A rare presentation of penile keloids after traditional circumcision: Case report

Only few cases of penile keloids have been reported in the literature. There have been no published reports on penile keloids following traditional circumcision in Africa.

We present a case of a 13-year-old boy with penile keloids following traditional circumcision. The patient was successfully treated with complete excision of the keloid followed by a course of adjuvant treatment with corticosteroid injection.

Penile keloids are a rare complication despite penile surgery being common. Male circumcision is a standard operation performed worldwide for medical, religious as well as cultural reasons. Traditional circumcision continues to be practised in many African countries. Keloids are a benign hyperproliferative growth of scar tissue that can complicate wound healing. Successful treatment is classically multimodal.

This case highlights one of the more serious complications of circumcision. Although penile keloids are rare, the techniques involved in traditional circumcision potentially predispose to keloid formation in a genetically prone population.