How to tell from A to Z a still unknown disease when it affects one in ten women in France?
A rich and pungent comic offers an edifying dive into endometriosis.
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The Lyon journalist Camille Grange explored for three years all the aspects of this sometimes very painful disease on which knowledge remains incomplete, often resulting in misunderstanding around the patients and delays in diagnosis of several years.
“For us there was no interest in publishing a book for women who already know the subject.
The goal is for it to be accessible to everyone”
, says the author to explain the choice of this survey drawn by the Belgian illustrator Mathilde Manka.
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Dangerous Lesions
, a 200-page book that was created thanks to crowdfunding, relates the doubt, the helplessness, even the depression of the victims of this disease which has no definitive cure and around which research skates.
Gynecological violence, professional failures, manipulation of charlatans, social isolation or the disastrous effects of surgeries and sometimes unsuitable treatments, the misadventures experienced by these women are numerous but described without pathos, sometimes even with humor.
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The touch of the illustrator operates subtle metaphors, by turns caustic or striking, which help the reader to digest the considerable amount of testimonies and information.
"We didn't want it to be depressing or scary.
Often we didn't know if we should laugh or cry, so we got away with it with a slightly caustic tone that suits us”
, explains Camille Grange.
“We conveyed a lot of things in images, metaphors, playing on irony, magnifying the line and making small winks to de-dramatize things, but without insisting too much on irony or comment”
, continues the illustrator.
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“This disease is of little interest and remains very little known despite its magnitude”
Camille Grange, journalist and author of the comic strip
Les Lésions Dangereuses
Endometriosis is characterized by the presence in the body of cells similar to those of the endometrium, the uterine lining, which react to hormones during menstrual cycles.
Sometimes asymptomatic, it can also be manifested by heavy periods and pain that can become very severe, due to cysts or lesions.
“This disease is of little interest and remains very little known despite its magnitude
,” explains the journalist.
“Often my interlocutors explained to me that it is because endometriosis is not fatal, unlike cancer for example.
Afterwards, there is also necessarily a misogynistic aspect and things left unsaid due to modesty and taboos around period-related disorders
.
, summarizes bluntly a member of the Academy of Medicine in the book.
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However, the lack of information around the disease causes misunderstandings, but also sometimes a lack of empathy from part of the medical profession, in addition to difficulties in diagnosis and treatment.
“When you are told you have cancer, the announcement is painful, but we will immediately refer you to doctors available nearby.
There, the women are not informed, the doctors are not trained and access to the few specialists has an enormous cost”
, underlines Camille Grange, evoking
“an endless obstacle course.
As a result, many women find it almost normal to take a five-hour train ride to pay 300 euros for a specialist who will see them for 20 minutes.
And even when we find a specialist who can operate on us, we
, she continues.
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The book, already on sale since April, allows a historical, anatomical, medical dive into this little-known disease which has in turn been assimilated over the centuries to demonic possession, psychological imbalance, hysteria or even nymphomania.
Another lesson, this evil harmful to fertility also affects transgender people.
Read alsoFrance takes up the problem of endometriosis
Emmanuel Macron announced in January the launch of the
“first national strategy”
against endometriosis, accompanied by a research funding program endowed with more than 20 million euros over five years.
The goal: to better understand and treat the disease.