Procedure Might Ease Pain of Female Genital Mutilation

TUESDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) — Reconstructive surgery may
help ease the pain of women who have suffered female genital mutilation, a
new study finds.

Female genital mutilation, or FGM, “includes procedures that
intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs” for
cultural or non-medical reasons, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO). The WHO declares that female genital mutilation “is a
violation of the human rights of girls and women.”

In the new study, published online June 11 in The Lancet,
researchers from France found that a new surgical technique could allow
women who have been subjected to this type of mutilation to experience
sexual pleasure. They noted, however, reconstructive surgery is often not
an option for women who have had their external female genitalia (such as
the clitoris) partially or totally removed.

“Our findings show that clitoral reconstruction after FGM is feasible.
It can certainly improve women’s pleasure and lessen their pain. It also
allows mutilated women to recover their identity,” the inventor of the
surgical technique, Pierre Foldes from Poissy Saint Germain Hospital,
explained in a journal news release.

“However, women with FGM rarely have access to reconstructive surgery
to improve their lives, and in most developed and all developing countries
surgery remains prohibitively expensive,” added the study leaders Beatrice
Cuzin from Edouard Herriot University Hospital in Lyon, and Armelle Andro
from Pantheon Sorbonne University in Paris.

In conducting the study, the researchers examined the immediate and
long-term outcomes of nearly 3,000 surgeries involving mutilated women who
underwent a new surgical procedure to reconstruct their clitoris and
restore its function.

The women were asked about the pain in their genitals as well as their
sexual pleasure before their surgery and one year after they had the new
procedure.

The study authors noted that 5 percent of the women experienced
complications right after the surgery, such as moderate fever or suture
failure.

One year later, however, 821 out of 840 women who attended the
follow-up visit reported either an improvement or no increase in pain
compared with their pre-treatment levels. Most women (815 out of 834) also
reported an increase in sexual pleasure.

The researchers also reported that one-third of the women who had never
had an orgasm prior to their operation had restricted or regular orgasms
one year after they had the reconstructive surgery. They noted that the
women who had restricted orgasms before the surgery had regular orgasms
one year after the procedure.

More women should benefit from this new surgical technique, the study
authors suggested. “Reconstructive surgery needs to be made more readily
available in developed countries by trained surgeons. In France, where
most of the health expenses are reimbursed, there is only limited
provision, because only a handful of surgeons have been trained in this
technique and fewer than 10 offer this service,” they wrote in the news
release.

Still, many mutilated women are not aware of their options for
reconstructive surgery and some national health insurance plans do not
cover this type of procedure, noted Jasmine Abdulcadir and colleagues from
University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, who wrote an accompanying
commentary in the journal.

According to the WHO: Female genital mutilation is most common in the
western, eastern, and northeastern regions of Africa, in some countries in
Asia and the Middle East, and among immigrants in Europe and North America
from these areas. The causes include a mix of cultural, religious and
social factors. About 140 million girls and women worldwide are living
with the consequences, including an estimated 92 million girls aged 10 and
older in Africa. The mutilation is usually carried out between infancy and
15 years of age.

More information

The World Health Organization has more about
female genital mutilation
.

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