Apparently, there's a downside to getting your cooch culled. The August issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases (what, you don't subscribe?) is scheduled to report on a deforesting gone awry.

In the days following her bikini wax, [the patient] came down with a fever, and had swelling and pain in the waxed region (along with a "copious vaginal discharge.") Still, she didn't seek medical attention for another week, when she was in really bad shape.

Not having a vagina we cannot speak with total authority on this one, but we'd kind of consider those symptoms to qualify us as being in "really bad shape." But it gets worse! Do not click through if you're eating, or easily-sickened. Or if you have or like vaginas.

She presented to the ER with not only "grossly swollen" external genitalia, and pain so extreme that she had to be put under general anesthetic just so her physician could perform a gynecologic exam. She was so swollen that, according to the legend to Figure 1 (which you can find online, as the article is freely available), "she was unable to pass urine, and the vaginal space was obliterated by edema."

There's actually plenty more, but that's enough for us, thanks. If you gals decide you just want to go with a light coat down there from now on, you have our full support.

The things women do for beauty—or, beware the bikini wax [Aetiology]