I am 58 years old. I was circumcised as a baby upon a doctor’s recommendation. As a young boy, I soon noticed that I looked different to my father and to other boys and men. I didn’t see another other circumcised penis until I was grown up. Even though I had no conscious memory of having a foreskin, I nevertheless felt that I had something missing from my penis. It didn’t feel or look right. I wanted to be able to cover the head like other boys. When I discovered what had happened to me, I was horrified. I hadn’t been born like that after all, and neither was my disfigured penis the result of an accident. Someone had deliberately done that to me! What gave them the right to do it? I hated the family doctor. I felt ashamed of the way I looked too. As I grew up, I didn’t get used to it either. In fact, the feelings of injury, loss and shame got worse.
However, there is a happy ending. Several years ago I discovered NORM UK and found out that it was possible to “restore”, or at least grow a replacement foreskin, although it will never be possible to regain all of the nerve endings lost to circumcision. I can now accept my body. I feel that as far as possible I have corrected the damage done to me as a baby. I feel at ease with myself.