Surgeons make her an artificial vagina for a woman born without a cervix, womb or genital

A woman from Greece recently made news due to a rare condition she had suffered from until the surgical intervention. Joanna Giannouli, 27, spoke about a rare condition called Rokitansky syndrome that she suffered, that rendered her unable to menstruate or have natural sex.

As she spoke to the BBC, she elaborated that she had an undeveloped internal genitalia and her surgeons created a makeshift vagina to make up for the missing upper genital tract, cervix and a missing womb in her body.

The syndrome is known to affect about one in 5,000 women, but the symptoms become evident only in their teenage when they are unable to menstruate.

Despite the fact that the internal genitalia does not develop fully, women with the condition grow breasts and pubic hair, thereby, making them appear as fully-functioning women.

Joanna’s mother had to take her to the doctors when she was 14. Two years later it was discovered in a hospital scan that she had Rokitansky syndrome.

The condition resulted in psychological and physical distress apart from her physical incompetence to have children. However, her doctors intervened with the surgery that is said to have been successful.

The invasive surgery involved making a replica of genital passage. She explains that the new vagina the doctors made was small and narrow and it caused a lot of pain during intercourse. Joanne adds that the region under the vagina had to be cut in more to expand the entrance, it was primarily a tissue underneath. She had to do vaginal exercsies to expand the perineum.

Despite the success of the operation, Joanne says that the condition had left mental scars on her. She found no success in her relationships for many years owing to her condition. The situation was intolerable and haunting. It robbed her off all her peace of mind, happiness and any good chances of stablizing a relationship. She says that the condition had left her in a huge void that cannot be filled, instead it filled her with shame, anger and guilt.

Luckily for her, the support from her loved ones too came to help her shake away the distress levels. She has embraced her new life while coming to terms with the condition. She now lives with her boyfriend in Oxfordshire. She hopes that one day she can be a mother through fostering or adoption.

Joanne also turned to Facebook where she thanked those who appreciated her interview with BBC.

About Rokitansky Syndrome:
Rokitansky Syndrom or MRKH (abbreviated for Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser), is a congenital abnormality that is marked by an absence of womb, vagina or cervix. The ovaries function normally thereby making the women show signs of puberty, but these women do not menstruate, nor do they have the ability to conceive.

Since the condition is characterized by normal external genitalia, women do not discover the condition until the teenage years when they fail to menstruate.

One way of treating the problem is to create a vaginal canal through dilation treatment that uses cylinder-shaped dilators of varying sizes to stretch the muscles.

A surgical intervention occurs only if the above method fails. Following recovery, women can have intercourse and have their eggs extracted for fertilization through surrogacy.

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