The Labiaplasty procedure, also known as labioplasty, this procedure is more recently classified as part of female genital cosmetic surgery.
Each woman is different anatomically. As access to images of women’s genitalia becomes easier, many women wonder if they are normal. Unfortunately, because many of the images these normal women see have been altered using imaging software, this can create an unrealistic expectation of what normal anatomy looks like.
In Australia, the number of labiaplasty operations has recently decreased to about 1200 operations a year (these are just the operations that attract a Medicare rebate, meaning they have been classified as ‘medically necessary’).
Although there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this kind of surgery, there are women out there suffering from real problems, many of them have not felt comfortable enough to seek help.
For some women, their labia can be a problem with sports such as bike riding or horse riding. For others, they can be uncomfortable wearing tight-fitted clothing. More often than not, women feel self-conscious about their large labia and find this can interfere with intimate relationships or with intercourse.