Plastibell Circumcision in a Private Family Practice in Benin City Nigeria

Background: Circumcision is a common practice in Nigeria and in the Niger Delta region is mostly done as a cultural and religious practice. The procedure is increasingly, commonly being offered in hospitals and carried out by trained doctors and surgeons. It has been shown that being done in the hospital offers a way for mitigating the incidence of operative complications many of which would require specialists care in their management. There is a higher incidence of complications when done by untrained hands.

Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective review of 75 babies circumcised using Plastibell at a private family practice in Benin City Nigeria over a 3 year period from 2011-2014.

Results: A total of 78 babies were seen in the period under review with a mean age of 11 +/- 5.4 days. The modal plastibell size was 1.3 cm, 52.6% of all the babies had 1.3 cm plastibell size with a range of 1.1 – 1.5 cm. The complication rate was 11.5% (9 babies) with haemorrhage, ring retraction and redundant skin as the complications seen. The mean age of the babies that had haemorrhage was lower than those without, however this was not statistically significant. Parent satisfaction was 88%.

Conclusion: Circumcision is a procedure that can be safely domiciled in a family practice. Proper training for the procedure that result in and its use encouraged.