# Will a gynecologist remove a hymen upon request? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356 "2005-01-18T13:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/1 "2005-01-18T13:33:43Z")
I’ve never had a hymen. I had a foreskin once in 1975 for about 20minutes, but I’ve never had a hymen. I’ve also never seen a gynecologist. Actually, I’m sure that’s not true. No doubt I’ve _seen_ many gynecologists. I’m sure I’ve at one time or another been in line at the supermarket standing behind a gynecologist but I’ve never engaged a gynecologist within the framework of that noble profession. Now, I’m well aware that for many young women the hymen is broken well before the first act of sexual intercourse due perhaps to reckless abandon astride a bicycle seat or maybe a misadventure climbing over a fence or a number of other various accidents. But if I had a hymen that had not yet been broken, I think I would much prefer to have it out of the way prior to my first act of intercourse. Being rammed with a blunt penis does not seem at all a pleasant ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly opened thoroughfare. Can a young woman request of her gynecologist that her hymen be removed under sterile surgical circumstances? It doesn’t seem to me that this would be at all problematic, in fact it seems the best option, so I’m kinda guessing that the answer is “yes”, but I’m looking to Dopers who know better than I. If so, how commonly performed is this procedure??? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/2 "2005-01-18T14:06:41Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I’ve never had a hymen. It is a normal part of the anatomy and yours may be vestigal and of no consequence. 🙂 > [@](#): > > If so, how commonly performed is this procedure??? Usually on an as needed basis, i.e. not too often. It is a simple office procedure done by an general practioner MD or gyn MD. A friend of mine found, to his dismay on his wedding night, that the procedure was an absolute necessity. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/3 "2005-01-18T15:41:28Z")
Hymens can run the gamut for non existant to completely sealed over. Of course, somewhere between these two extremes will be found “the norm”. I’ve been in nursing with a specialty in women’s health for a long time. I can think of only a couple of occasions where someone found it necessary to have the Doctor augment the hymen, including one case where the young lady came in with a complaint of pain and was found to have had at least one menstrual cycle in which the discharge was unable to leave the body due to an intact hymen. Just to give you other fun stuff to think about, we once had a young patient come in for a her second ever pap smear only to discover she has two cervii (cervixes)! And two uteri. The first Doc to see her missed that :smack: ! She said (and I quote) “Oh, no. I’m getting married. I don’t want to have twins!” Well, she was young. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/4 "2005-01-18T15:57:25Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > Just to give you other fun stuff to think about, we once had a young patient come in for a her second ever pap smear only to discover she has two cervii (cervixes)! And two uteri. The first Doc to see her missed that :smack: ! > > She said (and I quote) “Oh, no. I’m getting married. I don’t want to have twins!” > > Well, she was young. She was evidently also a marsupial. Female marsupials not only have two uteri, they also have three vaginas (one leading to each uterus, plus another that develops during pregnancy to serve as a birth canal). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/5 "2005-01-18T16:19:13Z")
I know a case where the (experienced) groom broke his (definitely virgin) wife’s hymen by hand after two nights of trying to use the usual method… They didn’t think of asking a doctor, but well, it worked. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/6 "2005-01-18T16:39:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > She was evidently also a marsupial. Female marsupials not only have two uteri, they also have three vaginas (one leading to each uterus, plus another that develops during pregnancy to serve as a birth canal). Get out! I didn’t know that! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/7 "2005-01-18T16:46:58Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > Just to give you other fun stuff to think about, we once had a young patient come in for a her second ever pap smear only to discover she has two cervii (cervixes)! And two uteri. The first Doc to see her missed that :smack: ! > > She said (and I quote) “Oh, no. I’m getting married. I don’t want to have twins!” > > Well, she was young. My Grandmother was the same. My father and his ‘twin’ were each conceived in their own uterus. People never believe me when I tell them that, but she was in the medical books for that one. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/8 "2005-01-18T17:25:58Z")
