Clitoral Hood Reduction

The clitoris is structurally similar to the male penis, and both are partially covered by a thin layer of preputium, which gradually fades on puberty to expose half the clitoridis. However, a minority of patients have the whole clitoridis covered due to an excessively long preputium, resulting in difficulty in cleaning and inability to receive stimulus from sexual behaviors. The clitoridis mainly functions to induce sexual intercourse foreplay, and continuous stimulus to the clitoridis results in congestion and promotes vaginal peripheral glands to secrete lubricating fluids for facilitating subsequent sexual behaviors and orgasms, so it amounts to a trigger of sexual intercourse. Therefore, an excessively long preputium clitoridis is likelier to not only hide filth and affect clitoridis cleanness but also block outside stimuli to the clitoridis. Mild cases compromise the induction and sensation of sexual behaviors, and severe cases lead to no sensation on sexual stimulus or orgasm disturbance. Thus, patients consider resection of the preputium clitoridis to improve the quality of sexual life.
Physically, the preputium clitoridis is located at the superior margin of the labia minora and is an extension of the labia minora skin, so labiaplasty needs to be simultaneously taken into account. The general surgical technique is to directly conduct a wedge-shaped resection of the lateral margin (marginal resection) of the excess skin along the preputium clitoridis. These patients generally also manifest labia minora laxity or hypertrophy, so labia reduction is simultaneously performed to obtain both esthetic and functional results.

Surgical conditions

Duration

0min
  • Type of anesthesia: IV sedation + local anesthesia
  • Surgical incision: Periclitoridis skin
  • Recovery: 1–2 days
  • Removal of stitches: No

General instructions

No food and water on the day of surgery

0hr
  • Avoid the surgery during the menstrual period.
  • Try to wear loose underclothes for 1 week postoperatively to avoid compression to the private parts.
  • Avoid sexual behaviors or sexual intercourse for 2 weeks postoperatively.

Ideal candidates

  • Patients with an excessively long preputium clitoridis
  • Those with difficulty in cleaning the clitoridis or with clitoridis inflammation due to long preputium coverage
  • Those whose clitoridis is difficult to stimulate during sexual behaviors
  • Those undergoing surgery to eliminate sexual dysfunction

Potential complications

  • Clitoridis hypersensitivity
  • Clitoridis hyposensitivity

Surgical advantages

  1. The surgical field is small, and no scar is left in the future.

  2. The surgery completely exposes the clitoridis and enhances sensitivity.

  3. The surgery improves the esthetic appearance of the preputium clitoridis, such as excessive length or laxity.

Surgical drawbacks

  1. Temporary clitoridis over-stimulus or sensitivity may occur after the operation.

  2. A rare case may give rise to attenuated clitoridis sensitivity.

Possible procedure in conjunction