What’s in a fad?

Plastic surgeons raise red flags about a procedure to whiten penis, dismissing it as a ‘phallic fashion’ with uncertain benefits and many risks.

PaRis: Plastic surgeons raised red flags this week about a penis whitening fad in skin colour-fixated Thailand, dismissing the procedure as a phallic “fashion” with uncertain benefits and many risks.

Requiring the use of lasers, acid, or chemicals, the latest craze in genital beautification can leave men with burns, scars, taut skin, or the exact opposite of what they were after in the first place – a darker penis or a spotted one, the experts warned.

“I think it should not be done in a patient that doesn’t need it,” Milanese plastic surgeon Massimiliano Brambilla, who specialises in genital procedures, said.

“Most of the substances that are used to whiten... are quite aggressive. Whitening is one of those things that I am very careful of.”

Earlier this month, a Bangkok clinic said 100 men a month were making use of its penis whitening service just six months after it started offering the procedure.

The clinic charged about US$650 (RM2,520) for five laser sessions.

According to global statistics produced by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), Thailand ranked 21st in terms of the number of cosmetic procedures performed in 2016.

The data also showed a massive rise in genital beautification procedures globally.

Labiaplasty, which involves trimming the inner vaginal “lips” or labia minora, was by far the fastest growing surgery sector in 2016, with a 45% rise from 2015, accord-

I think it’s linked to the pornographisation of society. Fabien Boucher

ing to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS).

Genital whitening was not listed among the data, but industry experts say demand is growing.

“I think it’s linked to the pornographisation of society,” said plastic surgeon Fabien Boucher from Lyon, France, another practitioner of “intimate” procedures.

“What people see is ... a genital aesthetic that in my view is not realistic,” he explained, with sex organs shaved and otherwise manipulated to represent those of very young people -- hairless, smooth, and pink.

It is normal for the privates to be more darkly coloured than the rest of the skin, said Boucher.

The Asia-Pacific region is a major market for skin lighteners.

Boucher stressed there has been little scientific research into the use of lasers and chemicals for penis-whitening, and no bleaching techniques or products have been developed uniquely for use in this sensitive area.

“It is a thin skin ... and we do not yet fully understand how it will react.”