People who are active social media users know that Einav Booblil recently gave birth to her fifth daughter by French cesarean section.
How is this procedure different from a normal C-section?
Let’s start with the name. The operation was named after Dr. Denis Fauck, a French surgeon and gynecologist who developed this method. This procedure is somewhat different from a normal C-section delivery and, in Israel, is only available at the English Hospital in Nazareth.
Recently some French C-sections have taken place at Shamir Medical Center, but only a few are done every week – it depends on the mother’s health.
What is different about a French C-section procedure?
Dr. Roni Levy, director of delivery rooms at Kaplan Medical Center, explained that a French C-section is different because the uterus is accessed via cuts from the side and not central like in a normal C-section.
During an extraperitoneal surgery, the surgeon bypasses the layer that surrounds the uterus and enters from the side, with the incisions also done in a different way, and the uterus is cut in the shape of a circle. He added that in the last part of the operation, the woman helps by blowing a whistle that helps raise the intra-abdominal pressure.
In the past, this type of operation was mainly performed if there was scar tissue in or on the abdomen, but now some recommend it instead of a C-section. But Levy explains that the biggest disadvantage is that the baby is taken out with forceps because it comes out from the side, yet a vaginal forceps birth has almost gone out of use since forceps can damage parts of the face of the fetus, such as the eyes, and any birth without forceps is safer.
Recovery from a French C-section is reportedly easier
Yet the theory about this surgery is that recovery is easier and that women after a French C-section get up after three hours and not six, as in a normal C-section. Also, the woman is released from the hospital faster.
Levy emphasizes that there aren’t any controlled studies on such surgeries, so it can’t be proven that it causes less pain after delivery. Some studies say that after a French C-section, you get up early, but even after a normal operation a woman can get out of bed earlier.
Levy stated that even in France where it started, this procedure isn’t widespread and only two out of ten hospitals in the country perform it.
Levy thinks that the only advantage is that a French C-section is private surgery. He said it costs NIS 20,000 and the commitment as in private surgeries is different for a woman who knows who her doctor is and she’s also attended throughout the birth by a midwife.
Levy said that anyone who wants to spend money this way should do so, but in his opinion, this method holds no advantage over a standard C-section.
