Naturally, women, vaginas vary in size and shape, but some women are dissatisfied or distressed about the appearance of their labia, even when they are classified medically as perfectly normal. But women who have cosmetic surgery on their vagina are obsessed with the latest beauty trend or having porn-star like genitalia.
But some women have surgery to reduce the size of their labia – the inner ‘lips’ of the vagina – because they suffer problems ranging from pain and tearing to extreme psychological distress. There are inner labia – the labia minora - which are thinner, and the outer labia – the labia majora, which have more tissue and fat.
NHS figures for 2010 show a five-fold rise since 2001 and one London-based surgeon has seen an 80 per cent rise in labiaplasty procedures between 2013 and 2014.
The surgery involves reducing the size of a woman's labia minora to make them more symmetrical and smaller than the labia majora. This is done by cutting away the ‘excess’ skin with a scalpel, or possibly a laser, and stitching up the loose edge with dissolvable stitches, until it heals.Mr Miles Berry, a consultant plastic and aesthetic surgeon at the Weymouth Street Hospital, London, chalks the rise in operations down to an increase in awareness and availability of the procedure. While many people believe these women are simply seeking a ‘designer vagina’, he says most are having the procedure for functional reasons or because they have been traumatised by having labia that are misshapen or low-hanging.
A labiaplasty is a surgical procedure to reduce the size of the labia minora – the flaps of skin either side of the vaginal opening. Most labiaplasty operations are done by private clinics as cosmetic surgery, to change the appearance of the female genitals.
Occasionally, there may be a medical need for the operation (for example, because the tissue is affected by disease), in which case it might be covered by the NHS. However, the NHS doesn't routinely provide this operation.
It's natural and normal for a woman to have noticeable skin folds around the vaginal opening and, in most cases, this shouldn't cause any problems. A labiaplasty involves shortening or reshaping the vaginal lips, a bit like shortening a hem on a dress. It is usually performed by a gynaecologist or plastic surgeon.
It can be carried out using either a general anaesthetic or local anaesthetic with sedation, and the whole procedure takes about one to two hours. However there is a lack of research investigating how effective this procedure is. This means there's no guarantee it will achieve a long-lasting desired effect, and there are short- and long-term risks to consider.
Some will never enter into a relationship for fear of a partner seeing their genitalia, while others cannot undress in public or wear a bikini.
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