Risk of burn trauma during circumcision with radiofrequency scalpel: case report and review of literature.

Male circumcision, one of the oldest and most frequent operations performed all over the world, removes 33-50% of the penile skin. Like each surgical procedure, circumcision can leads to complications ranging from the insignificant to the tragic. Circumcision methods can be done with different ways. The radiofrequency (RF) scalpel, an innovative instrument, can be used in circumcision. Here, we present three boys who sustained sever burn injuries during circumcision with RF method. In sum, interesting characteristics made RF procedures so popular in different fields of surgery. Although having low incidence, the important complications of this technology such as burns should raise our attentions. Performing radiofrequency circumcision by an experienced operator, selection of proper size of ground pads, and elimination of any interface between the skin and ground pad are the factors that can prevent such tragedies.