Sprite tastes like a… nevermind ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/9 "2005-01-18T17:47:17Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > She was evidently also a marsupial. Female marsupials not only have two uteri, they also have three vaginas (one leading to each uterus, plus another that develops during pregnancy to serve as a birth canal). _tries not to think of marsupial orgy pr0n_ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/10 "2005-01-18T22:45:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I had a foreskin once in 1975 for about 20minutes I just wanted to add that I think this is the best use of an in-joke catchphrase I’ve seen here. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/11 "2005-01-19T04:43:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > She was evidently also a marsupial. Female marsupials not only have two uteri, they also have three vaginas (one leading to each uterus, plus another that develops during pregnancy to serve as a birth canal). Get. Out! Waitaminnit…so, if I’m a marsupial about to get lucky, and I’m not into anal, I have to pick one of two vaginas? Do I often get a chance to try out the other? Or can I save it for special occasions? Is there a picture that can help me understand how babies go IN one of two paths, but have to come out of a third? Do they ever come out of one of the other two? or does each uterus have an IN door and a common OUT door? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/12 "2005-01-19T04:49:13Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > My Grandmother was the same. My father and his ‘twin’ were each conceived in their own uterus. People never believe me when I tell them that, but she was in the medical books for that one. Where’s the books? Does it happen to mention whether her body was actually running an isolated reproductive system of an “absorbed twin”, effectively making her offspring first cousins rather than siblings? Blows the mind… ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/13 "2005-01-19T04:55:35Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Waitaminnit…so, if I’m a marsupial about to get lucky, and I’m not into anal, I have to pick one of two vaginas? You assume that Marsupial Inigo Montoya only has one penis! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/14 "2005-01-19T06:34:25Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Being rammed with a blunt penis does not seem at all a pleasant ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly opened thoroughfare. Just so ya know, having sex doesn’t automatically mean the hymen will completely rupture. I, um, have a friend who had to have what was left of hers cut away as she was giving birth. The kid’s head was being blocked and all … :eek: ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/15 "2005-01-19T09:36:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I just wanted to add that I think this is the best use of an in-joke catchphrase I’ve seen here. :o . . . and **Chronos** has been around since the very early days, not to mention being SDSAB. I take this as a _major_ compliment. Thanks! I’m surprised to learn that medical hymen removal isn’t all that common. I know that hymen coverage varies a lot and that for many women there isn’t really a problem, but it really seems that for many other women it would be the best way to deal with it. I know it’s what I would request if I were a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/16 "2005-01-19T10:48:19Z")
You’re talking about a piece of tissue that in many cases is so thin and fragile a girl can _accidently_ break it with many activities and _not even notice_. (Mine was probably obliterated by a lot of horseback riding in my younger years). For most women, the pain of breakage is a minor thing, and any bleeding likewise. It’s _supposed_ to get broken, after all. ---
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/17 "2005-01-19T12:06:06Z")
Oftentimes, a pt will become annoyed with excessive or hypertrophic labia…generally labia majora and she asks to have this removed in anticipation of an impending marriage. Also there are patients that find that their hymen hasnt ruptured even after athletic play prior to their first attempt at coitus and desire that their hymen be ruptured surgically. Lastly there are many middle eastern girls who are expected by their parter to whom the girl is going to marry to bleed like a virgin when they have first coitus. These girls who often long since have had their hymen ruptured must be lightly sutured to attain the bleeding effect during copulation. Even a little blood is fine and everyone is happy. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/18 "2005-01-19T15:22:36Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > She said (and I quote) “Oh, no. I’m getting married. I don’t want to have twins!” > > Well, she was young. Back up. I get that she couldn’t have had “real” twins, but did she also have a doubled set of fallopian tubes and ovaries? Even if not, did each uterus recieve an ovum on each cycle? In such a case, couldn’t both ova become fertilized? If she became pregnant in one uterus, would the other continue to menstruate? You say “well, she was young” as if people should know what the hell happens in such a bizarre circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/19 "2005-01-19T15:26:58Z")
> [@NattoGuy](#): > > Where’s the books? Does it happen to mention whether her body was actually running an isolated reproductive system of an “absorbed twin”, effectively making her offspring first cousins rather than siblings? > > Blows the mind… They’d still be receiving half their genetic information from mother and half form their father. Two ova, two spermatozoa, each set from the same parent. It’s the same as siblings. ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356/20 "2005-01-19T15:30:35Z")
> [@NattoGuy](#): > > Where’s the books? Does it happen to mention whether her body was actually running an isolated reproductive system of an “absorbed twin”, effectively making her offspring first cousins rather than siblings? > > Blows the mind… I’m lost. What are you talking about? Is this an actual known phenomenon (among humans)? Thanks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-gynecologist-remove-a-hymen-upon-request/285356.md?page=2)