Meatal stenosis posttraditional neonatal circumcision-cross-sectional study

Circumcision holds a unique place in the daily practice of urology. Heat cautery device is the most common local technique used, we found it can cause meatal stenosis (MS) and its sequels.

The study aims to determine the incidence, presenting symptoms of MS and its relation to local traditional neonatal circumcision techniques among our children.

This study was retrospectively study.

A total of 150 children who circumcised during the infancy period, outside medical institutes, and they circumcised using local traditional techniques either heating cautery devices or surgical knives.

Of data were carried out using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences - version 25 (IBM Corporation).

Of 150 children, 60 (40%) had MS. The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 5.98 ± 3.06 years (range 1-13 years) and the majority of patients were within the age group of 5-9 years (n = 31, 51.7%), median 6.0 years. The incidence of MS was significantly higher (P = 0.037) among a group of children circumcised with a heating device in comparison with the circumcised group with other methods. Forty-six children (76.7%) were symptomatic and fourteen children (23.3%) diagnosis of MS had performed incidentally.

MS is a long-term complication of neonatal circumcision with a late presentation and sequels. It is more common among group circumcised using heating cautery. We recommend using heating cautery cautiously.