A recent study challenged common beliefs and determined that circumcised men do not have less sensibility than the not-circumcised ones. The team analyzed subjects’ reactions to a variety of stimulus and did not found any significant differences among them.

The study published in The Journal of Urology last week proved as well that the foreskin is not the most sensitive part in a man’s penis, putting to rest others papers that said the opposite, the team said in the study.

A recent study challenged common beliefs and determined that circumcised men do not have less sensibility than the not-circumcised ones.  Photo credit: Days as riold
A recent study challenged common beliefs and determined that circumcised men do not have less sensibility than the not-circumcised ones. Photo credit: Days as riold

“We directly tested whether circumcision is associated with a reduction in penile sensitivity by testing tactile detection, pain, warmth detection, and heat pain thresholds at multiple sites on the penis between groups of healthy neonatally circumcised and intact men,” said lead author Jennifer Bossio.

It was determined that neonatal circumcision is not associated with changes in penile sensitivity and provided preliminary evidence to suggest that the foreskin is not the most sensitive part of the penis, explained Bossio.

In addition, the foreskin of intact men was more sensitive to tactile stimulation than the other penile sites, however this affirmation did not extend to any other stimuli where foreskin sensitivity was comparable to the other sites tested.

For the research, the team gathered 62 men, which a half were circumcised and the other half intact, in the Ontario area and tested each individual with the stimulus already mentioned, as reported by Vox.

A small difference

Even though that one of the limitations of the study was that it had a small sample size to be analyzed, ideally 200 participants were the right amount, instead of the 62, the results showed that if there is any difference in sensitivity this is too small and not significant.

Other yet-to-be-published work from the same team gathered the differences among circumcised and intact man for sexual arousal, which was studied via blood flow in their genital region while the participants watched porn. Bossio gave a preview of the results and said that both groups showed similar sexual satisfaction overall.

Source: The Journal of Urology