Changes

The word '''hygiene''' comes from Greek, and it means "the protection and promotion of health." It has been mis-understood to mean ''cleanliness''. Keeping the body clean is only part of what it takes to be healthful. In some cases, excessive washing can actually cause health problems.<ref name="birley1993">{{REFjournal |last=Birley |init=HDL |author-link= |last2=Walker |init2=MM |author2-link= |last3=Luzzi |init3=GA |author3-link= |last4=Bell |init4=R |author4-link= |etal=yes |title=Clinical Features and management of recurrent balanitis; association with atopy and genital washing] |trans-title= |language= |journal=Genitourin Med |location= |date=1993-10 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=400-3 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1195128/pdf/genitmed00029-0074.pdf |quote= |format=PDF |pubmedID=8244363 |pubmedCID=1195128 |DOI=10.1136/sti.69.5.400 |accessdate=2023-12-19}}</ref>

Victorian doctors falsely believed that thinking immoral or impure thoughts could cause neurological disorders such as feeblemindedness or epilepsy. They also believed that [[masturbation]] would cause one to think immoral or impure thoughts that would cause brain damage. ! Therefore, the [[foreskin]] and masturbation were viewed as unhygenic. So when a Victorian doctor spoke of [[circumcision]] being hygienic, he meant mental health, ''not '' physical cleanliness.

Misinformation abounds regarding the hygiene of the [[intact]] [[penis]]. In the [[United States]], especially, doctors tend to be ignorant, misinformed, or simply uninformed concerning the hygienic care of [[intact]] men and boys, and this happens for a variety of reasons. As of now, America is primarily a country where circumcision is [[United_States_of_America#Prevalence_of_circumcision| prevalent]], and thus [[intact ]] male genitals are unfamiliar to many Americans. Many American medical doctors, are ignorant of the subject because they are themselves [[circumcised]], wives to circumcised men, and/or mothers to circumcised children. Additionally, care of the intact male genitals is rarely mentioned in medical school. The [[foreskin]] and the proper care for [[intact]] genitals tends to be absent in pediatric literature.<ref name="osborn1981">{{REFjournal

One of the most common justifications cited for non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] of a boy is that it is supposed to facilitate hygiene. However, according the "Circumcision Policy Statement" produced by the "Task Force on Circumcision" appointed by the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], which was published in ''Pediatrics'' in 1999 and reaffirmed on September 1, 2005, "there is little evidence to affirm the association between [[circumcision ]] status and optimal penile hygiene".<ref name="aap1999">{{REFjournal

}}</ref> The [[foreskin ]] is self-cleaning, so no further cleaning is necessary. The first person to retract a boy's foreskin should be the boy himself.<ref>{{REFjournal

The information provided by supposed authorities regarding when the [[foreskin ]] of a boy becomes retractable is usually wrong. The foreskin may be become retractable after a few years, but it usually does not. Thorvaldsen & Meyhoff (2005) conducted a survey of young men in [[Denmark]] where boys are preserved [[intact]]. They found that the average age of first foreskin retraction is 10.4 years.<ref name="thorvaldsen2005">{{REFjournal

By the onset of puberty, most, but not all boys, have a retractable [[foreskin]]. Boys with a retractable foreskin should retract and wash their foreskin when they bathe. Excessive washing and use of soap, shampoo, and body wash on the [[mucosa]] inside the foreskin should be avoided because it dries the oils from the [[mucosa]]l tissue.<ref>{{REFjournal |lastname=Birley |init=HDL |author-link= |last2=Luzzi |init2=GA |author2-link= |last3=Bell |init3=R |author3-link= |etal=no |title=Clinical features and management of recurrent balanitis: association with atopy and genital washing |trans-title= |language= |journal-Genitourin Med |location= |date=1993 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=400-3 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/balanitis/birley/ |archived= |quote= |pubmedID=8244363 |pubmedCID=1195128 |DOI=10.1136/sti.69.5.400 |accessdate=2020-05-28}}<"birley1993" /ref> Warm water is sufficient for cleaning, which should not be done to excess.