Posted on 01/11/2006 6:32:06 AM PST by NYer
WASHINGTON — Forget Botox, liposuction or breast enlargement. The newest trend in plastic surgery for women in the United States is vaginal reconstruction, including hymenoplasty, which offers patients new virginity.
The procedure has become so popular that it has topped the other more conventional surgeries such as face-lifts and breast enlargement.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says that vaginal surgery is one of the fastest growing trends in plastic surgery. In fact, as many as 30,000 women are said to opt for vaginal reconstruction yearly.
The procedure, also known as "revirgination", is being hawked in magazines, the Internet or on radio stations as a way for women to improve their sex life or enjoy a second honeymoon.
Ms Jeanette Yarborough, a medical assistant from San Antonio, Texas, said she decided to undergo hymenoplasty, which involves reattaching the hymen, as a special gift for her husband.
"I wasn't a virgin when we got married and I thought: What better gift to give my husband than revirgination?" the 40-year-old mother of four told AFP. "It was a real sentimental gift, it was something I could recreate for him and he was thrilled. He was like, 'Yeah, it was worth every penny'," she said.
Though long popular among women in the Middle East and Latin America, where being chaste is important on one's wedding night, hymenoplasty is experiencing new-found popularity among women in the US.
One clinic boasts on its Internet site that its practitioners "can repair the hymen as if nothing occurred". Many who undergo the procedure, which costs between US$1,800 ($2,900) and US$5,000, also ask that their vaginas be tightened, doctors say.
Ms Esmeralda Vanegas, owner of the Ridgewood Health and Beauty Center in New York, said business was booming with about five hymenoplasties performed every month.
"Hymenoplasty is for women who want to please their husband or their lover and they know that he wants to experience intercourse with a virgin," she said.
Ms Mary Blum, author of Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery, expressed concern at the fact that such surgery was becoming part of mainstream America and was being marketed as a way to gain self-esteem or as part of the country's obsession with self-improvement.
"With hymenoplasty, one of the obvious problems is you're pretending nothing happened before," she told AFP. "It falls under the heading of rejuvenation, pretending your body has no history, so now it has no sexual history."
She added that such procedures were gaining in popularity in part because they were made affordable for the masses and were being touted as a consumer product rather than as invasive — and potentially dangerous — surgery.
"It's in the domain of 'Will I take a trip, buy a new car or get a hymenoplasty?'" she said.
Ms Blum said women like Ms Yarborough could probably make their husbands just as happy with a much cheaper and less medically-intrusive option. "She could have gotten him an inflatable doll," she said. — AGENCIES
That's just assinine!
Supposed to be a boy, and we have a name, but we're keeping it a secret until it's official ... my husband has been known to change his mind about the name after they're born.
We'll get a new cat eventually; not a good idea to have a new pet and a baby at the same time.
The numbers are astonishing, but the triumph of appearance over substance shouldn't be.
"What better gift to give my husband than revirgination?" the 40-year-old mother of four....
"What did the husband who had to go a few weeks without any while the stitches were healing have to say?"
I'm sure he had a firm grasp on the situation.
Not mentioned is that the "precedure" also involves watching Star Trek re-runs and playing Dungeons and Dragons! It's inhumane and painfully brutal.
You go, Tax-chick! But why stop at 10 ;-)
Creepy.
My husband tells me he would rather have a new big screen TV ;~D
I appreciate the "first one" appeal. But this procedure specifically creates the minuses(pain and blood) without the plus(first one). That's why it's insane. I can only see this working for couples majorly into S&M. But I have an idea! There's a time every month when a couple can have sex with pain and blood and it doesn't involve surgery! Anyone who uses this idea must send me money. Freepmail me for forwardng address.
This reminds me of the old chestnut about sincerity. Once you can fake it, you've got it made.
Yes mam the door is thight but the room sure is big.
Thing is, it's creepier when it's not a lie. They're talking about doing this for a 'second honeymoon'.
40 years so far ... 10 pregnancies so far. I'm pretty confident that I'll get older, but whether I'll have additional pregnancies remains to be seen.
A friend of my sister has the last name "Hyman". When she had her first boy everyone was trying to get her to name him "Buster" :lol:/
LQ
I know the first complete season came out some time ago. Bought the DVD about a year ago.
Extremely good point.
No thanks!
Confident or reconciled?
Getting older is much better than the alternative!
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