Keep the Area Clean

In the initial few days after circumcision – whether of yourself or of your newborn – the tip of the circumcised penis will become red and swollen. You may also find a yellow secretion or crust on the tip. Not to worry, this is perfectly normal and a sign that the penis head is healing correctly.

While it’s healing, ensure that you keep the tip clean. You can wash the glans with lukewarm water to clear out any buildup of blood and pus and remove any dirt that may come in contact with that area.

Avoid using wet wipes or applying pressure to that area as it is highly sensitive in the few days after surgery. Instead, you want to use your palm to gently caress the area and clean it when showering or bathing your baby.

Once the area has healed, continue to take special care to keep it clean while bathing yourself or your child. To ensure the penis head is clean, you want to pull back any small bits of remaining foreskin – if any are left – during bath time, so the head and underlying skin get a nice wash.

Accelerate Healing As Much As Possible

Avoid adding antiseptic or herbal creams to the circumcised area, no matter how convinced you are of their healing properties. You never know what chemicals will dry out the skin and slow down the healing process.

Instead, boil a cup of water and allow it to cool before mixing salt in it. Now, soak the recently circumcised penis in this cup of water for at least ten minutes every day. This practice will prevent the onset of an infection and help accelerate the healing process.

While most people will experience some discomfort during the recovery process, some may feel pain to a greater degree. If you’re one of them, ask your doctor about safe painkillers you can take during recovery. Your doctor should have also prescribed some for your child.

Change the Dressing Regularly

The process for changing the bandages is a bit different for babies and men, so we’ll look at each one separately.

Changing the Dressing on a Newborn

You can only wash your baby’s penis after taking off the dressing, and for the first 48 hours at least, you want to change the dressing with every diaper change.

Removing the old dressing is essential to keep the area clean and prevent the buildup of yellow crust or dirt. You may want to take a quick lesson from your doctor on how to apply a new dressing, so you get it right when you’re at home.

Changing the Dressing on Adults

The bandage is usually wound tightly around the head of the penis to provide compression that will help contain and reduce the swelling. Ideally, you want to leave the bandage on for three to four days after the operation.

Removal of the bandage can be a little complicated as it’s sure to be soaked in dried blood. To get it off effectively, fill a bath with warm water, high enough so you can immerse your penis head in it.

You can add a little salt to the water as an antiseptic. The warm water will soak up the caked blood and prevent the bandage from tearing at the stitches when you try to get it off.

Now you want to sterilize a pair of scissors and carefully cut the dressing from the base towards the head. Cut only the top layer of the bandage so you can reveal the wire gauze underneath.

Now, gently unwrap the bandage, stopping to soak your penis in water whenever you feel even the slightest tug. Without using any force, you want to ensure you can get the entire bandage off the penis head. Be sure to take off any strands of bandage or gauze that may get embedded.

When the bandage is off, leave your penis soaking in the warm water to drain out any remaining blood or pus that may be oozing out of the wound.

When the area is clean, pat it dry with a clean towel or gauze and apply fresh bandages to the circumcised area. Ask your doctor for a quick lesson on how to go about this.

Massage Petroleum Jelly Onto the Penis Head

When you change the dressing or bandage on either yourself or your child, you’ll also want to add petroleum jelly.

For a baby, when changing his diaper, apply light, petroleum-based jelly on the head of the penis before putting on the dressing. This cream will keep the area smooth and prevent it from sticking to or chafing against the bandage.

If you’re taking care of yourself, be sure to apply a thin layer of petroleum-based jelly to the area before you put on new bandages, as well. Just as it would for a newborn, this will help prevent the bandages from sticking to your penis as it heals. Ideally, you want to apply new wrappings every forty-eight hours for at least a week after the surgery.

Ensure You Wear the Right Underwear

If you get your son circumcised early, your baby will still be wearing diapers during his recovery process. However, it’s important for you to select the right underwear for facilitating healing.

If you’re an adult, after surgery, your penis will likely look swollen and bruised from the anesthetic and the handling it receives during the circumcision. This appearance is normal, and your member should return to its regular size in a week or two.

If you’re used to wearing boxers, consider switching to briefs, at least until your penis has healed completely.

While boxers seem logical to air out the area, they don’t provide adequate support. Wearing boxers will give your penis room to swing freely, and this could cause unnecessary friction, which will exacerbate the pain and swelling.

To hold your penis in place, consider wearing briefs during the recovery period, as they will reduce the pain and help the area heal quickly. Notably I had a circumcision when I was a teenager due to medical (rather than religious) reasons and I found that wearing a cricket guard/box was a great way of protecting my nether regions during the healing process.

Avoid Any Physical Activity

You want to avoid any form of strenuous physical activity for at least a month after the circumcision. Return to your exercise regimen only gradually while slowly testing your boundaries and reducing the intensity if you feel any discomfort.

You may also want to take a week or two off work, especially if your job involves sitting in one position for an extended period. You need to ensure you can move about freely, so your penis doesn’t get cramped while healing.

Most importantly, refrain from high-intensity sports like cycling, swimming, or contact sports until the circumcision has fully healed, which can take up to three months.

Avoid Sexual Activity

This tip is a no-brainer, but it’s worth mentioning anyway. You want to avoid penetrative sex or masturbation until the circumcision has healed completely, which can take between six weeks and three months.

After the first month, use a condom when having sex (even with a regular partner) to prevent friction on the healing scar. You want to ensure you’re using a condom for at least two to three months after surgery or until the scar line has settled completely.

