This week the Embarrassing Bodies team are scouring the beaches, both home and away, to find some embarrassing beach bodies. First into Costa del Sol’s Clinic is Russell whose huge hernia stops him from enjoying the summer sun. A hernia happens when an internal organ pushes through muscle weakness. In Russell’s case his intestine has pushed through his abdomen culminating in a large lump on his tummy. Russell is advised by Dr Dawn to have surgery to put things back where they should be, this is done through physically pushing the protruding intestine back through the muscle wall and repairing and strengthening the hole so the hernia doesn’t come back.
26 year old Hazel’s rare condition has her worried about her chances of having a baby. Hazel suffers from Uterus Didelyphys, or double uterus, where she has two wombs, cervixes and a partitioned vaginal opening. The condition affects 1 in 3000 and can cause complications during pregnancy such as higher risk of late miscarriage, breach birth, premature delivery and bleeding throughout pregnancy. Hazel is ecstatic that her fertility is not affected by the condition.
Bucking the trend which states that 64% of men are too embarrassed to see a doctor about their problems, 24 year old Emanuele, visits the clinic to see if Dr Christian can do anything to help his warts. Emanuele is worried that the warts on his hands are spreading to his penis, although after a quick check Dr Christian confirms that these are in fact pimples which are incredibly common, but if you are worried about anything on your penis please have it checked out. To remove the warts on his hands, Emanuele, is sent for laser surgery to zap the warts and scrape them away. Although the wart virus cannot be cured, this hopes to cure the outward symptoms.
500,000 adults in the UK have trouble controlling their bowels. The problem is most common in over 65s, with 1 in 100 affected. 68 year old Anne has suffered a rectal prolapse which makes it extremely uncomfortable for her to walk or stand, and has caused her to be incontinent. Anne is sent for keyhole surgery to cure the prolapse by inserting a mesh strip which replaces the weakened muscle in supporting the rectum. The two and a half hour procedure was a success and has also cured Anne’s incontinence.
Back to the Costa del Sol and it’s sun, sea and…STIs. 20% of 16 to 24 year olds on holiday have sex with one new partner, and a staggering 61% don’t use a condom. Our top 3 most popular STIs are 1. Chlamydia; 2. Genital Warts; 3. Herpes. We test out some of our young Brits abroad to see if they are harbouring the difficult to spot, but easy to treat Chlamydia virus. 7% prove positive and are put on a course of antibiotics, for the rest it’s relief but also a reminder to always use protection.
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