Female clitoris excision is one of the most harmful old traditional customs that are still popular in many developing countries. It is estimated that at present, 84 million women in the world have undergone some form of circumcision. Traditionally, it will remove some or most of the female genitalia, and usually hold a traditional celebration ceremony, which is usually completed before girls enter puberty. For example, some tribes hold this ceremony when they are 7-8 years old, some in infancy, and some in women's early adulthood. Nowadays, the term "female genital mutilation" is often used to explain the tragic consequences of this excessive female circumcision.

In recent years, people have paid more and more attention to this issue in countries where such stupid rituals that harm women are prevalent. The discussion on this sensitive issue mainly focuses on the adverse effects of the bill on the health of women and children. In these countries, it has become an important public health problem. The handling of this problem has made the already poor health service facilities in these countries bear a heavier burden.

Circumcision practitioners are mostly old midwives, midwives or experienced rural women (without much medical training, of course). Most of them have no surgical skills, and most of the operations are carried out under poor sanitary conditions, without anesthesia, using unsterilized knives or even sharp stone tools. Circumcision can be divided into the following four types according to the severity of surgical injury:

Type I-minimal injury, similar to male circumcision, only clitoris prepuce is removed. In recent years, this kind of surgery has been used to treat female orgasm disorder in western society, but its therapeutic effect has not been verified.

Type Ⅱ —— Excision of glans clitoris or even the whole clitoris, and partial or total excision of adjacent tissues, such as labia minora.

Type ⅲ-not only clitoris and surrounding tissues are removed, but also labia majora is removed, and then the rough wound is sutured, leaving only a small hole in the vulva for urination and menstrual blood discharge.

Type Ⅳ-rare, perineum will be removed to enlarge the vaginal opening.

These types of operations, especially the latter three types, will bring various short-term and long-term complications. Bleeding is a common problem because it will inevitably damage blood vessels. Shock caused by severe pain caused by blood loss and anesthesia may even lead to death. Infections are also common, such as tetanus and septicemia, and sometimes even fatal. Urinary retention is also common within a few days after operation, often due to pain, fear, tissue swelling and other reasons, resulting in girls unable to urinate after operation, leading to increased pain and urinary tract infection. Injury may also involve tissues around the genitals, including the urethra, vagina, perineum or rectum.

Long-term side effects include the effect of hard scar on first sexual intercourse or delivery. Because the external skin is sutured too tightly, it can form cysts, even large enough to require surgical resection, and cysts can also be complicated with infection or abscess. The indwelling drainage hole is too small, which may retain menstrual blood, so that menstrual residue and urethral deposits are deposited in the vagina, forming vaginal "stones", and in severe cases, tearing, urinary fistula or fecal fistula may be formed. These fistulas are not only harmful to health, but also bring many social problems to women.

Because sexual intercourse difficulty or inflammation can also cause infertility, especially in the early stage of marriage. These women who have undergone excision often encounter many sexual problems, which can seriously damage sexual relations. Finally, female circumcision can also cause many psychological problems, such as anxiety, depression, neurosis, mental illness and so on.

Traditional forces are stubborn, so the first step to abolish them is to carry out public education and point out the health and social problems it may cause by using all available media. It is necessary to refute the excuses of its supporters with eloquent facts. It is not easy to win the support of midwives, because surgery is their way of making money. Although international public opinion strongly advocates the abolition of this inhuman operation, and although the legal provisions of the countries concerned limit the continuation of this operation, in fact, the results of various efforts so far are minimal, so efforts must be made to save tens of millions of women and children from harm.

At present, circumcision in western countries is another matter for some female patients without orgasm, because their clitoris is too long to be exposed, with the aim of enhancing sexual pleasure.