With an increasing number of males seeking cosmetic surgery on their genitals, more efforts are needed to regulate the services to ensure safety, said the head of a special committee of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association.Patients range from teenagers to seniors, but most of them are young, said Tian Long, director of the association's male reproductive organ plastic surgery and recovery committee and a doctor of andrology, or male medicine, at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital.Some of them seek surgery because they feel there's a problem with their genitals, such as being too small or deformed, which causes psychological problems and makes them shy in social interactions, such as worrying about using public restrooms or not daring to seek a girlfriend, Tian said.Some, though, have no abnormalities but have unrealistic expectations of size - either their own or their spouses', he said."These conditions can create heavy psychological pressure, and some people are even prone to violence," he said. "Some problems result in divorces."Although cosmetic surgery on the male genitals has been performed in China for many years, techniques vary greatly between hospitals and regions, and there is a lack of unified standards, Tian said.Promotional advertisements for surgeries that don't really work are rampant on the internet, he said."Such surgery, if improperly done, can result in serious negative impacts on patients, such as genital infection, pain and erection problems due to damage to blood vessels or nerves," he said."Such surgeries have been a major cause of medical disputes between hospitals and patients, especially for private hospitals that lack qualified talent."To meet increasing demand and regulate the services, the male reproductive organ committee was set up in mid-December in Wuhan, Hubei province."By setting up the committee we hope diagnoses and surgeries can be regulated, standards can be established and promoted and technological breakthroughs can be made in such surgeries to improve their efficacy and safety," he said.The committee comprises about 50 andrology experts from major hospitals in China, most of them from big hospitals in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, he said."The number of surgeries conducted to extend or thicken the penis is estimated at more than 10,000 a year nationwide," he said. "More surgeries are conducted on patients with diseases in their reproductive system, such as infection caused by injuries, urinary tract diseases and cancer of the penis."Demand for cosmetic surgery on male genitals has also been increasing in recent years, driven by higher sexual expectations for the patient or his partner and the pursuit of psychological comfort, he said.In the andrology department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, doctors perform between 1,000 and 2,000 surgeries on penises every year, about half of them cosmetic surgeries, which is at least twice as much as 10 years ago, according to Tian."In recent years we have seen an increasing number of males coming for advise or treatment for their reproductive organs," he said. "Young men are having higher expectations of sex, and many of them want their penis to be bigger, or have a particular shape. Some also wish to make their penis look good, and ask for cosmetic surgery."Zhang Zhichao, a professor at Peking University First Hospital's Andrology Department, said that while demand for genital surgery is high among males, irregularities in the industry such as misdiagnosis and treatment driven by profit are rampant due to lack of supervision."Cosmetic surgeries have been excessively and improperly conducted in many hospitals," he said. "In some cases patients who have sexual malfunctions and should have operations for treatment ended up receiving cosmetic surgery that will not help them improve their sexual ability."In some cases patients' poor sexual performance is psychological rather than physiological, and they should not rely on surgery to improve their performance, he said.More effective supervision from health authorities is needed to check such irregularities and protect the interests of patients, he said. wristbands canadacustom silicone bracelets canadarubber bracelets canadasilicone bracelets canadasilicone wristbands canadacustom wristbands canadacanadian wristbandswristbands canada
Astronaut Liu Boming attends the China Space Day celebration at the Harbin Institute of Technology on Tuesday in Harbin. Liu flew aboard the Shenzhou VII in 2008. [Su Dong/For China Daily] China's space authority said on Tuesday it plans to build a manned scientific research outpost on the moon. In a video displayed at a ceremony in Harbin, provincial capital of Heilongjiang, the China National Space Administration published the country's achievements and development road maps in the space sector, including a plan to construct and operate a scientific research station on the moon. The ceremony was held to mark the third China Space Day, April 24, the date in 1970 when China launched its first satellite. We believe that the Chinese nation's dream of residing in a 'lunar palace' will soon become a reality, the administration said in the video. The video envisions the lunar outpost having multiple tube cabins that interconnect and provide oxygen to people inside. One of the facility's major energy sources will be solar power, according to the video. The administration did not reveal a schedule for the construction and operation of the outpost. It added in the video that the country also plans to explore the two lunar poles. This is the first time that China has made public a plan to have a manned lunar outpost. In November, administration officials said at an international space forum in Shanghai that China is conducting a feasibility study for a robotic outpost on the lunar surface to conduct scientific research and technological experiments. Wang Liheng, a senior space scientist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told China Daily it has become the consensus among Chinese space researchers that a manned lunar station is necessary so scientists can deepen their lunar research and explore ways for the exploitation of lunar resources. Such a facility will also help to accumulate experience that can be used for manned missions to Mars, he said. The first step, our researchers suggest, will be sending our astronauts to the moon to perform short-term explorations, said Wang, referring to a manned lunar program, which has been called for by Chinese scientists for a long time. China started sending robotic probes to the moon in 2007 and has carried out several lunar missions since then. It landed the Chang'e 3 probe, which carried the first Chinese lunar rover, on the moon in December 2013. Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center, told those at Tuesday's ceremony that the Chang'e 4 probe will be launched before the end of this year and will land on the far side of the moon. Before it, a relay satellite named Queqiao, a legendary bridge in the Milky Way, will be launched in May. Tidal forces on Earth slow the moon's rotation to the point where the same side always faces Earth. The other face, most of which is never visible from Earth, is the far side of the moon. Bao Weimin, head of science and technology at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the probe will land on the Aitken Basin of the south lunar pole and will explore the sphere's early history. The mission will enable us to discover what we haven't known about the moon. Moreover, we can take advantage of the far side's shield against Earth's interference to make clearer observation into the deep space, he said. In addition to Chinese equipment, Chang'e 4 also will carry scientific payloads developed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Saudi Arabia, according to Pei.
