October 21, 2022

Want to take a look at the clitoris? Take a Clitogram™!

It’s time to turn on your x-ray vision (well, sort of – more like ultrasound vision)!

Here at Cerē, we developed a way to take medical pictures of the clitoris: the Clitogram™

What is a Clitogram™?

Clitogram™ refers to the clitoral ultrasound method developed by Cerē.

Ultrasound, also known as sonography, is a technique to look at and take pictures of organs in the body. Ultrasound uses sound waves instead of x-rays to generate a picture. This means there’s no radiation involved, and it’s very safe to use.

Here is one of the first Clitograms we made. We looked at the blood flow to the clitoris before and after using The Wand (in the video, you can see the clitoris vibrate with the pulsations of The Wand).

Why did Dr. Amir Marashi and Dr. Kimberly Lovie develop the Clitogram™?

They developed the Clitogram to help make surgery safer.

Doctors have been using ultrasound to look at organs for decades. A very common use of ultrasound is to look at a baby before it’s born.

When a person is injured, has a medical condition, or is about to undergo surgery, doctors often take a “before” picture. This can be in the form of ultrasound, x-ray, CT (“cat scan”), or MRI. This “before” picture gives a good idea of what things look like before any procedure is done. Sometimes these pictures are used as roadmaps to help guide surgery. And occasionally, ultrasounds are done during surgery itself, which helps doctors steer clear from important structures in real-time. After the procedure, “after” pictures are taken (with ultrasound, x-ray, CT, or MRI again). This helps doctors and patients see whether the procedure helped, identify whether any accidental harm was done, and guide the next steps.

Unfortunately (and shockingly), this isn’t done for the clitoris! Despite the clitoris being an incredibly important organ, surgeons operate in the genital area without getting medical images of the clitoris before the surgery, during, or after.

Dr. Amir Marashi (Founder of Cerē and board-certified OB/GYN) knew this wasn't right, and that patients deserved better. He teamed up with Dr. Kimberly Lovie, a Harvard and Yale-trained physician and scientist, with a background in radiology (she is the Director of R&D at Cerē). They worked together to create the first clitoral ultrasound method to be used in the clinic and operating room. The Clitogram™ was born.

Dr. Marashi and Dr. Lovie are offering a Clitogram™ training course in 2023 (date TBA). Their goal is to set a new standard of care for vulvar surgery. They will train surgeons how to image the clitoris before, during, and after surgery, with the aim of safer surgery and harm reduction.

How is a Clitogram™ done? Does it hurt?

We perform a Clitogram™ for each patient. This provides good pictures of the clitoral dimensions, blood vessels, and other important structures before, during, and after surgery.

The entire process is painless and takes around 10 minutes. First, ultrasound gel is applied to the labia (genital area. You can learn more about the anatomy here. Then, the ultrasound probe is placed over the clitoris. Images appear on the screen and are saved.

How can the Clitogram™ help patients and victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)?

During the horrendous process of FGM, the clitoris is cut. But not every victim’s clitoris is cut in the same way. Although the glans of the clitoris is visible, the other parts of the clitoris (which make up the bulk of the organ) are hidden beneath the skin: the clitoral bulbs and crura. So while the glans is often cut during FGM, the “hidden parts” of the clitoris sometimes are not.

Using clitoral ultrasound, Dr. Marashi and Dr. Lovie look beneath the surface of the skin to see what parts of the clitoris have been spared in FGM victims. This helps them identify which corrective surgeries and treatments can be done to help these women.

What else can you do with a Clitogram™? Can you can “see” an orgasm?

We had a major aha! moment during our research. The clitoris fills with blood during arousal and orgasm. We realized that we could use ultrasound to look at the clitoris in real-time during arousal. This allowed us to see whether Cerē’s toys and Enchantment Gel are effective at increasing clitoral blood flow. (Spoiler: they are!)