More U.S. women getting 'revirgination' surgery
Amy Chozick
Wall Street Journal
Dec. 15, 2005

For her 17th wedding anniversary, Jeanette Yarborough wanted to do something special for her husband. In addition to planning a hotel getaway for the weekend, Yarborough paid a surgeon $5,000 to reattach her hymen, making her appear to be a virgin again.

"It's the ultimate gift for the man who has everything," says Yarborough, 40 years old, a medical assistant from San Antonio.

Hymenoplasty, a controversial medical procedure known mostly for its prevalence in the Middle East and Latin America, is becoming popular in the U.S. Although there are no hard data, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons says vaginal surgery, including hymenoplasty, is one of the industry's fastest-growing segments. Gynecologists are marketing hymenoplasty in magazines, local newspapers and online. They report business is booming.

Restoring innocence this way has sparked criticism. Religious groups that value abstinence until marriage say hymen repair is a deception. Some feminists liken hymenoplasty to female genital mutilation. In addition, hymen repair, unlike other types of reconstructive surgery, isn't taught in medical residencies. Some medical associations worry that surgeons might be improperly trained.

"Revirgination" costs as little as $1,800 at Ridgewood Health and Beauty Center, a spa and cosmetic-surgery center in the New York City borough of Queens. To promote the procedure, the center's owner, Cuban-born Esmeralda Vanegas, has given away hymenoplasties on a Spanish-language radio station. She also promotes them in her eponymous magazine, Esmeralda.

Vanegas isn't a doctor and doesn't perform the procedure. Instead, she leases space to five plastic surgeons. Luis Palma, a doctor at Ridgewood, went to medical school in his native Argentina and was a resident at the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Mass., among other places. Dr. Palma says he performs about five hymen repairs a month at Ridgewood, almost double the number of five years ago.

Vanegas says many of her patients risk disgracing their families if they're not virgins on their wedding night. Many are Latin American immigrants. "Losing your virginity is like losing a member of your family," Ms. Vanegas says. "We can make it seem like nothing ever happened."

Marco Pelosi II, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Bayonne, N.J., has been performing hymen repair since 1975 but started marketing the procedure only a year and a half ago. He now performs up to 10 repairs a month, compared with just two annually a decade ago.

"No one used to talk about it, but that's changing," Dr. Pelosi says. "Really, it's not like a heart transplant - it's like a very simple procedure."

Dr. Pelosi says an increasing number of patients are trying to "improve their sex lives" by combining hymen repair with an operation to tighten their vaginas. He says one patient did it to surprise her husband on a second-honeymoon cruise. Another patient, a 51-year-old Manhattan attorney and mother of three, had him reattach her hymen and tighten her vaginal walls in 2003. "I thought it would add that extra sparkle to our marriage," says the woman.

Named after Hymen, the Greek god of marriage, the vaginal membrane has since primitive times been a marker of virginity, even though it can be ruptured by nonsexual activity, such as athletics. At one time, a bride's intact hymen was considered the only way to be certain about the paternity of any ensuing children. A small number of traditional cultures still require brides' hymens to be examined.

Hymen repair has just as long a history, says June Reinisch, director emeritus at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction in Bloomington, Ind. Ms. Reinisch says midwives used to disguise a broken hymen with a needle and thread, sometimes using membrane material from goats and other animals.

The modern version of hymenoplasty requires a local anesthetic and no hospitalization. A doctor uses dissolvable stitches to reconnect the skin membrane that once partially covered the opening to the vagina. Intercourse will tear the membrane causing pain and bleeding.

Recovery from surgery takes about six weeks. The risk of fever and infection is low, says V. Leroy Young, a St. Louis plastic surgeon who also heads the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' emerging-trends task force.

On the other hand, Dr. Young says, "it's a pretty expensive thing to do for one night."

Once reserved for problems such as injuries related to childbirth, vaginal surgery is now being used for cosmetic purposes, as well as to avoid social disgrace. Women can even redesign the look of their private parts. It's part of the overall boom in the plastic-surgery business. Last year, 9.2 million cosmetic procedures were performed in the U.S., 24 percent more than in 2000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Troy Robbin Hailparn, an obstetrician and gynecologist, advertises vaginal cosmetic surgery on 23 billboards around San Antonio. Edward Jacobson, a Greenwich, Conn., OB-GYN, offers vaginal-makeover packages for international patients that include airfare, limousine travel and hotel accommodation. Dr. Jacobson says he has advertised in Glamour, Harper's Bazaar and Allure magazines. Last year, David Matlock, an OB-GYN in Los Angeles, discussed his "Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation" practice on "Dr. 90210," a reality show on the E! cable network.

The ethics committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, concerned about the marketing of revirgination, sent a letter to several cosmetic gynecologists in June 2004 voicing its unease. The college, which hasn't taken a formal position on the matter, said it worried that doctors may not be able to fully inform their patients about the procedure because it doesn't appear in the medical literature.

