Male circumcision: No obligation, no age limit!

Infant circumcision is however said to be simple, convenient and cost-effective.

Circumcision, which is the cutting of the protecting loose skin of a boy’s penis for medical, traditional or religious reasons, is a common phenomenon, but regional and societal attitudes differ on whether there is need for a male to be circumcised and, if so, at what age.

Experts in the sector say that there is no age limit as to when a man can be circumcised. They think the positive process all depends on the experience of the person doing the circumcision and not the age of the person being circumcised which could vary between a-day-old-baby to a 60-year-old man.

Although individuals have different opinions on the preferred age to circumcise a male, medical personnel say infancy is an optimal time for clinical circumcision due to various reasons. Infant circumcision is safe, simple, convenient and cost-effective, says Dr Moise Nack Nack of a private health unit in Yaounde.

The medical expert stresses on an English proverb which go, "A stitch in time saves nine." He stresses that infant circumcision to him is better because fixing a small hole in a sock with one stitch will avoid the need for nine stitches later when the hole becomes bigger; that is when the person becomes older.

Dr Moise Nack Nack further notes that it is better to circumcise a man when he is still young that is, less than five years because, his low mobility during circumcision facilitates the use of local anesthesia, sutures are not required, healing is quick, cosmetic outcome is usually excellent, costs are minimal, and complications are uncommon. According to Moise Nack Nack due to pains felt during circumcision, the individual has the tendency to resist and fight back.

This becomes complicated when the person is already an adult because it will need extra force to put such a person under control. Due to the constant shaking of such a person, mistakes may occur leading to complications during and after circumcision.

Medical personnel say the benefits of infant circumcision include; the prevention of urinary tract infections (a cause of renal scarring), reduction in risk of inflammatory foreskin conditions such as balanoposthitis, foreskin injuries, phimosis and paraphimosis. When the boy later becomes sexually active, he has substantial protection against risk of HIV and other viral sexually transmitted infections.

Although it is better to circumcise a child when small, experts say if the child has some genital abnormalities at birth; such a child should be circumcised when he is above 10 years so that any abnormality can be properly corrected.