In Talking to a Urologist

At today's bris, the mohel was actually the baby's grandfather, a Urologist by profession. I served as the facilitator and the bandager, setting things up and taking care of the baby afterwards [see here, where I describe what is done when I play this role, in the context of a father who "blanked" in the heat of the moment].

Just a few observations from a Urologist who has been around the block a few times, with whom I chatted for a few minutes afterwards.

News Out of Israel

In an article today in Israeli newspaper "Yediot Aharonot" (the Hebrew article is available online here, and the English version is available here), a mohel in the northern part of Israel has been put under a cloud on account of "not doing brisses" according to Jewish law. The article does not call into question the individual's piety or intentions, but that as a practitioner who is required to produce a particular end result according to Jewish law, his practices have produced circumcisions that required regular touch-ups.

The cause for the touch-ups: Not removing enough foreskin.

I've blogged about this before: See here and here and here

It is also important to note that as much as cosmetic touch-ups are annoying and no one should ever need to go through them - not baby and not his parents - the good news is that the surgical touch up usually produces excellent cosmetic results. And if I were to have a choice, I would likely prefer the surgeon have something to work with (the extra skin that was not removed) than to have the baby at the mercy of having had too much skin removed.