Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation encompasses a varied group of operations. Although the procedure is unfamiliar to Western health care professionals, there is an increasing need for information about these procedures, because of an increasing number of immigrant women who have been circumcised and who require obstetrical and gynaecological services. An historical perspective is supplied. The types of procedures, as well as peri-operative, long-term gynaecological, and obstetric complications are discussed. Suggestions are made for the management of these patients. Some restorative techniques are reviewed in the context of a clinical case presentation. Some of the cultural and sociological rationalizations for the procedure are reviewed along with examination of the methods used to eliminate the practice of female circumcision in Canada and elsewhere.