Health and beauty features

DOCTORS warn that women should be warned about the risks of cosmetic genital surgery, which they believe may be fuelling women's insecurity about their bodies. Demand for cosmetic genital surgery (genitoplasty) is increasing and the number of labial reductions in the NHS has doubled in the past five years.

However, writing in the British Medical Journal, Doctors, Lih Mei Liao and Sarah Creighton, from UCL Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health, argue that decisions about surgically altering genitalia may be based on misguided assumptions about normal dimensions. Surgery carries risks, such as loss of sensitivity, and the long-term benefits are unclear.

They add that 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. The worry is, provision of genitoplasty could narrow acceptable ranges further and increase the demand for surgery even more.


source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.u