Doctors speak out against female genital surgery
Doctors say genital surgery is not always worth it
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Friday, 25, May 2007 08:02
Cases of female genital surgery carried out to satisfy cosmetic concerns must not continue rising in number, two doctors have said.
Lih Mei Liao and Sarah Creighton from the UCL Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health write in this week's edition of the British Medical Journal that narrowing views of what is considered 'normal' are driving many women to surgery.
While some patients said lifestyle restrictions caused them to opt for genitoplasty, others said they chose surgery because they felt their genitalia differed substantially from what was perceived to be normal.
The number of labial reductions in the NHS has doubled in the last five years, the doctors write, despite the risk of loss of sensitivity which surgery carries.
"The increased demand for cosmetic genitoplasty may reflect a narrowing social definition of normal, or a confusion of what is normal and what is idealised. And the provision of genitoplasty could narrow acceptable ranges further and increase the demand for surgery even more," they state.
The doctors call on health agencies, educational bodies and the media to tackle insecurity among girls and women about their genitals.
They say the growing popularity of surgery, likened by some medical professionals to "female genital mutilation", must be checked through "innovative interventions in the community to help women and girls to approach concerns about their appearance skilfully and imaginatively".