Now, more women preferring aesthetic gynaecology to overcome "embarrassing" problems

An increasing number of women are going for aesthetic gynaecology treatments to address problems that they were earlier embarrassed to talk about.

Dr Sejal Ajmera, a Mumbai-based gynaecologist who was in the city as part of the International Urogynaec Conference held at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC), said that incontinence is one of the main causes of women seeking help of aesthetic gynaecology.

"Actually it should be called functional gynaecology and not aesthetic gynaecology because what we do is not cosmetic but help women deal with issues such as loosening of the vagina , urinary leakage, organs coming out of the vagina (prolapse), etc which are a result of a number of factors including ageing and childbirth," said Dr Ajmera.

She said the field now provides options that need not be surgical in nature. "Earlier, women would suffer in silence due to embarrassment and seek help only when it became unbearable. But now as awareness is on the rise, more and more women are seeking help," said Dr Ajmera. She said that 40% of Indian women may be suffering from these conditions but hardly 4% would be seeking help.

She said that often issues such as loosening of vagina also affects the sexual life of patients. "There are patients who come for labiaplasty either because they want to feel sexually confident or because it interferes with their sexual life," said Dr Amera.

Dr Vivek Mishra, director IKDRC, said the developments in the field have made it possible for women to get their problems addressed without having to stay in a hospital. "It is also a myth that only the well-off are seeking help of such facilities. Even women in lower income families seek out such procedures if they come to know of it. Of course, the reason why they approach the doctor in the first place is because they have some other problems like incontinence or such," said Dr Mishra.