Foreskin Restoration in the
News and Media

Canadian TV Show Eros Does a Piece on Foreskin Restoration

This is an excellent 5 minute introduction to Non-Surgical Foreskin Restoration and the topic of circumcision. August, 2007. http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1009822

British Journal of Urology March, 2007

A study in the BJU compared the sensitivity of various parts of the penis (not just the glans as some previous studies have done) in men who were circumcised and those were not and not surprisingly found uncircumcised men had greater sensitivity. The study also discusses the lack of previous research on this topic and makes note of the fact that they were unable to test several points on the the circumcised penis since circumcision had removed these areas of skin and the associated penile structures.

Showtime's Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
Season 3 (2005) - Episode 1 - Circumcision

Go out and rent the DVD of this episode and you can see Wayne - co-founder of NORM as well as others in the movement. See an actual restored foreskin at the end of the episode - uncensored! Penn & Teller's website is www.pennandteller.com

Tech TV Does a Piece on Circumcision and Foreskin Restoration

To watch this five or so minute piece click here

Wired Magazine - Foreskin Restoration - July 20, 2004

To read the article click here or here.

Mensight Magazine - 2004

H ow Male Circumcision May Be Affecting Your Love Life by Dr. Christine Northrup

FrontPage Magazine - November 6, 2001

Male Circumcision (Part 2) – Much More Than The Mutilation of Sexual Pleasure
By Jamie Glaz. To read the article click here

Wall Street Journal - December 28, 2000
'Intactivists' Seek to Undo A Long-Practiced Ritual

By BARRY NEWMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

CONCORD, Calif. -- For over a century, in the belief that nature can be
improved upon, Americans have circumcised their baby boys. Today, the value
of circumcision as a health measure is in doubt in some quarters at a time
when face lifts, tummy tucks and breast implants have lost their ability to
shock us.

Should it come as any surprise, then, that some men would try to regain what
circumcision took away?

"If you're willing to walk around with a pin through your tongue," says R.
Wayne Griffiths, one of the principal founders of the foreskin-restoration
movement, "this is not absurd at all." ... ( you may buy the whole article from the Wall Street Journal website at www.wsj.com Go to the website click the tab to search from 1996 to 91 days and type in 'foreskin restoration' )

Recent Studies on Tissue Expansion

These studies by researchers come to the conclusion that stretching the skin too quickly (either by too much tension or for too long without taking a break) can exacerbate tissue damage - and we want tissue growth, not damage.

Investigation on skin retrograde degeneration after tissue expansion; Zhonghua Zheng Xing Wai Ke Za Zhi. 2001 Nov;17(6):347-9.; [Article in Chinese]

Li J, Lu K, Ai Y.

Plastic Surgery Center, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of tissue expansion on tissue damage and retrograde degeneration. METHODS: 9 cases of conventional intermittent tissue expansion (CITE) and 9 cases of continuous pressure-controlled tissue expansion (CPTE) were chosen for the study. In creating of the expanded flaps, tissue samples were taken for histopathology, molecular biology and transmission electron microscope (TEM) examinations. RESULTS: Capillary bleeding, elastic and reticular fiber proliferation, arteriole thrombosis, fibroblast apoptosis and collagenolysis were observed after expansion. Retrograde degeneration was obvious in CITE group and acute lesion was obvious in CPTE group. CONCLUSION: Expansion stimulation induces tissue damage and retrograde degeneration, which indicates that the time for conventional intermittent expansion should be shortened and too fast continuous expansion is harmful.

PMID: 11838058 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Uncircumsize Me

Men reclaim the effects of childhood mutilation

by Julie Collins - Drake University - DRAKEmagazine Spring 2004, p37

Men across the United States – and worldwide – are reclaiming their "manhood." And they're using weights, cones and even surgical tape as their weapons of choice.

These men decided the circumcision they underwent as children – which they consider akin to female genital mutilation – was unnecessary. So they're undoing the work of physicians' scalpels by taking matters into their own hands.

"Men feel anger or loss at being circumcised because they have been denied a part of their bodies that is the most erotic without their consent," says R. Wayne Griffiths, co-founder and executive director of the National Organization of Restoring Men, a support group for men who wish to reverse their circumcisions.

Rooted in religious tradition, circumcision became popular in America because doctors believed it would cure masturbation. Even after masturbation hysteria passed, forced circumcision increased during the World Wars, when soldiers were circumcised for "hygienic reasons."

