Hymen repair surgery, or hymenoplasty, is a simple but very delicate procedure that seeks to restore the thin membrane that normally encloses the vaginal area. Obviously, any surgery in this area must be handled in the most careful fashion, given the sensitive nature of the area involved. Some women can tear the hymen through perfectly natural means, for instance when horseback riding or during any really strenuous physical activity. It can also be torn when inserting a tampon during menstruation or during sexual intercourse.
Quite often, a woman is not even aware that she has torn the hymen, since it’s very possible that there is no pain and no bleeding associated with the event. The hymen can also be broken through un-natural means, such as in a case of sexual abuse. Women who are sexually abused will often seek to have the hymen restored, so they can retain the same physical characteristics of virginity. This may be very important on their wedding night, and it provides considerable emotional support and self-confidence. Hymen repair surgery can be performed in less than an hour by marksolomonmd.com and will require the patient to be sedated.
If you’re a woman seeking to undergo hymen repair, you’ll undoubtedly want to find the most qualified and experienced surgeon to carry out the procedure. To help you find a professional capable of doing this delicate restoration work painlessly and perfectly, you’ll need to identify someone who has done the procedure frequently and successfully. In this article, we’ll be discussing some of the qualities you should look for when seeking a surgeon to conduct your hymenoplasty.
The risks of surgery
In 2015, a news organization called ProPublica conducted a huge survey about surgical risks and they included more than 17,000 surgeons nationwide in this study, so it was a very comprehensive look at surgical outcomes. Their findings showed that of the more than 2.3 million surgeries reviewed, there were approximately 63,000 that involved a severe injury setback, and in 3,400 cases, the patient died. Keep in mind that this was a broad survey that included all types of surgery, not just hymenoplasties.
The rule of thumb about the frequency of complications during surgery is that somewhere between two and four percent of surgeries will have something go wrong. That means that somewhere around 96 or 98% of all surgeries will be successful. It was also discovered during the survey that 1% of the surgeons involved accounted for roughly 32% of the surgical complications and suffered malpractice cases as a result.
There would be virtually no risk of death, and a very low risk of severe injury associated with hymenoplasty, but it is good to keep the risk factor in mind. If anything goes wrong at all with hymen repair, it could cause problems with menstruation, sexual intimacy, and possibly even with some normal daily activities like heavy exercise. The fact is that all surgery carries a certain amount of risk with it, and hymenoplasty is no exception. However, the risk factors can be reduced to a minimum with an experienced and qualified surgeon, and that’s what you should be seeking for this procedure.
Researching your hymenoplasty surgeon
There is a ton of information available on any surgeon in this country, and all that data is right at your fingertips. By spending some time on your computer, you’ll be able to avoid a potentially problematic outcome with your planned surgery, and hopefully find the best surgeon in your area. There are just a few steps associated with finding out everything you need to know about your candidate surgeon’s background and their skill level for performing hymenoplasties. Here are the things you should be checking out for your candidate surgeon:
- Verify surgical certification – in order to find out whether or not your surgeon has been board-certified or is even eligible for performing hymenoplasty, all you have to do is consult with the American Board of Medical Specialties. This will tell you whether or not a physician has had the training necessary and has passed the necessary exam in order to become board-certified. Any doctor who does not receive the designation of board-certification is only board-eligible, meaning they have the appropriate residency but have not yet passed their exam.
- Confirm state credentials – you can find out if a surgeon is licensed in your particular state by consulting the Federation of State Medical boards. You can look this up online by navigating to fsmb.org and then clicking on the tab labeled Consumer Resources, and that will direct you to a free tool so you can learn about your physician.
- Discover professional reprimands – it’s important to know whether or not your candidate surgeon has ever been sanctioned by a professional licensing board. For a small fee, the FSMB will provide you with the complete disciplinary history of any specific doctor, in any state. A number of state medical boards also retain profiles on doctors which include their board certifications, board actions, criminal convictions, and all medical malpractice claims as well.
- Check surgeon ratings – there are several websites available where you can check the rating of your surgeon, find out the number of procedures they have performed, and any complications which may have resulted. Both ProPublica and Consumers Checkbook have websites offering this kind of information to consumers. Results are generally adjusted to allow for the health status of patients, as well as several other factors. It’s only fair to do this, because some surgeons make a point of dealing with more fragile patients or those who are in an advanced state of illness. Consumers Checkbook offers a website called surgeonratings.org which contains a comprehensive analysis of more than five million surgical operations that have been performed by upwards of 50,000 different surgeons. You should be able to find all the information you need on this website.
Interview your candidate surgeon
Of course, finding out all the information through research is only one part of preparing for selecting the right surgeon. It will also help to have a practitioner whom you can relate to and get along well with, i.e., someone who has a good bedside manner. Once you’ve narrowed down your list of candidate surgeons, you should set up an appointment to review your case with them. During that conversation, you should be able to determine how you feel about a particular surgeon and whether or not you would feel comfortable working with them. There are also several questions you should bring with you to this case review and, to get the most from the interview, pay close attention to the responses given you by your candidate surgeon.
- How many times have you done this type of surgery? – this is probably the first question you should ask of any candidate surgeon, so you can know how often they have performed this procedure. As with anything else, the more frequently you do something, the better you become at it, and you’ll want to know that your candidate surgeon has performed hymenoplasty enough times to become accomplished at it. It’s no secret that the more often a surgeon performs some kind of procedure, the less likely it is that any kind of complication will result. If it turns out that your candidate surgeon specializes in hymenoplasties, that’s even better for you, because chances are they will be extremely good at the procedure and will have a low risk of complications.
- Have you encountered any complications? – this question is intended to discover if a surgeon is willing to talk about any negative outcomes they’ve experienced. While it probably won’t happen in your case, you need to be prepared for the possibility of some kind of complication, and you’ll want to know how your candidate surgeon manages that kind of situation.
- What is your clinic like? – this isn’t so much a question you would ask a surgeon as it is a general observation you make while having a conversation with a candidate surgeon. Take note of whether the office equipment seems modern or outdated, what kinds of personnel are working at the clinic, and if the whole operation seems to be well-run, efficient, and clean. This will be the environment where your hymenoplasty will take place, so you’ll want it to be something you’re comfortable with.
Ask for Referrals
This could be the first resource you check, or it might be the last. In any case, it has the potential to be one of the most useful sources of information you have access to. Many people find the right surgeon for their situation simply by asking friends or family members for referrals. These referrals would be recommendations for a specific practitioner who provided excellent service and who successfully accomplished a surgery for someone you know.
Of course, hymenoplasties are not as common as some other types of surgery, so you may have difficulty finding a friend or relative who’s been through the procedure. However, this can be such a valuable resource that you should make the effort to poll people you know and trust to find out if they can recommend someone.
