Male Neonatal Circumcision - A Review Article

Circumcision is the most common surgery performed worldwide and about 30% of men are circumcised, of whom 70% are Muslim. The majority of male neonates are circumcised based on religious and cultural practices. Neonatal circumcision has several advantages whencompared to an older age group receiving the procedure. There is considerable controversy about circumcision – neonatal or otherwise. Theclinical benefits of circumcision include reducing the risk of urinary tract infection (UTI), sexually transmitted disease (STD), HIV infection,phimosis, balanitis and penile cancer. The most common complications of circumcision are infection, bleeding and failure to remove enoughforeskin. These complications occur in less than 1% of all performed circumcisions.Neonatal circumcision is a simpler procedure than adult circumcision and has very low rates of complications when performed by anexperienced physician on healthy newborn infants. Healing is usually complete within a week. Local analgesia should be administered toall infants undergoing the procedure. Circumcision should be delayed on babies born with congenital anomalies of the penis or if there isthe slightest doubt about baby’s health. When parents are making a decision about circumcision, they should be informed about its medicaladvantages and disadvantages. Key to the ethical discussion is respect of parent’s religious, ethnic or cultural beliefs for which circumcisionis practiced.