Women Opting For Cosmetic Genital Surgery Often Require Psychological Help

According to Dr. Lih-Mei Liao, a consultant clinical psychologist at University College London Hospitals, many women opting for cosmetic genital surgery require psychological help. But they are being denied it for obvious reasons. Surgery is suitable in certain but not all cases.

Dr. Liao believes that when a woman is dissatisfied with certain aspects of her life and is low on self-confidence, the symptoms often manifest as a poor body image of oneself. The women feel that they are not achieving what they want because of certain physical flaws. It is these women who should be given an access to a clinical psychologist before they undergo surgery. But a recent report has found that less than 35% of clinics carry out psychological examination of patients checking in for cosmetic surgeries. Now, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons is asking for a psychological screening of the patients before surgery to be made mandatory.

Three types of cosmetic genital surgeries are being frequently conducted. They include the following.

Labioplasty

Labioplasty is the most common of all cosmetic surgeries of the genital area. Around 2000 labioplasty operations were carried out by the NHS last year, which is a five-fold increase from five years back. This does not include the surgeries performed in the unregulated private sector. In this procedure, excess tissue from the labia is removed in order to make it smaller. It costs about £2,000 at a private clinic in U.K. to get the operation done.

Vaginal rejuvenation surgery

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, more than 2,149 women in the U.S. underwent this surgery last year. In 2010, as many as 5,200 women had ‘vaginal rejuvenation’, as reported by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. This figure does not include the surgeries performed by the gynecologists. The surgery costs about £3,000 in the U.K.  Vaginal rejuvenation involves reshaping the vagina to tighten it, after it has become lax following childbirth.

Hymenoplasty

It is an operation in which the torn hymen of a woman is restored so that the woman appears to be a virgin.

G-spot amplification

Another procedure, called as “G-spot amplification” is also becoming immensely popular. Here, the front wall of the vagina is injected with collagen or other fillers. The surgery claims to increase sexual pleasure.

Negative implications of designer vagina surgeries

However, there are critics for all these surgeries. What is the basis of labioplasty when nobody knows what corrected labia should look like? The results that one gets after undergoing vaginal rejuvenation can be achieved by simply performing floor exercises. Moreover, surgery can result in the formation of a lot of scar tissue. Nerve endings present in the vagina can be severed as a result of the operation, resulting in permanent loss of sensations. And some physicians point out that if a woman has some psychological issues, her sex life would not improve regardless of the surgery. Similarly, there is no clinical evidence to support enhanced sexual gratification after G-spot amplification. So, while these operative procedures cost a bomb, there is no clinical evidence to prove whether they help in resolving psychological distress or improving sex life.

And yet, we see that women of all age groups (young girls, some as small as 11 years to elderly women as old as 70) ready to undergo cosmetic surgeries to reshape their private parts, ignoring the side effects of these procedures. Google is flooded with references to cosmetic vaginal surgery (more than 45,000) whereas you will find less than 100 medical studies on it at databases like PubMed or Medline. There is no end to this consumerist attitude towards life where people believe everything can be perfected at a cost. It is high time we get a reality check.