Those who practice in the field of vaginoplasty deal with a couple types of patients: Those who require the procedure as part of a male to female gender change and those who simply want a restoration of their vagina. So let’s talk about who benefits from vaginal restoration surgery–and whether you might be one of those people.
Vaginal restoration surgery, when done right, should improve the appearance of a woman’s genitalia. It also is known to enhance both the woman and her partner’s sexual experience. This in turn often leads to emotional benefits such as improved self-worth and self-esteem.
Besides enhancing the sexual experience, there are other situations in which vaginal surgery is medically indicated. For instance, it’s beneficial for:
1) the person who has previously given birth, especially to multiple children, causing the vagina and supporting muscle and tissue mass to become stretched and lose their elasticity; 2) the person who has suffered some perineal trauma (such as in a violent sexual assault or through a straddle injury), resulting in tissue becoming overly stretched; 3) the person who has had all or part of the vagina removed as she is treated for malignancies in the genitalia; 4) the person with conditions such as stress incontinence, a prolapsed pelvis, or labial hypertrophy; 5) the person who feels a need to reshape an uncomfortable or unsightly external genitalia or who wants to enhance her sexual experience by improving her vaginal tone.
If you’ve decided you’re one of these women who could benefit from vaginoplasty, here’s what you can expect. The procedure will last an hour to 90 minutes, on average. It’s done sometimes under a local anesthetic and sedation or sometimes under a general anesthetic. In the procedure itself, a small part of the interior vaginal wall lining will be removed. Your surgeon will then tighten the soft tissues surrounding it, and will use absorbable sutures. If the surgeon is required to reconstruct the vagina, then muscle and skin grafts from one of your thighs or perhaps muscle tissue from your lower abdomen will be used.
Following the procedure you can expect some discomfort and swelling for five or six days, with full recovery taking a week to ten days. Your doctor will probably suggest sexual abstinence for six weeks.
So are the benefits worth it? That’s a decision you’ll have to make, but thousands of women who fit into the above five category have decided they are worth it.
