British doctors could face criminal charges for allegedly carrying out "designer vagina" operations, reports suggest. The courts are currently deciding whether to employ female genital mutilation laws in three cases where doctors carried out cosmetic genital surgery on adult women. The first FGM prosecution to reach the courts resulted in an acquittal last year, meaning no one has ever been convicted of carrying out the illegal practice - also known as female circumcision - in Britain. The Crown Prosecution Service - who faced criticism over that case - is now reported to be considering using the same laws against doctors who perform cosmetic genital operations. A study published last month by the University of Melbourne found that an increasing number of girls as young as 15 are asking their GPs for advice about genital cosmetic surgery. Young girls are sking their GPs for advice about genital cosmetic surgery Teenage girls who are increasingly concerned that their genitals don't look "normal" have been inquiring about the possibility of getting a labiaplasty - a surgical procedure that removes tissue from the labia. While she was Home Secretary, Theresa May told MPs that doctors would have to have a physical or mental health justification for carrying out this surgery or risk falling foul of the 2003 Female Genital Mutilation Act. Now, police are said to have opened investigations on three cases - one in Cheshire and two in London - and files have reportedly been passed to the CPS. The women reportedly paid privately for the surgery. "So-called designer vagina surgery is classed as FGM when it comes to rules on mandatory reporting," a source told the Evening Standard. "The question is whether it is in the public interest to prosecute." Experts cite fears that the porn industry is creating unrealistic expectations of female genitalia In September, MPs on the home affairs select committee called on the government to state specifically that female genital cosmetic surgery would be a criminal offence, arguing there was still ambiguity over the scope of the law. "We cannot tell communities in Sierra Leone and Somalia to stop a practice which is freely permitted in Harley Street," the committee's report said. The Royal College of Midwives has also supported an amendment to make clear that female genital cosmetic surgery is illegal. Three years ago the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said that cosmetic genital operations should not be carried out on girls under 18 after figures showed that hundreds had such surgery on the NHS. Private clinics were told that they must not mislead women about the outcome of such surgery, with experts citing fears that the porn industry was creating unrealistic expectations of female genitalia. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985, but it's thought that 20,000 are still at risk from the barbaric practice each year. Surgeons who perform 'designer vagina' ops could be prosecuted Source
