Adult Circumcision: No Sex Woes Seen

Jan. 9, 2008 -- Adult male circumcision doesn't hamper sexual satisfaction or sexual function, a Ugandan study shows.

Previous studies have shown that circumcision may curb men's risk of contracting HIV by half, and, if widely practiced in Africa, might prevent 3 million deaths over 20 years.

Now, in the new Ugandan study, few men -- circumcised or not -- reported sexual problems. 

The study included more than 4,000 sexually experienced Ugandan men aged 15-49 who didn't have HIV.

After rating their sexual satisfaction and function, the men were split into two groups. One group of men got circumcised immediately; the other group didn't.

The men completed follow-up surveys six months, one year, and two years after the study started.

Virtually all of the men in both groups -- at least 98% -- noted no problems with their sexual satisfaction and sexual function in any of those interviews. And six months after circumcision, almost 99% of men reported no difficulty with vaginal penetration, compared to 98% among those men before circumcision.

The researchers -- who included Godfrey Kigozi, MD, of the Rakai Health Sciences Program in Entebbe, Uganda and Professor Ronald Gray, MD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health -- report their findings in Sexual Medicine.

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