• Some parents dress their young girls in provocative outfits
• Retailers have encouraged this behavior by marketing inappropriate clothing
• It’s OK to blame retailers, but it’s parents who are ultimately responsible
• Children need parents who will set rules, not be their friends

“Beginning Friday, shoppers in search of toothpaste, deodorant and laxatives at more than 6,000 drugstores across the nation will be able to pick up something new: a test to scan their genes for a propensity for Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer, diabetes and other ailments. ” Click here to read the rest of The Washington Post article.

There has been a lot of doom and gloom news reports saying that this one election could destroy the health care reform bill. As Fox News reported Democrat Martha Coackley said in her concession speech, “There will be plenty of Wednesday-morning quarterbacking.”

I have gathered up a number of resources that might help cut through the rancor, fear mongering, and distractions that have become the hallmark of one of the fiestiest recesses on record.

These are only 3, but there is an incredible amount of information here and they are among the best resources, in my opinion.  If you know of others, please feel free to pass those along.

Here then are a few of my “go to” sites:

KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION

A short paper released by the Kaiser Family Foundation explains how government subsidies—an integral part of most major health reform plans under consideration in Congress—work.

The paper is only one of  a number of resources available on the Foundation’s health reform gateway page, which serves as “a clearinghouse of key information, news and analysis about national health reform efforts. The gateway includes an interactive online tool allowing users to compare major health reform bills, the Foundation’s research and analysis on key issues in health reform, as well as Kaiser’s polling data.”

HEALTH AFFAIRS & ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

“The latest Health Policy Brief (PDF) from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation offers basic facts about the status quo and about how major pieces of reform legislation might affect the picture. In each of the areas described above, the Brief describes what’s true now, and what could change under health reform.

The briefs are geared to policymakers, congressional staffers, and others who need short, jargon-free explanations of health policy basics. The briefs include competing arguments from various sides of policy proposals and the relevant research supporting each perspective.”

NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY FORUM

I am particularly partial to The Forum as I used to work there…Here’s what you will find on their website, www.nhpf.org:

“The Forum has convened a series of small-group discussions to help senior federal staff navigate the ins and outs of the individual insurance market, as well as options for reform. To date, topics have included underwriting, rating, and regulation; insurance exchanges; risk adjustment; and actuarial equivalence. Future meetings will add to these fundamental building blocks.

As speaker slides and related materials become available, we’re posting them to a special Health Reform section of our Health Policy Essentials page. They’re also available under the entry for each meeting.”

If women could produce new eggs, then they wouldn’t have to hire egg donors, and they wouldn’t have to feel pressure from friends, family and gynos to have babies before they’re 35. The Washington Post reported that this is a step toward stopping the biological clock.

Dr. Troy Robbin Hailparn, is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology. She received her BA in Psychology from Barnard College of Columbia University and her MD with distinction in Reproductive Endocrinology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

At the end of this post, you will find not one, but two polls. We hope you will respond to these and share your opinions.

Gynecological surgeon Dr. Troy Robbin Hailparn thinks the labia is the most ignored female body part.

She was the first female physician trained to perform laser vaginal rejuvenation, labiaplasty and the very controversial hymenoplasty.

In 2007, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology released a committee opinion against vaginal rejuvenation.

Dr. Hailparn wants to change their mind.

At the May annual clinical meeting, Dr. Hailparn plans to present her 500 labiaplasty patients, and the 11 reasons she’s discovered women have the surgery. Of those women only 70 out of 500 had the procedure for cosmetic reasons.

“Everybody thinks it’s a cosmetic procedure,” Hailparn tells Disruptive Women. “It’s not. People think it’s like genital mutilation. It’s not.”

Dr. Hailparn took the time to talk to Disruptive Women about why the work she does is so important to so many women and should be endorsed by ACOG and covered by health insurance.

DW: So, what are the reasons you’ve found that women have labiaplasty?

TRH: The big reasons are: clothing, exercise and activities and intercourse. The labia get pulled in and out with intercourse, so that can be painful.

DW: Oh God.

TRH: Whether it’s one lip or both lips they get pulled in and out. Think about the woman who has to actually move them out of the way in a spontaneous moment because she knows and anticipates it and she has to shove them out of the way because he’s about to enter. Somebody living with this extra tissue has to accommodate. Sitting, exercising, or clothing are the big three. They can’t fit comfortably. They can’t walk because they have chronic irritation or chafing. They tuck them up to get them out of the way. They stuff them up into the vagina to get them out of the way.

DW: Oh God.

TRH: These women have problems with sitting, with walking, with running, with riding a bike, with riding a horse, or doing other exercises. They have problems wearing certain clothing — it can get pinched or pulled on elastic of underwear, seams are uncomfortable. Women can’t wear bikinis or thongs when they have a lot of tissues that can fall out or protrude downward and making them feel very self-conscious or embarrassed. It keeps them from going to the gym because they’re afraid everybody’s looking at them.

DW: What are the cosmetic reasons?

TRH: Appearance reasons include, pigmentation and asymmetry. One is bigger than the other, there are dark edges, and they’re long and protrude beyond the hair-covered lips.

DW: What other non-cosmetic reasons are there?

TRH: Women also have problems placing tampons because the tissues get in the way. They also have urine that goes in every direction. If it happens on a regular basis, it’s annoying. And they have to take extra time to clean themselves, so hygiene is an issue.

Also, recurrent bladder infections — nobody’s really documented it well, that the labia causes it, but improvement has been seen in women that have labia reduction. So there’s some sort of connection there.

People think it’s like genital mutilation. It’s not. It’s affecting the daily life of these women and affecting comfort and function. Appearance, is really secondary.

