You should remain relatively inactive the first 72 hours following surgery. We do encourage walking around for a few minutes every two hours to maintain good circulation, but otherwise, no activity.
It usually takes at least 10 days for your penis to heal after circumcision. You'll probably be advised to take at least 1 week off work to recover.
Toddlers may resume normal quiet activities such as walking, climbing stairs and going outside with supervision. Keep your toddler away from rough play and put straddle toys out of sight for the first week, as they can cause oozing from the incision. You do not need to restrict the activities of babies and newborns.
Wash the area daily with warm water and pat it dry. Don't use hydrogen peroxide or alcohol, which can slow healing. You may cover the area with a thin layer of petroleum jelly, such as Vaseline, and gauze bandage if it weeps or rubs against clothing. Change the bandage every day.
A person should wear loose-fitting clothing for the first few days after the procedure and refrain from any sexual activity for 4 weeks.
Again, most circumcisions heal well within 10 days. After this, the penis shouldn't require any extra-special care. That being said, you should always clean poop off of the penis, especially from the tip, to minimize your son's risk of a UTI.
Your child may be constipated after surgery, or they may not. If they have small, hard or painful poop, this is from the anesthesia and pain medications they received.
Pat the cut (incision) dry. You may also take short baths if you wish. Avoid strenuous activities, such as bicycle riding, jogging, weight lifting, or aerobic exercise, for 4 weeks or until your doctor says it is okay. You can return to work and normal activities, including driving, when you are comfortable doing them.
Urine will not hurt the circumcision and should not cause pain since surgery was not performed on the area where the urine comes out. Urine is sterile and does not cause infections. It is not unusual to see a small amount of bleeding from the incision for the first day or two.
To reduce the effect of night erections pulling on the stitches during the first few days, empty your bladder before retiring and a few times during the night. Do not lie on your back, but on your side. It may be helpful to draw your knees up a bit into a more foetal position.
Adult men after the circumcision should bring a pair of tight fitting briefs to wear afterwards which will keep the surgical dressing in place. Continue to wear these at home until the swelling and soreness has eased. Eat and Drinks: If you are having a local anaesthetic, eat and drink as per normal.
It's important to keep the tip of your penis clean. The area should be kept dry for 48 hours after the operation. After this, take warm baths or showers once or twice a day. Don't use bubble bath or scented soaps, as these may irritate your healing wound.
At first, the incision (cut) will be red and the glans (head of the penis) will look like it has been scraped. The area may be tender, but this will lessen over the first couple of days. The penis may also have some redness and swelling and have some yellow pus on the head in particular for up to a couple of weeks.
Normal Circumcision Healing
The incision starts off red and tender. The tenderness should be much less by day 3. The scab at the incision line comes off in 7 to 10 days.
This pain often gets better in 3 or 4 days. But it may last for up to 2 weeks. Even though your baby's penis will likely start to feel better after 3 or 4 days, it may look worse. The penis often starts to look like it's getting better after about 7 to 10 days.
These findings suggest that it is better to perform circumcision when boys are < 1 year old, when the anesthesia complications are also at a minimum. A longer hospitalization is associated with an increased risk of infection as well as increased costs (24).
Unwind the dressing to take it off. To clean any stool (poo) from the penis, squeeze warm water over it. Pat the penis dry. Do not use diaper wipes, lotions, powders or soap until the site has healed.
For the first day, the penis is covered with a gauze dressing, which you should replace with each diaper change. You can expect your baby to urinate within 12 hours of the circumcision. Clean the site with warm water and a cotton ball once or twice a day.
It's best to avoid full-body bathing until the second day after surgery, but sponge baths are fine. After the second day, you can shower or bathe as normal, but don't scrub the incision site — just let the soapy warm water run over the incision and pat it dry.
a small amount of clear discharge around the wound site which is a normal sign of dying skin seen in the Plastibell technique. The discharge is sometimes foul-smelling however when this happens, it is often difficult for parents to decide if there is an infection or not. Therefore seeking advice is a good idea.
In fact, circumcision is not a very painful procedure. Anaesthesia dulls pain during the surgery. Urination does not cause pain after surgery because the urethra (the tube that passes urine from the bladder) is not touched.
caring for a circumcised penis
Gently clean with warm water — do not use diaper wipes. Soapy water can be used if needed. If there is a dressing on the surgery site, put a new one on (with petroleum jelly) every time you change a diaper for the first day or two.
Don't use soap on this area, as it can irritate the skin. After cleaning, always gently pull the foreskin back over the glans of the penis.
Your child's glans may have off-white or yellowish patches in the first few days after surgery. These are a type of scab and are completely normal. Two or three days after the circumcision, the skin may look green and yellow. This is a sign of normal healing, not pus.