Q & A: Should I Have My Labia Surgically Re-Sized?

Q: I’ve been conscious since my pre-teen years that I have reasonably giant labia minora and have typically felt very self-conscious to the purpose that I’d need to minimize the “excess” off when I was younger. I really feel labiaplasty might assist me. I’d like to talk with somebody about this concern and discover a health care provider who can carry out this process.

A: Although vulvas differ in pores and skin shade in addition to the form and measurement of the labia minora (interior vaginal “lips”) and clitoris, most ladies don’t usually expertise vulvar ache or labia pinching from day by day actions like strolling, sitting or carrying sure sorts of clothes.

Many artists, together with Judy Chicago and Betty Dodson, have glorified the vulva as a sleek, flower-like and awe-inspiring a part of the physique. This optimistic view of the vulva has been necessary to many ladies’s appreciation of a physique half that’s all too typically portrayed as soiled, smelly or ugly — which is why some health care suppliers strive so arduous to assist ladies settle for their genitals of their pure state. And but ladies’s relationship with their genitals is enormously advanced, as Eve Ensler confirmed in her play and e-book “The Vagina Monologues.”

Like you, some ladies really feel bodily uncomfortable as a result of size of their labia. Their labia might get pinched after they put on sure sorts of clothes, interact in numerous types of exercise or strive completely different sexual acts. Labiaplasty, which is surgical slicing and reshaping of the labia, is typically used to assist ladies in these conditions.

There Is No Guarantee of Improvement

An issue with labiaplasty is that whereas some common magazines and Web websites write about (and even promote) what’s been dubbed a “designer vagina” sort of surgical procedure, the scientific literature tells a narrative of ever-evolving surgical strategies — however solely some research in regards to the methods during which surgical procedure would possibly positively or negatively have an effect on ladies’s experiences, sexual or in any other case.

The vulva is wealthy with nerve endings and (as with different physique components) any time slicing happens, there’s the danger of harm to the methods during which you expertise sensation, making the surgical alternative an necessary one.

If you have an interest in consulting with a health care supplier with experience in vulvovaginal health you would possibly ask for referrals from the National Vulvodynia Association or the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Further, you could discover that studying “The V Book: A Doctor’s Guide to Complete Vulvovaginal Health” by Dr. Elizabeth Stewart will offer you a good quantity of details about vulvar health and anatomy.

Then, must you seek the advice of with a health care supplier about labiaplasty, you’ll be well-informed and in a position to ask helpful questions on how the surgical procedure would possibly change your vulva’s look and doubtlessly its sensation.

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