FEMALE UROLOGY

The urologist’s guide to genital piercing
Anderson WR, Summerton DJ, Sharma DM, Holmes SA
Solent Department of Urology, St. Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth, UK
BJU Int. 2003, 91:245-51

• Over the past 10 years or so, there has been a clear increase in the number of people practicing body piercing, in particular, many young people appear keen to adopt an individuality with the ‘body art’, which they may regard as an expression of identity. It is perhaps ironic that this perceived individuality is in fact shared with thousands of others.
  No part of the human anatomy is apparently immune from this fashion, but an examination into the history of body piercing reveals that such decoration s are far from being an invention of the late 20th century. Indeed, as discussed in this review, piercing has occurred for thousands of years, in societies throughout the world, and has been adopted through the spectrum of social class.
  Urologists should perhaps be particularly aware of the seemingly bizarre practice of genital piercing, as their specialist knowledge may sometimes be required to manage the inevitable complications.
  
• Editorial Comment
  This guide covers both male and female piercing. The authors describe genital piercing with regards to: historical aspects; current laws; techniques of placement; and categorization of the types of genital piercings. In addition, there is an excellent section on potential urologic complications.
  The urologist is expected to understand and treat maladies both spontaneous and self-inflicted from all walks of life. Besides tattooing, no other form of body adornment has separated the young from the old than body piercing and particularly genital piercing. Nevertheless, even if the mature urologist never grew up in a time where male and females pierced and tattooed various areas of their bodies with a remarkable frequency, he is expected to be able to look at a piercing, understand the potential urological complications and technique that it required. This paper helps the urologist with these specific tasks.
  Interest in piercing of the genitals has risen to a point where some may consider it an art form as opposed to an attraction of a salacious or prurient nature. For those members of society who wishes not to pierce their genitals or body there is deep lack of understanding of those who choose to pierce. Perhaps it is an attempt by those who subject themselves to piercing to obtain a more protean state than that which they acquired through the form of genetics sweepstakes from their parents and thus the incidence of piercing has raised to the point where it is now considered not outside of the standard state of propriety.
  I recommend this article as part of one’s reference library in the office. There are few places where one may obtain such a guide in a succinct and efficient manner with an amazing amount of clarity and marvelous pictures to which future reference may be obtained. Simply put: read the article if only for the pictures.

Dr. Steven P. Petrou
Associate Professor of Urology
Mayo Medical School
Jacksonville, Florida, USA