The whole foreskin and nothing but the foreskin

Circumcision supposed to mean removing the foreskin from the penis.

While one would think that it should be more or less obvious which part of the penile skin is the foreskin, it is not always what is removed during a circumcision.

African tribal circumcisions are usually performed to some exact specifications depending on tribe and tradition. Some do appear to practice excessive skin removal, while others don't even remove enough skin to look fully circumcised.

Jewish ritual circumcisions have a requirement that the glans must be completely uncovered, and look obviously circumcised. This requirement was originally instituted during antiquity to prevent young Jewish men who wanted to mingle with the Greeks from hiding their circumcised status by wearing a kynodesme.

Muslim traditions seem to vary from country to country and have a lot larger variation where the cut is placed and how tight the result is. Even a medical circumcision done in a hospital is acceptable, it does not need to be done in a specific religious ceremony. In some countries males with a very short natural foreskin are considered to be "born circumcised", so there does not seem to be a requirement to completely uncover the glans.

Doctors who perform circumcisions seem to just cut where they please although there are some variations from country to country what the preferred style is.

Europeans, if they circumcise at all, usually try to remove the foreskin by cutting away most of the inner skin and more or less an equal amount of the outer skin, or perhaps making it slightly looser or tighter. Nevertheless by making the cut very low the skin tends to stay behind the glans and not roll forward and cover it. Still some men who have received a low and loose cut wish it was tighter.

North Americans, obsessed with the high and tight style, tend to determine where the cut line should go somewhat more arbitrarily.

The dangers of removing too much skin are well known and there are plenty of horror stories on the Internet when the patient could not even achieve a full erection because not enough skin was left to accommodate it. Even less extreme cases usually involve balls being dragged up along the penile shaft and poor cosmetic results. Extreme cases require skin grafts. Thus naturally any doctor who is not criminally insane wants to avoid excess skin removal.

One sad aspect of the history of circumcision in the USA is that the infamous Dr Kellogg has apparently advocated excessively tight circumcisions in order to prevent masturbation and discourage sex. That sort of intentional damage is unbecoming a physician and makes one wonder whatever has happened to "First do no harm!"

While more easily corrected, leaving too much skin can also be a problem, and it seems to be quite common as if doctors could not decide which part is anatomically the foreskin and just take "a little off the top".

When the patient is supposed to be circumcised, doing a partial circumcision is just not a good substitute. It is more suitable for cases when someone has phimosis but wishes to remain uncircumcised thus an equal amount of inner and outer skin is left that can partially cover the glans creating the appearance of a very short foreskin.

Unfortunately it does not have the full health benefits of being circumcised and it is not a cosmetically acceptable alternative of a full circumcision since the patient does not even look circumcised afterward.

A perhaps even worse solution is when the doctor tries to create a high and loose circumcision which is so loose that the remaining inner foreskin folds over and covers part of the glans. It looks even worse than a partial circumcision because the glans is covered with a piece of skin that is inner skin on both sides.

Cosmetically it looks like somehow the job was half done -- more like a penis with the foreskin partially retracted than a circumcised one. Because it is folded inner skin that covers part of the glans it is more susceptible to abrasion from clothing and irritations that can become quite uncomfortable, while retaining some of the drawbacks of not being circumcised at all.

An overly loose incomplete circumcision that leaves extra skin covering the glans is even more dangerous when done on infants or small children because the remaining skin can stick to the glans and reattach itself creating adhesions and skin bridges, and it can cause other health problems normally only seen in uncircumcised males.

Any variation with a significant coverage can also have other complications, such as phimosis of the remaining foreskin.

An incomplete circumcision also does not give that clean circumcised feeling.

Both in children and adults an overly loose circumcision can only be corrected by performing a re-circumcision. Yes, it is so uncomfortable that people are willing to endure another circumcision or subject their children to additional surgery to remedy the discomfort and address the cosmetic issues caused by an inadequate or incomplete circumcision.

This should not be ignored when performing a circumcision in the first place. Care should be taken to uncover the glans completely and not to leave excess loose inner skin that it will roll over the corona and cover part of the glans. An at least moderately low and moderately tight style is safer than just leaving a lot of skin on the assumption that more is better.

People may or may not agree about the benefits of circumcision, but an incomplete circumcision is really the worst solution. A person should not need to go through circumcision surgery more than once. Doctors should exercise more care when performing a circumcision in the first place, it is someone's penis after all that he has to live with every day.

External Links:

Loose cut, considering revision
Re-circumcision

Note: I had to be re-circumcised twice because not enough skin has been removed, so it is a very sensitive topic for me. While I am very happy with the end result having to be re-cut was not fun at all. At that time I used to think that I was the only guy unlucky enough to need to get his circumcision redone but it appears to be  far more common than one would think.