Papers of the Week

As a rite of passage to womanhood, 2 million girls undergo female genital circumcision (FGC) – the tradition of cutting, and often removing parts of the vulva – every year. The current study is the first to focus on the connection between peripheral nerve damage and chronic neuropathic pain in women with FGC. We used mixed methods – quantitative, qualitative and physiological – to study chronic pain in Somali-Canadian women (N = 14). These women have the most extensive form of FGC, which includes removal of the glans clitoris, labia minora, medial portion of the labia majora, and stitching together the remaining parts of the labia majora. Our results indicate a multifaceted pain experience in women with FGC. Although they report good overall health and very low pain levels on the short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, pressure-pain quantitative sensory testing of the vulvar region applied through vulvalgesiometers shows pain thresholds consistent with those reported by women with chronic vulvar pain. Furthermore, qualitative interviews reveal a considerable amount of often debilitating pain in daily life. These results challenge the use of assessment tools offering elicited verbal pain language and highlight the importance of culturally sensitive ways of conceptualizing, measuring and managing pain.