Brit Milah

Did anyone in the uk undergo this surgery?
How was it? Did you find it expensive?
Did you have it done before or after you finally converted?

Thanks!

Being a woman, I haven't ever been through it, but I do know that you have to have it done before your conversion (from what I've read, you do it before you have your mikvah, but it might be before or after the beit din).

It's not an issue for most American male converts, since most men in America are circumcised at birth (upwards of 95% of boys were circumcised in the 1950's-70's, then it's gradually declined to 65% of boys born now); all they have to do is give a drop a blood.

I was circumcised at birth (Baruch Hashem!) so I don't have to do the Brit Milah, but I will have to do the Hatafat Dam Brit, and a friend who just went through it about a year ago said it was not painful, just a little annoying. The drop of blood is taken from the scar tissue and that's that.

I do think that for all male converts, either procedure has to be done before going to the mikvah, which is the final stage of conversion. Good luck!

I did it about four months before the conversion, as a medical procedure, then had hatafat dam brit done. I feel that medically this is the safest way compared to a mohel who usually doesn't understand the medical side of it.

You might be able to get insurance to pay for it if you can argue a medical need, of which there are many.

It hurt to walk for the first week or so but after about three weeks things were back to normal. So it's best to do it during a work vacation, I hope your employer gives you a certain amount of days off every year? Or schedule it during Xmas break.

If you find a mohel who will do an adult circumcision outside a hospital, run the other way! Adult circumcision is always a medical procedure which requires a hospital and surgeon.

I think Usuario's two-step procedure is the most common way of performing circumcision, although if you go to a Jewish hospital, you might just find a surgeon who is also a mohel, or can have a mohel present in the room when it's done, so you only need the one procedure.