ABSTRACT

There is no published study on the emotional changes following circumcision in adult men. Thus, we aimed to assess the changes in body cathexis appraisal after circumcision for religious reasons in a group of adult men. Fourty adult males (mean age 21.4 years) who were circumcised for religious reasons were enrolled in this prospective study. Each patient was asked to fill out a questionnaire of body cathexis appraisal (QBC) consisting of 40 items. A group age-, BMI-, and socioeconomically-matched 40 men who were circumcised in childhood were used as controls. Precircumcision and post-circumcision mean QBC scores in the patient group were 150.4 and 164.8, respectively. The control group had a mean QBC score of 161.2. The increase in mean QBC score in the patient group was statistically significant (p<0.001). Similarly, pre-circumcision mean QBC score in the patient group was statistically lower than that of the controls (p=0.017); whereas no significant change was found between post-circumcision mean QBC score and that of the controls (p=0.424). Our findings indicate that adult men who were not circumcised in childhood have diminished body cathexis appraisal than those who were circumcised, and circumcision leads to improvement in body cathexis appraisal.