Pierre Foldès

The French surgeon, of Hungarian origin, Pierre Foldès is the inventor, in collaboration with the urologist Jean-Antoine Robein, of a technique to repair the damage caused by female genital cutting. This technique repairs some of the urologic and obstetric problems related to FGC, and also allows the women to experience erotic pleasure during sexual stimulation.

For the past 25 years, Foldès has worked to repair women who have experienced genital mutilation, and is story is told in an excellent biography by novelist Hubert Prolongeau in 2011 titled _Undoing FGM. Pierre Foldes, the Surgeon Who Restores the Clitoris_, translated from the French by Tobe Levin and available from UnCUT/VOICES Press. Foldès currently operates on approximately 200 women per year. His procedure consists of the removal of any scar tissue from the vulva, and of the lowering of the clitoris by cutting ligaments that support it while preserving nerves and blood vessels. Wedge plasty is used to reconstruct a clitoral glans. Months of healing are required for the women to regain sensation.

Pierre Foldes continues his work despite repeated death threats.

In 2006 the book Victoire sur l’excision: Pierre Foldes, le chirurgien qui redonne l’espoir aux femmes mutilées by Hubert Prolongeau was released, which chronicles the work of Foldès. It won the Prix Essai France Télévisions for 2006.