Parental Vigilance

Dear Parents,
I can not emphasize this enough. (I've written about this before)

After the bris is over, and I am finished with MY job, YOUR job kicks in.

So let me explain to you what MY job is, so you understand what your job is and why your job is very important.

My job:
1. To get as even and aesthetically pleasing circumcision as possible. To achieve this I use a surgical marker to guide the incision
2. To make sure I take off the correct amount of foreskin, which actually has a small range of flexibility, and not to take off too much.
3. To make sure that beyond removal of foreskin there isn't an excessive amount of membrane left behind, which could give the baby the appearance of being uncircumcised.
4. To control the bleeding and make sure the baby is well on the road to healing and recovery post circumcision
5. To give you information about how things will look over the next few days and weeks
6. To give you instructions for after-care and what your job is over the next few days and weeks

Which leads us, most obviously to YOUR job
1. To follow the instructions for after-care (see 6 above)
2. To be in touch with ANY and ALL questions
3. To keep the diaper area as clean as you can during the healing process
4. Over the next few days, weeks, sometimes months, to avoid the Fusion Concern
5. To be aware of the Chubby Baby Syndrome

It boils down to this.
After circumcision, the body realigns the penis and restructures itself in the absence of the foreskin. Depending on how the circumcision goes, there may be a ring of leftover membrane between the incision spot and the glans, or there may be no membrane there at all. IN EITHER CASE, because the baby spends so much time on his back, and especially if he becomes chubby over time, the glans has a tendency to sink a little back into the membrane or the shaft and stay there, giving the baby a partially (as opposed to completely) circumcised look.

Which is where YOU come in.
Every time you change his diaper, every time you give him a bath, make sure that the glans is free and clear of anything that is below it. It really is a very simple massage every time his diaper is open, until time (could be weeks or even months) indicates that no intervention is required any more.

In simple terms - I met an adult recently whose parents did not take care of this when he was young. After a brief consultation I suggested he speak to a urologist, and he ended up having corrective surgery. This could have been avoided if his parents had been vigilant!