Touch-test study finds circumcised males significantly less sensitive

DOCTORS OPPOSING CIRCUMCISION, Press Release, Monday, March 19, 2006,

Touch-test study finds circumcised males significantly less sensitive.

SEATTLE—Doctors Opposing Circumcision (DOC) announces the publication of a landmark study on penile sensitivity in the April 2007 edition of BJU International. Morris Sorrells, M. D., who serves on the DOC Board of Directors and Mark D. Reiss, M.D., Executive Vice-President of DOC, led a team of physicians and other professionals in the study of penile sensitivity of both circumcised and non-circumcised men.

The study, which was carried out in the San Francisco Bay area of California, tested 159 subject males with Semmes-Weinstein monofilament touch-test sensory evaluators..

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..

George C. Denniston, M,D., MPH, President of Doctors Opposing Circumcision, commented, “This new study provided further evidence of the permanent and irreversible lifelong injury of non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision and raises grave ethical questions regarding the continued performance of child circumcision. We call upon the American Academy of Pediatrics to defend children from this practice.”

The study may be viewed at:

https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/pdf/sorrells_2007.pdf

Doctors Opposing Circumcision
Suite 42
2442 NW Market Street
Seattle, Washington 98107-4137
USA

Citation:

Touch-test study finds circumcised males significantly less sensitive. Seattle: Doctors Opposing Circumcision, Monday, March 19, 2007.

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