14 DAY TRIAL // Aesthetic operations have developed from lips and breasts to genitalia.
More women are unpleased by the natural design of their genitalia and appeal to cosmetic genitoplasty or vaginoplasty.
Lih Mei Liao, consultant clinical psychologist, and Sarah M Creighton, consultant gynecologist, warn this type of surgery carries risks and that alternative solutions for women's worries about the appearance of their genitals should be carried out.
Vaginoplasty involves the creation or reshaping of the vagina, developed to fix vaginal anomalies and congenital conditions (like the lack of a vagina at birth), as well as to solve issues linked to disease or injury, but currently aesthetic reasons dominate.
In fact, the biggest number of women ask for labial reduction.
More and more women report to be troubled by the shape, size, or proportions of their vulvas, a fact that boosts elective genitoplasty. Advertisements for cosmetic genitoplasty include before and after images and life changing narratives.
A Google research will come with over 490 000 results for "labial reduction". 47 of the first 50 results are advertisements from cosmetic genital surgery clinics in the United Kingdom and United States.
The desire for re-shaped genitalia is also fueled by television programs and articles in women's magazines.
These trigger wrong assumptions about normal dimension. This reflects a narrowing social definition of normal, or a confusion between normal and idealized. Some women even bring pornographic photographs or ads to show doctors how they'd like their genitals to look like.
The researchers warn about the risk of this surgery to damage the nerves that induce sexual arousal, inducing a loss of sensitivity and the long-term benefits are unclear and unstudied.
Some doctors even compare this surgery with "female genital mutilation."
The lifestyle of the patients is also affected. "These restrictions included inability to wear tight clothing, go to the beach, take communal showers or ride a bicycle comfortably, or avoidance of some sexual practices."
The genitoplasty fashion could narrow acceptable ranges further and determine increases demand. "Surgery is an extreme and unproved intervention in this instance, and it should be thought of as the last resort, not the first port of call," said the researchers.
However, despite women willing to do this for their men, men would never reduce their genitalia for their women ...