Surgery helps restore sexual pleasure after FGM

New reconstructive surgery can help victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) restore sexual pleasure and reduce the amount of pain that they feel.

According to a new report published in The Lancet, doctors in France performed the surgery on almost 3,000 women. Of the 866 women who attended the one-year follow-up visit, 821 of 840 patients reported an improvement - or at least no worsening - of pain, while 815 stated they now had improved clitoral pleasure.

Pierre Foldes, from Poissy Saint Germain Hospital, who invented the surgical technique, said reconstructive surgery was a "feasible" option for some FGM victims and could help them to rediscover their identity.

"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", explained Beatrice Cuzin from Edouard Herriot University Hospital, Lyon, who led the research.

The World Health Organization states that an estimated 92 million girls aged ten and older have undergone FGM.