery and sutures to stop hemorrhage
  • 1 will develop fibrosis
  • 1 will develop phimosis
  • 1 will be treated with antibiotics for a UTI (urinary tract infection)
  • 1 will be treated with antibiotics for surgical site infection
  • Of those who do receive pain medication for the surgery (about 4% of those boys undergoing circumcision in the U.S.) some will have adverse reactions to the pain medication injected


Out of 100 Intact boys:

  • 2 will be treated with antibiotics for a UTI (fewer if the foreskin is never forcibly retracted)
  • 1 will be told to get cut later in life for one reason or another (fewer if the foreskin is never forcibly retracted)


Note: One reader of these statistics (a man cut against his will at birth with 4 intact sons today) critiqued (quite accurately) that it is actually 100 of 100 circumcised boys who experience negative consequences as a result of circumcision. Each and every one has lost an organ responsible for a great deal of his life-long normal health and functioning.