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Abdominoplasty and Clitoris Evaluation: A Prospective Study on Sexual Pleasure in Women Undergoing Abdominoplasty

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  • Body Contouring
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Abstract

Introduction

Being one of the most practiced procedures in plastic surgery, it is important to foster a better understanding of the effect of anatomical changes in the pubic area after abdominoplasty on sexuality in women. Since to date no study has been performed with this purpose, our aim is to evaluate the impact of the abdominoplasty on sexual pleasure and to perform an objective evaluation of changes in clitoral position and prepubic fat area after this procedure.

Materials and Methods

A prospective study has been performed in 50 women who expressed a desire to undergo abdominoplasty from January 2021 to December 2021. The primary endpoint was Sexual pleasure assessed by the "Sexuality Assessment Scale" before and 6 months after abdominoplasty in all patients. Furthermore, we evaluated the physical changes of the clitoris (clito-pubic distance, CP distance) and the prepubic fat area on magnetic resonance imaging before and 3 months after abdominoplasty.

Results

Patients mean age was of 42 ± 9 years, and mean body mass index of 26 ± 2 kg/m2. A significant difference (P < 0.0001) between sexual satisfaction before and 6 months after abdominoplasty (mean difference +7.4 ± 6.452) was found. Though there was no significant difference between the clito-pubic distance before and after abdominoplasty (mean difference −3.200 ± 2.499 mm; p= 0.0832), a significant difference was found in the size of the prepubic fat area before compared to after abdominoplasty (mean difference −1.714 ± 1.010 cm2; p = 0.0426). However, no significant relationship between these anatomical changes and sexual satisfaction was found.

Conclusion

Our results show that abdominoplasty is associated with an increase in sexual satisfaction. The changes in the post-operative position of the clitoris were not statistically significant, contrarily to the size of the prepubic fat area, which was significantly modified and could partially explain the improved sexual pleasure. Authors were unable to statistically demonstrate a correlation between those anatomical modifications and sexual pleasure.

Level of Evidence IV

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Abbreviations

SAS:

Sexuality assessment scale

CP distance:

Clito-pubic distance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Maxillo Facial Surgery, Henri Mondor Hospital, University Paris XII, 51 Avenue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny, 94000, Créteil, France

    Eloi de Clermont-Tonnerre, Claire Guinier, Charles Botter, Simone La Padula, Jean Paul Meningaud & Barbara Hersant

  2. Department of Radiology, Henri Mondor Hospital, University Paris XII, 51 Avenue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny, 94000, Créteil, France

    Frédéric Pigneur

  3. Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131, Napoli, Italy

    Simone La Padula

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  1. Eloi de Clermont-Tonnerre
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  2. Frédéric Pigneur
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Correspondence to Eloi de Clermont-Tonnerre.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Informed Consent

This study was conducted in accordance with globally accepted standards of Good Clinical Practice (ICH-E6), European Directive 2001/20/EC, and the revised version of the Declaration of Helsinki set out in the European Directive. All patients provided written informed consent to participate.

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de Clermont-Tonnerre, E., Pigneur, F., Guinier, C. et al. Abdominoplasty and Clitoris Evaluation: A Prospective Study on Sexual Pleasure in Women Undergoing Abdominoplasty. Aesth Plast Surg 47, 1922–1930 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-023-03301-6

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