Circumcision regret
Is it normal to wish you weren't circumcised? An honest, evidence-led look — what the research really shows, what real men tell us, and what you can do. No invented stories, no overclaiming.
Circumcised & wish they weren't
of the circumcised men in our own survey
Intact & glad of it
of the uncircumcised men in our survey
Live from our own reader survey — real people, in their own words. This is a self-selected sample, not a national estimate, and we say so plainly.
Is it normal to regret it?
Yes — and you are not alone in it. Regret over being circumcised is a real, documented experience. It is also, honestly, a minority one: most circumcised men do not report regret, and plenty are satisfied or simply indifferent. We are not going to tell you otherwise, because exaggerating how common regret is would be dishonest — and it would insult the men who genuinely live with it.
What the honest picture looks like is this: a meaningful subset of men feel a real sense of loss, most often once they learn what the foreskin actually does, or once it sinks in that the decision was made for them, as infants or children, without their consent. That feeling is valid whether or not a study can measure it.
What the research shows
The strongest, least-disputed finding on regret is not about anatomy at all — it is about attitude.
Attitude matters more than status
In a survey of 811 men, Bossio & Pukall found that how a man felt about his circumcision status — his satisfaction or dissatisfaction — predicted his body image and sexual functioning far more than whether he was actually cut or intact. A follow-up study reached the same conclusion: happiness with one's status, not the status itself, drives genital self-image. In other words, regret is real and it has measurable weight.
Honest caveat: these are cross-sectional self-report surveys, so they show association, not proof of cause.
A subgroup finds it genuinely distressing
A 2022 online survey (Maloney et al.) reported that men circumcised as adults were generally satisfied, but that a small subgroup of men circumcised as infants found their circumcision status distressing. That distinction — distress concentrated among those who never chose it — is the heart of what "regret" means here.
Honest caveat: despite its "national survey" title this was an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample, not a true probability sample, and it is not widely cited. We include it as supporting, not definitive.
The part that's genuinely contested
A lot of regret centres on sensation and sexual function — and here the science is honestly not settled. Two large bodies of evidence point in opposite directions, and it matters that you know both are written by people with a stated position. We show you both poles rather than pretending one has won.
The "sensitivity is lost" pole
Bronselaer et al. (2013) surveyed ~1,370 men and reported that circumcised men described decreased pleasure, lower orgasm intensity, more difficulty reaching orgasm, and more unusual sensations (numbness, tingling). They concluded the foreskin is erogenous tissue people should be told about.
Bronselaer et al., BJU International (2013)Caveat: self-selected online survey — cannot prove cause, and a British probability sample (Natsal) found no significant difference.
The "no adverse effect" pole
Systematic reviews by Morris & Krieger (2013, 2020) concluded that the best-quality evidence shows circumcision has minimal or no adverse effect on sexual function, sensitivity, or satisfaction.
Morris & Krieger, Sexual Medicine (2020)Caveat: both authors are well-documented circumcision advocates; their quality-rating method is formally disputed in the literature. Not a neutral referee.
Our position: the anatomy (the foreskin is nerve-rich, functional tissue) is not in doubt; the size of the average effect on sensation is. If someone tells you the sensation question is definitively settled — in either direction — they are overstating the evidence.
Real voices — not invented ones
We will not put fake testimonials on this page. Every regret story we publish is from a real person who shared it with us. The clearest place to read them in men's own words is our reader survey, where circumcised and intact men wrote frankly about whether they would choose their status again.
Regret looks different around the world
Why men are circumcised — and therefore what they regret — varies enormously by culture. Here is an honest picture of three very different contexts, including where the evidence is thin.
🇺🇸 United States
The US is the main home of adult regret and the response to it, because it is the one wealthy country that circumcises a majority of newborns (roughly 58–64%, per CDC/NCHS) for mostly non-religious reasons — cultural habit and perceived hygiene rather than faith. That means a large population of men who never chose it. It is also where the organised response lives: Intact America (led by Georganne Chapin, whose 2024 memoir This Penis Business tells the story), the Bloodstained Men protest movement, and active foreskin-restoration communities — even the Cleveland Clinic now documents restoration.
🇵🇭 Philippines
In the Philippines circumcision (tuli) reaches over 90% of men — but the pressure runs the opposite way. Boys are cut around ages 10–14 mostly to avoid being called supot (a slur for the uncircumcised), so the regret here is often about coercion and peer pressure rather than a decision made in infancy. One cohort study (Boyle & Ramos, 2019) reported high rates of PTSD symptoms among boys cut in traditional pukpok rituals — a striking finding we attribute to that specific, advocacy-authored study rather than treat as settled consensus.
🌍 The Arab & Muslim world
Here we have to be honest that the evidence is thin. Across the region circumcision is near-universal and grounded in the sunnah, with Islamic legal schools disagreeing on whether it is obligatory (Shafi'i, Hanbali) or merely recommended (Hanafi, Maliki). Openly expressed regret is rare and marginal — a few named voices exist (the jurist Sami Aldeeb; activist Jahanshah Rashidian; and a peer-reviewed study of Turkish men who oppose circumcision on religious grounds) but there is no organised regret or restoration movement to speak of. And in the interest of not overclaiming: the best regional sexual-function data, a Turkish study of 2,768 men, found that age at circumcision made no significant difference to erectile function or premature ejaculation. We report that even though it cuts against the advocacy grain.
If you regret it, what can you do?
Foreskin restoration
Non-surgical restoration gently stretches the remaining shaft skin over months to re-cover the glans. It cannot regrow the nerve tissue that was removed, and results vary — but many men find it restores coverage, some sensitivity, and a real sense of getting something back.
How restoration worksYou're not alone
Processing this with people who understand it helps. Our community is a place to talk openly, ask questions, and hear from men who have been through the same thing — without judgement.
Join the communityCommon questions
Is it normal to regret being circumcised?
Yes — it's a real, documented experience, though a minority one. Most circumcised men don't report regret, but a meaningful subset do, especially after learning what the foreskin does or realising the choice was made for them. How a man feels about his status matters more for his well-being than the status itself.
Can you regret a circumcision done in infancy?
Yes — "I wish I wasn't circumcised" is a common way men describe it once they understand what was removed and that they couldn't consent. It can't be reversed, but restoration can partially recover coverage and some sensitivity over time.
Do most circumcised men regret it?
No — and we won't pretend otherwise. Many report being satisfied or indifferent. Regret is a genuine minority experience, not a universal one. This page is about taking it seriously, not exaggerating it.
What can I do if I regret my circumcision?
The main option is non-surgical foreskin restoration, plus connecting with others who understand it. See how restoration works.
Go deeper
The comparison, the anatomy, and the real survey behind the numbers.