Hello Friends!
A nervous woman lies on a couch, stripped from the waist down. Standing before her is a white-coated doctor, brandishing a needle of hyaluronic acid.
It is about to be plunged into one of the most delicate areas of her body. The woman has already endured being probed by the doctor's fingers, suffered the pain of an internal injection of local anaesthetic and the discomfort of having a speculum inserted.
She is also more than £500 poorer. Yet she's still giddy with excitement because she's read that this procedure, humiliating and painful as it is, will transform her humdrum sex life by plumping her 'G-spot' with a cosmetic filler. And that with her newly enlarged G-spot, an area of sensitive tissue on the front wall of her vagina, she is likely to have multiple orgasms.
A flurry of newspaper articles on the practice have surfaced in recent weeks, but doctors and researchers are casting doubt on the validity of the G-spot injection, pointing out that it is not supported by any medical evidence or serious studies. In fact, they also warn it could harm women - and actually have a damaging effect on women's sexual responses.
Glancey Medical Associates in Essex has attracted a lot of attention for offering such injections. Owner Dr Lucy Glancey, a highly qualified cosmetic doctor, introduced the injections three years ago.
Since then, she has performed 150 procedures. She first became aware of the procedure when she attended a medical conference where Dr David Matlock, a controversial cosmetic gynaecologist, presented a lecture about his invention, 'The G-shot'.
'I was interested in it, so developed my own technique, which I tried on volunteers from my database of regular patients,' says Dr Glancey.
'That way I could be sure they were of sound mind, with no psychological issues. I evaluated the results and found a high rate of satisfaction.'
Dr Glancey says the procedure is 'safe enough' and that she takes an 'ethical approach' to her work. But Dr Petra Boynton, senior lecturer in international healthcare research at University College London, describes the procedure as 'unsubstantiated by any serious research'.
Consultant plastic surgeon Paul Banwell, a member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, who works in the NHS as well as privately, calls it 'gimmick surgery'. He adds: 'I don't offer it, I don't support it, and we just don't know enough about possible side-effects, such as scarring and a reduction of libido over time.'