Thomas G. Stovall, a recent president of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, a top professional body, says "hymen repair is a totally bogus procedure." In general, he says, surgery marketed to improve one's sex life rarely works. As for hymen replacement, "most importantly, it doesn't make you a virgin again."

A 26-year-old Latin American woman who lives in New York's Queens had a hymen repair in 2001 and says it took almost two months for her to feel comfortable again. It took even longer for her to enjoy sex.

The married mother of two says she's glad she had the surgery nonetheless. She says her husband wanted to experience intercourse with a virgin. "If a woman isn't a virgin when she gets married, a man can always put her down for that," says the woman, who does part-time clerical work for Ms. Vanegas's Ridgewood clinic.

Such attitudes irk feminists, who say hymen repair is a manifestation of bigger social pressures that keep women subservient to men. "It comes with a whole set of norms of a macho culture," says Silvana Paternostro, Colombian-born author of "In the Land of God and Man: Confronting Our Sexual Culture."

Devout Roman Catholics prize virginity because sex before marriage is a sin. Hymen replacement is "misleading and misguided," says Kathleen Raviele, vice president of the Catholic Medical Association in Needham, Mass., and a gynecologist. "The best thing is to remain chaste until marriage and then have that genuine experience on your wedding night."

For many Muslims, sexual purity is a way of maintaining the sanctity of the family. But Islamic law also prohibits lying and frivolous cosmetic surgery, says Uzma Mazhar, a St. Louis psychotherapist known for her Web site, CrescentLife.com, which provides Islamic perspectives on Western issues.

"What people forget is that Islam teaches us to be honest and fair," Ms. Mazhar says. "A family should think about this before they present a woman as a virgin when she's not."

Ridgewood's Vanegas concedes her business is based on deception. But she says hymen repair is no different than other cosmetic procedures - from waxing to Botox injections - that women use to impress men.

"I'm a feminist," Vanegas says, "but there's a need for this and someone has to provide it."

www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1215wsj-hymensurgery15-ON.html#

Could have just used Texas Pete on the rubber

Your husband is still going to know that your pussy is all worn out, he could give two fucks if the hymen is still there.

For any woman who does this..


Reattaching the hymen doesn't make you a virgin, espically when your hole is the size of a small cave.

Like 99% of guys would notice.    

One of my good friends dad does this in Ecuador.  His patients are mainly the super rich wives of politicians....he makes insane amounts of $$$ doing it

Whisky tango foxtrot, over!

--Mike

I'd rather she spend the money on ammo

Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo?

I'd be happier if she put on fresh lipstick
then blew me and gave me the $1795 I saved her

Quoted: Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo?

LOL, kinda like rebuilding a engine block.

Amen! When you've done it - you've done it. Period!  No amount of hymenal reattachment would undo what has been done.

Now a time machine on the other hand......

Quoted: Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo?

Thats some funny shit

Quoted: Quoted: Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo? LOL, kinda like rebuilding a engine block.

Hell yes! She and 3 of her best friends could get hi strength silicon steel shmoos for a grand and change. Heck, after that you could douche with a pressure washer.

* gotta run off and see if anyone has patented this master stroke yet *

How fucking stupid

Quoted: Quoted: Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo? LOL, kinda like rebuilding a engine block.

Yeah, they still have their cherry alright. Its just been pushed back so far its a flippin taillight now.

So, now it'll take a bit more effort to throw a hotdog down a hallway...

"Uh, thanks honey..."

I'll do it for 50 bucks and 10 cents worth of duct tape.

THIS THREAD IS ULESS WITHOUT PICS

To hell with rebuilding the hymen.  If  she wanted the husband happy, she should have been doing  Kegel exercises regularly.  Having sex with a women who does it on a regular basis is fantastic.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo? LOL, kinda like rebuilding a engine block. Hell yes! She and 3 of her best friends could get hi strength silicon steel shmoos for a grand and change. Heck, after that you could douche with a pressure washer. * gotta run off and see if anyone has patented this master stroke yet *

   

Those sleeves would probably be a vast improvement for some of the wimminz who think this is necessary for them.

If anything, this is far worst than not being a virgin, it's being dishonest to the point your paying some one to help you pass a lie.

Hahahahahahahaha!

"Hi honey! Look I'm a virgin again!"

"Great! How'd you do it?"

"I had I guy I dont know mess around in my cooter!"

Quoted: Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo?

I think it is more like replacing the whole shabang.  How about trading in a 40 for two 20s?

Many women are also having their anuses bleached. I say if you can refinish an AR, you can most certainly bleach your woman's anus.

Quoted: Hahahahahahahaha! "Hi honey! Look I'm a virgin again!" "Great! How'd you do it?" "I had I guy I dont know mess around in my cooter!"

Good point !!!  

ITS A TRAP!!!
(for beta males)

Question for the resident arfcom cooter doctors,is there really such a thing as a honeymoon stitch when sewing that thing up after childbirth.Have had more than one friend with kids tell me the doc would throw in up to two extra stitches upon request.

