It is true! The new method brought in by
Dr. Neil Pollock, a Vancouver doctor was really a revolution. The Vancouver Sun
published an article on Dr. Pollock and the new circumcision technique that he
has come up with. An article ‘New circumcision technique saves time,
resources’, published in ‘The Vancouver Sun’ on
November 16, 2012 clearly states about the new technique and Dr. Pollock’s
opinion as well. This article written by Mike Hager covers different aspects of
the infant circumcision techniques of Dr. Pollock, even with the benefits and
opinions that experts share about circumcision.
In the new
circumcision technique developed
by Dr. Pollock, glue is made use of
instead of sutures to close the wound. This technique is mainly meant
for patients aged above one year. In this process, the patient will be treated
under local anesthetic. This new technique was done for the first time to treat
14 month old son of Flynn and Flora Yu, who was thrice affected by Urinary
Tract Infection within the period of nine months. “For us it was a medical
issue so we didn’t really have much choice,” said Mr Yu, father of the 14 month
old boy.
When it comes to the process, Dr. Pollock
clearly explains it is a simple procedure wherein the patient would be given
local anesthesia and glue would be made use of to quickly close the wound.
Earlier, patients undergoing circumcision were given general anesthesia and
sutures were made use of to close the wound. This was a long process done in
the operating room of the hospital. Stitches or glue isn’t necessary if the boy
is under the age of one as the skin can heal naturally. Dr Pollock said, “I can
do the whole surgery and enclosure almost faster than they can roll them in and
out of the operating room”. “The benefit to the system is we can
off-load all these kids.”
The opponents of infant circumcision argue
on this process stating that at such a small age, children don’t have the
capability to express their consent to the process. In addition, they also
argue that the process reduces their sexual satisfaction in future. On the
other hand, in August 2012 the American
Academy of Pediatrics came
out with new guidelines basing on the review of over a thousand articles. The
guidelines were then published in journal Pediatrics which endorsed infant
circumcision. Yet, it wasn’t ultimately in favour of the infant circumcision
process as it fell short of recommending universally. It stated that the final
call is all left to the parents to decide whether or not to have their infant
circumcised.
The circumcision process was justified by
scientific evidence which suggested a reduction
in the risk of Urinary Tract Infection. Apart from that, circumcision
even reduces the chance
of penile cancer and sexually transmitted diseases like HPV and HIV.
The Canadian
society which isn’t
supportive to routine circumcision for infants, is now reviewing on the
controversial subject. The society will be publishing a study “written by Canadians for Canadians to
help parents make that decision,” within a year.
As the medical professionals in Canada
haven’t supported in favour of infant circumcision, the British Columbia’s Ministry of
Health pays only for the
circumcision which they consider as medically necessary. Cindy MacDougall, the
spokeswoman of the ministry told The Sun that between 2011 and 2012, 1153
medically necessary cases were reported, costing $174,670 to the province. In
the year before, the province had to cover the expense of 1,387 circumcisions.
Infants suffering from a foreskin
infection like phimosis, paraphimosis, posthitis
or Urinary
Tract Infections are the
ones who need to undergo circumcision upon any doubt. When it comes to boys and
men, circumcision helps them to get over infections like HPV and recurrent
balanitis. The average cost of the circumcision process is less than $150 per surgery. The cost would be a bit
high in the case of infant circumcision. For babies
of 2 months or younger, Dr. Pollock charges $445 for the circumcision process. The
charges for more medically necessary cases referred by pediatricians are to be
figured out yet. With different American establishments supporting the infant
circumcision, across the world Dr. Pollock has observed a huge leap in the
number of parents requesting this process for their children.
Apart from Vancouver, Pollock extends his
services to different cities through expert doctors trained under him. Dr. Buenafe is one among them who is well
experienced in undertaking the novel Infant Circumcision procedures developed
by Dr. Pollock. Virtually
painless, quick (30 second procedure) is one such
procedure which has been performed successfully on more than 35,000 circumcisions.
