How clitoral repair surgery restores pleasure

“The restoration [of sexual pleasure] is possible because the entire clitoris is sensory, not just the amputated portion,” Bowers explained. “Sensation is robbed [through FGM] because the amputated portion retracts back and then gets covered by scar tissue. The clitoris is foreshortened by FGM but it isn’t removed – not even a majority of it. The restoration surgery exposes the clitoral stump. Then, with plastic surgery techniques, we are able to bring the exposed portion to the surface, suture it there and even create new labia minora in many cases by utilizing the available surrounding skin. The exposed sensory portion, free of overlying skin and scar tissue, is then there to function."

"Sexuality should be considered one of the basic human senses...imagine if we took our children and poked their eyes out in childhood? or their sense of hearing? or even smell? it would be an outrage and we all should feel no less outraged about this process of FGM and how important it is to do what we can to return that sense."




Please see Article By Dr Pierre Foldes Published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2006
click here



Our Head Doctors’ Profiles


Dr. Marci Bowers, Renowned Reconstructive Surgeon:

On March 27, 2009, at her Colorado clinic, Dr. Marci Bowers performed the first clitoral repair surgeries ever performed in the United States, successfully restoring clitoral functioning and the capacity for physical pleasure to three FGM victims, referred by CLITORAID.
The first American doctor to volunteer for CLITORAID, she traveled to France through CLITORAID’s sponsorship to train directly under Dr. Pierre Foldes, who pioneered this wonderful clitoral repair surgery that restores physical pleasure and dignity.
Dr. Bowers has also performed many other types of sex-related surgery, including a penile inversion technique for male-to-female sex reassignment. In her expert capacity, she appeared on Oprah Winfrey in October 2008 and has also appeared in numerous TV news broadcasts and documentaries. She even had a role in CSI: Las Vegas’ 100th episode.
During her more than two decades as an obstetrician/gynecologist and surgeon, she has served as ob/gyn department chairperson at Swedish (Providence) Medical Center and as the only physician member of the Washington State Midwifery Board. Listed among “America’s Best Physicians,” she is also a member-elect of the European Academy of Sciences. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, she served as class and student body president.
The CLITORAID team is enormously grateful that Dr. Bowers has so generously volunteered her time, considerable experience and exceptional surgical skills to assist women eagerly awaiting the clitoral reconstruction procedure.
For more information about Dr. Bowers: click here


Dr. John Reid FRCS MBChB MRCGP

I qualified in cape town in 1979 and specialised in general surgery. I practiced in the mission hospital environment for several years before moving to England to become a GP where I now work in several clinics in the Bristol area.

My interests in rural african health are second to none and I am motivated on humanitarian and Raelian levels to help alter the world picture for the FGM vicitim if I can. I have met with experts in the field, including Dr Foldes of paris where I have recieved instruction in his simple and effective reversal surgical tecnique. I am negotiating with British Gynaecologists under whos insurance remitt the reversal procedure falls in our country to try and spread the word of this simple pioneering approach which involves scar excision initially followed by gentle dissection mobilization of the residual clitoral tissue to fixation on the anterior wall of the vagina.A resting place where this vital organ can reestablish itself and cand at last be easily found by future sexual partners!

I look forward to finding my role in the politics, media and therapy of an unfairly mutilated but vital human tissue.



Post-Operative Program

Post-operative patient education and counseling is an essential adjunct to clitoral repair surgery. Dr. Foldes insists that post-op women need help in understanding how to find pleasure through stimulation of their reconstructed organ. They also need help adjusting psychologically to the reality of their new physicality, since they have been conditioned since childhood to feel guilty and ashamed about their sexual needs.

Since many FGM victims have never before experienced pleasure through clitoral stimulation, CLITORAID asked several sexologists and psychologists to design an appropriate post-op program to help them achieve it. The program includes both physical and psychological aspects.


Larry Ashley, Associate Professor at UNLV and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada Scool of medecine:

Because it’s just as important to treat the psychological damage done to FGM victims as it is to repair the physical damage, the Clitoraid team was thrilled when Dr. Larry Ashley, a leading expert in sexual trauma, volunteered his services.
Professor Ashley Ed.S., LADC, LMSW, LPC CPGC is an Addictions Specialist and Associate Professor in Residence for the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He specializes in the treatment of combat and sexual traumas, with a primary focus on the training and mentoring of trauma and addiction professionals.
For Clitoraid, he will assemble and train a team of community providers and graduate students to provide counseling and therapy for FGM victims both before and after surgery. The post-surgical follow-up is especially important, since it will help the women accept and maximize their new capacity for physical pleasure.


Betty Dodson, Ph.D., Famous Sexologist, Artist and Author:

Betty Dodson, Ph.D., is an artist, author and sex educator as well as an international authority on women’s sexuality. She achieved worldwide recognition for three groundbreaking, erotic art exhibitions in the 1960’s and 70’s before leaving the art world to become a feminist activist and public advocate for women’s sexual liberation.

In 1973, she began running sexual CR (consciousness-raising) groups for women that later became her Bodysex Groups. Under Dodson’s tutelage, women in these groups learned to appreciate the beauty of their genitals as well as to explore the varied experiences of orgasm through masturbation.

Dodson has a private practice in New York City and maintains an active Web site: the past 10 years, Dodson has provided guidance to help women in Africa who suffered female genital mutilation (FGM) regain some sense of pleasure via her videos and suggestions about how to use various sexual gadgets.

For more information about Dr. Dodson: click here