{
  "abstract": "As an infant, I was subjected to a circumcision for a so-called phimosis. In 1949, Douglas Gairdner (1910–1992), a past editor of ADC, wrote the seminal paper on the natural history of the foreskin. In a notable 1968 ADC publication, just as I qualified in medicine, I finally learnt about the unfortunate ‘fate of my foreskin’.1 2 In 1947, aged 2.5 years, I was admitted for a tonsillectomy. As far as I am aware, I did not have obstructive sleep apnoea, the only good indication for surgical intervention in early life.3 It generated a disturbing nightmare memory as my parents were prevented from accompanying me onto the ward, which was full of others due to be submitted to likely inappropriate ENT surgery. The cries of very upset young children, including mine, continued for the whole of the admission and were only partially assuaged by the offer of ice cream after the surgery. While a vague and incomplete memory, it has influenced my career and clinical and academic practice. Surgical treatment for upper respiratory tract problems oscillates between being ‘in and out of fashion’.3 However, my early experience prompted me to highlight that children with allergic upper airway disease are often inappropriately submitted to surgery.4 Attempts to eliminate all routine practice with evidence of harm and/or lack of efficacy have yet to be fully achieved.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Paediatrics, Imperial College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "John O Warner"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Archives of Disease in Childhood and my 55 years of paediatric practice",
  "uid": "aed16df1-8ec7-5fdf-8662-b90be552e9fd"
}