The removal of all or part of the labia minora and labia majora, with the stitching of a seal across the vagina, leaving a small opening for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. Type IV – other practices including piercing, cauterising, scraping or using corrosive substances designed to scar and narrow the vagina.
It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and it interferes with the natural functions of girls' and women's bodies. Although all forms of FGM are associated with increased risk of health complications, the risk is greater with more severe forms of FGM.
In Type 3 FGM the labia are closed to seal the vagina leaving a single opening for menstruation and micturition (Figure 1). This means that during micturition, urine will need to run under the scar tissue before exiting through the small single perineal opening.
Girls and women who have undergone FGM live predominately in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States, but FGM is also practiced in select countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
On the other hand, some circumcised women report having satisfying sexual relations including sexual desire, pleasure and orgasm. Female genital mutilation does not eliminate sexual pleasure totally for every woman who undergoes the procedure, but it does reduce the likely of orgasm.
Burkina Faso. The unfpa gives a prevalence of 76% for the year of 2021(women aged from 15 to 49) in Burkina Faso.
Menstrual problems.
Obstruction of the vaginal opening may lead to painful menstruation (dysmenorrhea), irregular menses and difficulty in passing menstrual blood, particularly among women with Type III FGM.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but there's no medical reason for this to be done. It's also known as female circumcision or cutting, and by other terms, such as Sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur, megrez and khitan, among others.
At Penn Medicine, one of our renowned plastic surgeons pioneered reconstructive surgery that restores genital function and form after FGM/C. The procedure improves the appearance of patients' genitals, may increase sexual function and helps restore physical and emotional well-being.
Injury to the genitals can be very painful. It may cause a lot of bleeding. Such injury can affect the reproductive organs and the bladder and urethra. Damage may be temporary or permanent.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) can cause complications before and during pregnancy. It can make it more difficult to get pregnant and can sometimes cause complications during labour and birth.
FGM is most often carried out on young girls aged between infancy and 15 years old. It is often referred to as 'cutting', 'female circumcision', 'initiation', 'Sunna' and 'infibulation'.
FGM is commonly performed by someone without any medical training; without the use of anaesthetic or antiseptic and by using sharp instruments such as razor blades or broken glass. It often happens without the consent of the person undergoing the procedure, and girls may have to be forcibly restrained.
FGM has been practiced mainly in the western, eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa and some countries in the Middle East and Asia. FGM is also found in western countries such as United Kingdom, United States and Canada.
The most frequently cited reasons for carrying out FGM are social acceptance, religion, misconceptions about hygiene, a means of preserving a girl or woman's virginity, making the woman "marriageable" and enhancing male sexual pleasure.
Type III is the most severe type of FGM, known as infibulation, which involves the narrowing of the vaginal orifice with the creation of a seal that is formed by cutting and then stitching the labia minora and/or the labia majora with or without excision of the clitoris.
FGM is usually performed by traditional practitioners using a sharp object such as a knife, a razor blade or broken glass. There is also evidence of an increase in the performance of FGM by medical personnel.
Other anthropologists believe that FGM was practised among Equatorial African herders to protect young female herders from being raped, or an “an outgrowth of human sacrificial practices, or some early attempt at population control”.
Type IV is the mildest form and includes any form of other harm done to the genitalia by pricking, piercing, cutting, scraping, or burning. World Health Organization classification of female genital cutting.
FGM is practised by the Dawoodi Bohra, a sect of Shia Islam with one million members in India. Known as khatna, khafz, and khafd, the procedure is performed on six- or seven-year-old girls and involves the total or partial removal of the clitoral hood.
According to the United Nations (UN) estimates, 200 million women and girls worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation, with Africa accounting for 80% of cases. This dangerous practice affects an estimated 55 million girls under the age of 15 in 28 African countries.
A clitoridectomy is often done to remove malignancy or necrosis of the clitoris. This is sometimes done along with a radical complete vulvectomy. Surgery may also become necessary due to therapeutic radiation treatments to the pelvic area. Removal of the clitoris may be due to malignancy or trauma.