Yes exactly and both ways is actually doing permanent irreversible damage the severity may be different but it is still wrong - it may be worse to lose your whole leg versus losing your foot but it is not good either way.
Also regarding the hygiene thing - it is actually peoples attempts at overdoing the hygiene that can often do harm and cause urinary tract infections (one of the things that circumcision is supposed to reduce but the evidence is very poor). The problem is if you clean off the good bacteria that live on the skin they can get replaced by pathogenic bacteria which can cause infections. People are slowly realising this.