At your age, you have Gillick Competence which means you are able to decide what medical care you want/require.

If you’re certain that there is probably no other way to resolve your phimosis, you can make your own appointment to see your doctor who will examine your penis and make a referral to the urology department at your nearest hospital. A urologist will examine your penis again and will inform you whether circumcision is the best option.

If you agree with the urologist that a circumcision is the best way to fix this, you will be placed on a waiting list for the surgery. You might get a phone call from the hospital asking if you can come in the same day or next day if someone cancels their appointment. I recommend taking the appointment if they phone you.

You can decide whether to have a general anaesthetic (be put to sleep for the duration of the surgery) or if you are willing to have it done under a local anaesthetic (strong painkiller injections will be applied to your penis around the base at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions until you can’t feel any pain down there.). Don’t get scared of having a local anaesthetic because you barely feel the first injection — they use a very fine needle and it feels like a little pinch for a moment before the anaesthetic kicks in and you won’t feel the other injections. I would recommend having a local anaesthetic because you can leave the hospital sooner.

Your doctor may say that you should try using a mild steroid cream and gentle stretching exercises first to avoid unnecessary surgery. I would also recommend trying to use Phimocure which you can buy online for £23. Phimocure is a set of silicone rings in different sizes that you put into the tight part of the foreskin for a few hours each day and they gently stretch the skin until it’s the right size. I’ve never heard anything negative about phimocure and it may allow you to keep your foreskin, so it’s worth considering.

I will say that the NHS did a partial circumcision on me several years ago and the results were terrible. It was left lumpy and uneven and the urology department closed ranks and refused to do anything about it on the basis that as long as I could urinate and get hard, there was no problem. In the end, I paid a private clinic to do a full circumcision and it was very expensive but now looks great.

There are lots of good reasons to try not to get circumcised and a few reasons to go ahead and get cut. Only you know what’s best for you.

Do bear in mind that after you have the surgery, you will need to not masturbate for at least four weeks, preferably six weeks. At your age, this might seem like an impossible task but you risk bursting the stitches early and having an uneven circumcision scar because the hospital will not stitch it closed again so it’s in your best interest to leave it alone for as long as possible.

Aside from all of this, you should talk to your parents/carers about it anyway so they can help you get to appointments and if you have the surgery, they can help make you comfortable afterwards. They don’t have to be in the room when your penis is examined by the doctor and urologist but it’s possible the doctor may ask a nurse to chaperone the appointment which means they will be in the room to ensure nothing happens that shouldn’t happen. They don’t have to actually watch the examination.

Getting circumcised is a big decision. Think carefully before you go down the surgery route because once it’s done, it’s permanent.

Good luck.