Rwanda Investigating Adult Male Circumcision sans Anesthesia
The African nation of Rwanda recently set a goal of circumcising an estimated two million adult men by the end of 2012 to fight the spread of HIV, and is investigating a new nonsurgical device that is said to allow practitioners to perform the procedure in less than four minutes--without anesthesia.The patent pending PrePex device includes an elastic mechanism that fits around an inner ring, trapping the penis foreskin--the loose fold of skin that covers its glans--which cuts its blood supply. The foreskin thereby dries up and can be safely removed after a week. Neither anesthetics nor sterile settings nor sutures are required--and no blood is lost. After the procedure the Rwandan government guidelines suggest that patients abstain from having sex for six weeks, which is also the case after conventional surgery. This device, it is hoped, could help scale up Rwanda's mass circumcision initiative. [More] ...