A flaccid penis will prevent pain during the healing period, and while it’s difficult to avoid unwanted erections, you can reduce their occurrence.

To avoid night erections, urinate two or three times before going to bed and even a few times throughout the night. It also helps to lie down on your side and draw your legs into the fetal position while sleeping.

Handle Your Child With Care

Again, your newborn won’t be moving around much during his recovery period, so avoiding physical activity is more important for you – or the adult male in your life being circumcised – than for a baby.

However, it’s also crucial that you handle your child with care during his recovery period.

It can be pretty tempting to cuddle your newborn boy and give him all the love and hugs he deserves. But as challenging as it seems, you want to hold off the affection for at least a week after the surgery.

Accidentally putting pressure on the glans can cause extreme discomfort and pain and even delay the healing process. So for the first week, play it safe, and avoid a lot of physical contact with your baby. You can always make up for all the lost affection in the weeks, months, and years that follow.

This doesn’t mean you can’t still soothe your baby. For starters, swaddle him in a blanket after the operation and give him a pacifier dipped in something sweet (preferably a sugar alternative, like stevia).

The pacifier will keep him calm and reduce the stress and discomfort he’s probably experiencing after surgery.

Additional Tips for Healing Babies After Circumcision

Newborn babies are typically circumcised within 48 hours after their birth. However, some parents hold off the circumcision for as long as ten days after their baby is born.

Most doctors will recommend circumcision before discharging the infant as it can get more complicated the longer you wait. However, in certain situations, like the ones listed below, it’s best to hold off circumcision until later.

• When there’s premature birth, the infant is not in a position to undergo such a complicated and strenuous surgical procedure.
• When parents have a history of medical conditions that could complicate the surgery.
• When the baby is born with a micropenis due to fetal testosterone deficiency.
• When the baby is born with physical deformities of the penis that need to be surgically operated on.

Once your doctor has assessed the situation and crossed out possible risks associated with the procedure, you can go ahead and opt for circumcision.

The most challenging aspect of this procedure for parents is knowing that it will be painful and uncomfortable for their newborn boy.

While sensing your baby’s pain can be difficult, it helps to know that the procedure will happen under anesthesia and that your baby will heal quickly given the proper care afterward.

Your doctor may use topical creams, anesthetic injections, or acetaminophen to lessen the pain during and after surgery. Here it’s essential to determine the best pain reliever for your infant, and the doctor may conduct a few tests to determine what’s best.

As complicated as all of this sounds, you can rest easy knowing that millions of men across the world opt for circumcision, and there is little to no risk involved with the procedure. And given today’s advanced technology, circumcision is a quick and almost painless affair.

Of course, even with the success of circumcisions, the correct aftercare is crucial.

When To Consult Your Doctor

If you follow the aftercare tips listed above, your boy’s circumcised penis should normally be healing. However, if it isn’t, you want to consult your doctor immediately to check if something is wrong.

Here are a few instances in which you should consider contacting your doctor.

• If you notice your baby hasn’t urinated yet, even 12 hours after the surgery
• If you find large red splotches of blood on his diaper, even after re-dressing the area
• If the redness, swelling, or yellow secretion persists for more than a week after the circumcision
• If you notice any signs of infection or pus coming out of the area, or if there’s a foul smell emanating from this region.
• If your baby catches a fever within a few days after the surgery

Even with these rare complications, circumcisions are a relatively risk-free procedure, and your doctor should be able to deal with any issues that crop up after the treatment.

If you follow the steps listed, your boy should be on his way to a full recovery within seven to ten days after the treatment.

Tips for Preparing for Your Circumcision (Adults)

Circumcision aftercare can be a little more complicated in adults and often involves sutures or stitches that dissolve within two weeks after the procedure. Unlike circumcision in infancy, adult circumcision requires a little preparation, and that’s what this section is all about – preparing for circumcision.

Consultation

You want to plan your circumcision around a time when you are free from any important commitments to attend to. Ideally, set aside at least two weeks after your surgery to focus entirely on healing and recovery.

Before you go into the procedure, opt for a preliminary consultation with your doctor, so you’re aware of the crucial details involved in the surgery.

This consultation is essential for the doctor to figure out specific medical details about their patient.

Your doctor will require information like whether you’re allergic to a particular anesthetic or antibiotic. It would help if you also disclosed pre-existing medical conditions, like diabetes or hypertension, so your doctor can figure out the best way to proceed with the circumcision.

Discuss Outcomes

The preliminary consultation will also allow you to state any specifications you may desire from the surgery. So, communicate information about the circumcision with your doctor and figure out the options available to you.

Let your doctor know whether you want a tight or a loose circumcision and if you want the scar line to be higher up or lower on your penis.

Remember, these terms are different for various practitioners. It’s best to ask your doctor about the possible outcomes and select one that suits you best.

Shave Pubic Hair

You don’t have to shave your pubic hair entirely before surgery, but it helps to trim it to avoid complications. Removing your pubic hair will lower the incidence of bacteria and other microbes in the genital area.

Removing pubic hair will also prevent it from getting painfully trapped in the bandages after the operation is over.

If you’re used to shaving your thighs or genital area regularly, stop doing so at least a week before the surgery. Shaving can lead to irritated skin, which can exacerbate any infections that may develop after circumcision.

On the Day

Before you get surgery, you want to avoid drinking alcohol as this could dehydrate the body and numb the effects of the anesthetic.

You also want to take a bath and wash the area around your genitals and under the penis head. Pull your foreskin back as far as you can and clean this area thoroughly as well.