"Every reason to cut the genitals – particularly of children – has proven invalid," says Marilyn Milos, a registered nurse from San Anselmo, California, who runs the National Organization of Circumcising Information Resource Centers. "Not one medical organization in the world recommends circumcision, and some have begun warning against it."

Researchers have dispelled most of the justifications of circumcision – including that foreskin causes penile and cervical cancers or increases the risk of AIDS – yet circumcision is so embedded in American culture that the procedure's unnecessary pain is still overlooked.

"It doesn't take long to talk a man back into his foreskin," Milos says. "Ask, 'Why would you want to allow someone to amputate 20,000 to 40,000 nerve endings that provide you with wonderful, pleasurable sensations and replace them with a scar?' Men under stand immediately."

Men who restore not only seek to gain what was taken without their consent, but they also hope to obtain increased sensitivity, mobility and sexual pleasure.

"The part of the male that is exposed after circumcision is really an internal organ just like the clitoris – it's not supposed to be exposed to the world," Griffiths says. "When you expose these nerves over a period of time, they get irritated and calloused. When a circumcised man reaches middle age, he has very few nerve endings left to stimulate." Restored foreskin provides the protection and lubrication circumcised men may be missing.

But reversing the "little snip" isn't a simple process. When restoration is done surgically, skin from the scrotum or another body part is grafted onto the tip of the penis, which is painful and expensive. Non-surgical restoration – a more popular alternative – involves tissue expansion. A constant, gentle tension on the remaining foreskin gradually causes new skin cell growth. Many men fashion their own restoration tools, typically involving surgical tape, while others use commercial devices such as weights, cones and elastic starter kits. When used correctly, none of the methods should hurt.

Depending on how severe the circumcision is – some men's circumcisions are tighter than others – the procedure may take one to five years. "It's a slow process because you have to be consistent and persistent," says Griffiths, who restored his own foreskin.

Because foreskin is so personal, no one knows how many men are undergoing the process. Griffiths estimates that as many as 30,000 men worldwide have undergone some degree of restoration.

Many Web sites offer restoration information, advice and products. Jim Bigelow's book "The Joy of Uncircumcising! Restore Your Birthright and Maximize Sexual Pleasure," sold more than 18,000 copies in its first printing and is now available as an e-Book through Norm.org.

Fine-Touch Pressure Thresholds in the Adult Penis

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2006.06685.x

Sorrells, Morris L., James L. Snyder, Mark D. Reiss, Christopher Eden, Marilyn F. Milos, Norma Wilcox, et al. (2007). Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis. BJU International, 99(4), 864-869.

Morris L. Sorrells, James L. Snyder, Mark D. Reiss, Christopher Eden*, Marilyn F. Milos, Norma Wilcox and Robert S. Van Howe Retired, *HIV/AIDS researcher, San Francisco, CA, National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, Department of Paediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, MI, USA Accepted for publication 22 October 2006

OBJECTIVE

To map the fine-touch pressure thresholds of the adult penis in circumcised and uncircumcised men, and to compare the two populations.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Adult male volunteers with no history of penile pathology or diabetes were evaluated with a Semmes-Weinstein monofilament touch-test to map the fine-touch pressure thresholds of the penis. Circumcised and uncircumcised men were compared using mixed models for repeated data, controlling for age, type of underwear worn, time since last ejaculation, ethnicity, country of birth, and level of education.

RESULTS

The glans of the uncircumcised men had significantly lower mean (SEM) pressure thresholds than that of the circumcised men, at 0.161 (0.078) g (P = 0.040) when controlled for age, location of measurement, type of underwear worn, and ethnicity. There were significant differences in pressure thresholds by location on the penis (P < 0.001). The most sensitive location on the circumcised penis was the circumcision scar on the ventral surface. Five locations on the uncircumcised penis that are routinely removed at circumcision had lower pressure thresholds than the ventral scar of the circumcised penis.

CONCLUSIONS

The glans of the circumcised penis is less sensitive to fine touch than the glans of the uncircumcised penis. The transitional region from the external to the internal prepuce is the most sensitive region of the uncircumcised penis and more sensitive than the most sensitive region of the circumcised penis. Circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis.

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Foreskin Restoration in the News and Media

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Showtime's Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Season 3 (2005) - Episode 1 - Circumcision