So what the hell does this "Vag-o-matic" look like? Is it sorta like a stirrup-mounted reloading press?

Quoted: Many women are also having their anuses bleached. I say if you can refinish an AR, you can most certainly bleach your woman's anus.

WTF what does bleaching do to their anus?

Seems to me that waiting the 6 weeks from surgery till everything heals up would make it "feel better" anyhow.

"What people forget is that Islam teaches us to be honest and fair," Ms. Mazhar says.



Since when???

I have no desire to look into the ...well..er, you know.......hell, I don't even like to look for too long when I'm down there takin' care of it.
If your husband don't miss that ass for 6 weeks while you're recovering to suprise him....here's a suprise, somebody else is already "suprising" him!
Is this worse than anal bleaching?

There are more things i heaven and earth...

for $5000, the husband would probably rather have a nice plasma TV, he probably has a 20 yr old bimbo on the side anyways.

I read the opening paragraph to my wife and she looked me in the eye and said, "No fucking way."

Quoted: For many Muslims, sexual purity is a way of maintaining the sanctity of the family. But Islamic law also prohibits lying and frivolous cosmetic surgery, says Uzma Mazhar, a St. Louis psychotherapist known for her Web site, CrescentLife.com, which provides Islamic perspectives on Western issues. "What people forget is that Islam teaches us to be honest and fair," Ms. Mazhar says. "A family should think about this before they present a woman as a virgin when she's not."

So that's how the Haji's are keeping up with 72 virgins for each terrorist killed by the good 'ole USA!

It's like trying to repair an old worn out elastic waist band in a pair of underwear or worn out gym socks...

After a few uses, it still doesn't quite feel right and fits just as poorly as ever

for 5 g's you could buy a virgin.

Or have a penis enlargement....

or a nice computer, hi-speed internet, a subscription to Hustler, and an account on Alsscan and enough left over to cruise ho's for months.

Quoted: How fucking stupid

+1!

"No matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up."
- --LILY TOMLIN

Popular in the Middle East & Latin America.
Than it just can't be good. Stupid.

Let me get this straight...a woman is going to pay to be in pain down there for a few weeks, just so she can suprise her man who will enjoy the rejuvenated feeling of her cooter all while she is in more pain?


Someone want to explain this bit of expensive masochism?  I don't get it...

Yea,allmost as if you went and got your forskin reattached to have the "joy" of having another circumsion

That is just plain fucking weird.

Quoted: That is just plain fucking weird.

+1,000,000


Even speaking as a professing, born again, christian guy I gotta say this just sounds way to weird and stupid for my taste. There's better things that could be done with all of that wasted time, money and effort.

Here's a thought. If a woman (or a man, for that matter) starts to have second thoughts about her (his) sexual past to the point that she (or he) wants a "second chance" and a "new start" then fine. So be it...but here's how to do it right (at least according to me). Admit your mistakes to yourself and to your loved one and commit to living right, faithfully and honestly from that moment foward and then....put your past behind you and move on. A new heart and a new attitude will mean more (in the long run) then a "new" reattched hymen.

As someone else in this thread said, instead of spending the money on some stupid operation spend it instead going out together on a romantic cruise or something.

Quoted: Quoted: For many Muslims, sexual purity is a way of maintaining the sanctity of the family. But Islamic law also prohibits lying and frivolous cosmetic surgery, says Uzma Mazhar, a St. Louis psychotherapist known for her Web site, CrescentLife.com, which provides Islamic perspectives on Western issues. "What people forget is that Islam teaches us to be honest and fair slowly and brutally slaughter anyone who pisses us off," Ms. Mazhar says. "A family should think about this before they present a woman as a virgin when she's not, because her husband might figure it out and, well, a man's got to do what a man's got to do.." So that's how the Haji's are keeping up with 72 virgins for each terrorist killed by the good 'ole USA!

Quoted: Quoted: That is just plain fucking weird. +1,000,000 Even speaking as a professing, born again, christian guy I gotta say this just sounds way to weird and stupid for my taste. There's better things that could be done with all of that wasted time, money and effort.

For sure.

Here's a thought. If a woman (or a man, for that matter) starts to have second thoughts about her (his) sexual past to the point that she (or he) wants a "second chance" and a "new start" then fine. So be it...but here's how to do it right (at least according to me). Admit your mistakes to yourself and to your loved one and commit to living right, faithfully and honestly from that moment foward and then....put your past behind you and move on.

Nope.  Sorry, there are no redo's in life.  Your actions have consequences and that includes the "slut phase" for the ladies.  All types of "vaginalplasty" strike me as a rather expensive and silly way of deceiving yourself and others of your history. Neither surgery or religion undoes that past.

Quoted: Don't they re-sleeve the whole shmoo?

Naw, they shove a whole ham up there and remove the bone.



You'll never think of a whole ham the same way.....

"So, you're a virgin again, great!.......saaaay , wait a minute.     Ain't that the tarp off my boat????"