People who oppose circumcision often claim that living with a permanently exposed glans is unbearable.
But many men naturally have foreskins that only cover part of their glans, or simply slips back behind it.
Others may keep theirs permanently retracted so their glans is not covered.
It is usually considered to be cleaner and more hygienic to leave the glans of one's penis uncovered, although not everyone who thinks so is willing to go as far as to have their body cut.
It does require some getting used to the idea psychologically before one feels comfortable to undergo surgery that alters the function of one of his more precious organs.
Even those who are unwilling to have their dick clipped often feel that having their glans bare at all times gives a pleasant sensation.
Just think about it, the part of your body that interprets everything that is not particularly painful as pleasure is taken out of its original environment where it was deprived of stimuli and it can experience the world. It sends all sorts of signals into the pleasure center of your brain that responds by making you feel good.
Like any part of your body the nerve connections responsible for the sensation from the glans of your penis, your corona, and sulcus grow stronger as they are used regularly. You start to experience various new ways your penis can make you feel good.
These happen even if you just keep your foreskin retracted, but the skin can occasionally cover your glans even at the most awkward moments during sex, and shield the good parts from stimuli.
People who keep their foreskins permanently retracted for a few months or even years often proceed to make it official and have their foreskin surgically removed.
Apart from the physical changes getting a circumcision usually has a strong psychological impact which can be negative (especially if someone is forced to undergo the procedure) or positive. People who choose to get circumcised, especially after careful consideration, usually feel good about it afterwards.
In spite of the claims on the Internet, having your glans permanently exposed does not cause it to loose sensation, in fact because your brain gets used to receiving feeling coming from it the sensation may become refined.
Yes, over time being bare becomes natural and you notice it less the same way you don't consciously think about wearing clothes. But just because you don't constantly think about your underwear touching your glans it does not mean loss of sensation -- you would not describe when you fail to think about your shirt sleeve touching your forearm as loosing the sensation in your arm either.
If your glans is painful to the touch it should go away. Especially people with severe phimosis who live with some level of perpetual inflammation long term can have significant tenderness in their glans. This should go away after the glans is permanently exposed and the irritation from being pickled in decomposing urine and smegma goes away.
But the loss of tenderness, which is a good thing, should not be confused with the loss of sexual sensitivity.
In spite of all the scientific sounding names for different sections of the foreskin, it really is just more of the same skin that covers the rest of the penis.
Even if you are circumcised you still have skin on your penis and have sensation from it, only the folded part at the front is gone with probably the frenulum removed as well (it is a personal choice but I think the frenulum should be removed, otherwise it is just an accident waiting to happen).
Surely your fingers have even more touch receptors than your foreskin, or ridged band, or whatever other anatomical structure some care to name. Somehow nobody has come up with some ridiculous notion that one's principal means of achieving orgasm is to stimulate his fingers.
It is not so much how many receptors there are in any given body part, but where they are wired to in your brain. For most people stimulation of the glans penis, the corona, the coronal sulcus feels good even when not sexually aroused and a source of intense pleasure during sexual activity.
The sensation from foreskin may feel good, but during sex it is just a way to achieve a quick release.
The sensation from a circumcised penis does differ from the intact one, but many of us think that it is much better without a foreskin. I personally would not want mine back.
A loosely circumcised penis still feels sort of like an intact one, while a tight cut gives a completely different sensation.
With a tight cut there is no more skin movement (so the mechanics work a bit differently and feel different). There is however more stimulation of the rim of the glans and the sulcus (which can be a source of very intense pleasure -- nothing that a foreskin can do comes even close).
A very tight cut can give a little extra sensation during a full erection as the skin stretches slightly and you can actually feel it.
But caution is advised before one requests a very tight cut because if there is not enough skin left to accommodate an erection properly things can get painful!
Remember that the remaining skin has to be long enough to not cause discomfort, not just when your penis is erect and it is sort of parallel with your body but in any position, i.e. sticking away at a 90 degree angle.
Also on the bottom side enough skin has to be left so as not to drag your balls up to your shaft.
But so long as your circumcision is performed properly your should feel improved sensation, a cleaner, more comfortable feeling once your foreskin is gone.
I know that there are people who regret getting circumcised. I do not know about any published statistics what percentage of those are really victims of a botched circumcision and medical errors but I would not be surprised if most of the regrets would turn out to be because the operation has been screwed up big time.
I strongly advise everyone to think carefully before making a decision, and choose your doctor carefully.
But most people experience getting a circumcision as an improvement to their body, and many claim that getting circumcised was the best decision they have ever made.
