Hymenoplasty surgery in Bhubaneswar

Hymenoplasty, long considered a trend in bigger cities, an increasing number of girls from district towns and even remote villages are willing to come under the surgeon’s knife to become “virgins” again.

“When I moved to Bhubaneswar from Delhi around three years ago, I had never thought I would come across women seeking hymenoplasty in conservative Odisha. In the past six months or so, I have done the surgical procedure on eight women,” said Dr Jayanth Dash, plastic and cosmetic surgeon at Sum Hospital.

Hymenoplasty costs anywhere between Rs 1-2.5 lakh in US and UK while the same is done in India for Rs 10,000-40,000.

Dr A K Rout, another city-based cosmetic surgeon, said the trend had caught up only in the past two years, and had increased in the past year.

“Unlike the West where the idea is to please their partners, here girls opt for it to escape social wrath associated with the husband’s discovery that his bride was not a virgin. And in some cases, the girls were callgirls belonging to good families who wanted their hymens intact as they were engaged to be married and wanted no suspicion from their husbands. Rest had indulged in pre-marital sex but did not want their husbands to find out,” he said.

As the procedure has entered the small town, its cost has also come down. Doctors in the city charge around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000, they said.

“Since the procedure is done under local anesthesia, women can go back home the same day. We advise them abstinence for three months to avoid pain and ensure complete healing,” Dr Rout said.