This is not cosmetic surgery. This is surgery done because of comfort and function issues. They should be considered for coverage with insurance.

DW: They’re not right now?

TRH: They’re not because it’s considered cosmetic. The minute insurance companies see the word “laser” as a tool, they think cosmetic. They consider labia reduction, in general, a cosmetic procedure, thinking erroneously women are doing it because they don’t like the way they look.

These women have a body that isn’t doing what it needs to be for them.

I believe these are the most ignored part of the female genitalia.

Every gynecologist has the opportunity at every annual exam, when they insert the speculum to ask about the labia — just to see how it’s doing.

DW: I’ve never been asked.

TRH: Nobody asks. Except the handful of doctors that are trained now. They don’t ask.

I’ve been practicing for 15 years and in the last five years I’ve been incorporating the laser into the use of gynocologic surgeries. Labia reduction is not taught in residency. We are not taught as learning doctors to ask about the labia, or that there’s a surgical option.

If we can do a hysterectomy, we certainly can be trained to do a labiaplasty.

There are doctors that think they can do them that can’t. I’ve had 12 women come to me who have been traumatized and disfigured. One came with a hole on one side or one side completely missing. Another had tissue left above and below.

DW: That is a job you don’t want botched.

TRH: It’s a horrible thing. I worked on one lady 1 ½ hours and I came out and cried. I cried for her.

Not everybody can do it well.

DW: How did you get into this?

TRH: It came with the training for vaginal tightening.

Doing obstetrics for over a decade, women who had babies would talk about sensation changing or air moving during intercourse. The umbrella of damage from childbirth includes bladder, bowel and sexual function. Doctors and insurance only recognize the first two groups: bladder and bowel. Nobody talks about the sexual function damage that is caused by delivery. You have stretching of the vaginal canal. The partner doesn’t change, and our bodies do. I’ve had to restore the perineum. It’s normally a two finger structure, it shrinks and can cause partners to fall out during the sex act.

Your body is betraying you. Why should women have to live with that?

DW: Why is ACOG opposed to the surgeries you do?

TRH: ACOG, they feel we’re doing vaginal tightening on women that has no medical necessity.

DW: What do you think needs to change?

TRH: We have not asked women. We have not made it a routine thing to incorporate into our exams. When we do our pap smears we need to ask if the extra tissue is an issue. We’re not taught to ask. I think by asking women we would open the door to allowing them to talk about this under-addressed, ignored female body part.

The majority of doctors tell women they’re normal and they have to live with it.

Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s working.

DW: Tell me about the controversial hymenoplasty procedure you do. Why do women get that?

TRH: It’s not very common for me in my practice. It’s more in Miami, New York and LA.

There are three groups of women who get it.

The first are Middle Eastern women who for cultural reasons or religious reasons need it. They are actually inspected by their mother-in-law’s choice of ob/gyn to make sure that tissue is in tact. They are expected to have blood on the sheets. The families could get stoned to death if it’s not. The fact is there’s a risk to their lives and reputations in their community.

The second are the abused women who have experienced sexual trauma. They want it back to empower them and give them back that choice that was taken from them.

And the third group of women are those with long-term relationships and want to celebrate a big anniversary with the unique gift. Some women were not virgins when they entered into their marriage and want to share the experience with the partner. Just like a fine piece of art or a trip to Vegas, this is a unique, expensive gift that one can provide to their partner.

DW: You also do the vaginal rejuvenation and tightening surgery. Tell us about that.

TRH: It’s basically making the canal smaller to enhance sensation for one or both partners. And also to support the bladder if it’s symptomatic or the rectum.

DW: So what’s the most common surgery you do?

TRH: The tightening. Forty percent of the first 695 women I operated on did a tightening with a labiaplasty. It’s common to do both together.

DW: Labiaplasty is something you’re very passionate about?

TRH: I am. Because most doctors don’t feel there’s a medical need for it. We have not taken the time to ask women across the board and get the data on large numbers of women. I’ve operated on over 850 women and I’ve asked them all.

When I first did labia reductions I wasn’t aware urine went everywhere – I never thought to ask until one day after the recovery a woman said, ‘Wow, my urine is going straight into the bowl.’ I saw how excited this one woman was. Once I started asking I realized this was more common than we thought.

DW: Wow.

TRH: We are not taught in medical school or in residency to give any consideration to the labia minora. They’re so down-played because they’re considered a sexual organ. A lot of the older physicians have been male. They never listened when they’re patients said, ‘This is bothering me, this is hurting me. Maybe there’s something wrong.”

DW: Anything else you think is really important to know about labiaplasty?

TRH: It’s more for comfort and function. The cosmetic component is a small number of women. It’s misinformation; it’s misunderstood.

DW: So how did you get into doing labiaplasty?

TRH: I went for my training for vaginal tightening in Beverly Hills in 2003 with Dr. David Matlock [who pioneered the procedure]. I learned the LVR, the labiaplasty and the hymenoplasty.

I started in summer doing those particular procedures. I’ve been in practice 15 years.

The field of gynecology isn’t treating these women with sexual function problems and women with labial issues. Those are the two most important things. These are truly ignored groups. There’s no CPT code. Nobody will operate on them because they won’t get paid to do them. It’s not right, it’s not fair. And we need to teach people these are real problems.

Sex therapy doesn’t fix everything. The anatomic defects that are not working properly are what we’re trying to fix here. Those deserve appropriate treatment and insurance coverage.

More information about gynecological surgeon Dr. Troy Robbin Hailparn and her work can be found on her website at http://www.cosmeticgyn.net.

Since the goal of most fertility treatments is to get one healthy baby — doctors usually implant a smaller number of fertilized embryos.

What do you think – should he have stayed or should he have gone?

What do you think? Share your opinions by responding to our poll: