Surgery on the Labia Majora
Often when people, including doctors, discuss labiaplasty or Surgery on the Labia Majora, they tend to overlook the subject of surgery meant to rejuvenate or improve the aesthetic appearance of a woman’s labia majora. As with the more common labiaplasty (surgery on the labia minora), labia majora surgery has gotten more popular in recent years, possibly because of the impact of waxing or shaving the genitalia and pubic area, thus causing the labial appearance and size to become more obvious. There are four main causes that motivate a patient to seek this form of cosmetic surgery.
The reason we hear most often for a patient being dissatisfied with her labia majora is a wrinkled or deflated labial skin surface. Although this is frequently a normal appearance, many women interpret it as being associated with an older woman’s look. This makes it unwanted by many. In this case, surgical rejuvenation will require some skin tightening, which may or may not include transfer of fat into the labia in order to plump them. The goal in this procedure is to cause smoother skin. Sometimes it happens along with an increase in the size of the woman’s labia majora, and sometimes it doesn’t; it depends on what the patient wants.
The skin tightening in this process is achieved as the surgeon removes some excess skin from her labia majora. This causes the scar to be hidden in a naturally-occurring groove between the labium majus and the adjacent labium minus. After this skin is tightened, sometimes the labia will still be a bit wrinkled or perhaps it will appear under-sized. If this is the case, the surgeon might inject living fat from the patient in order to augment labial volume and to smooth out the labial skin even more.
In other cases, a patient is troubled by her labia majora being bigger than she wants. As a result, there is a bulge in the woman’s crotch area, which limits her selection and use of suitable attire. This can be significantly improved through liposuction / lip sculpture, much as with lip dystrophy.
If the patient thinks her labia majora appears too small, even though her skin is unwrinkled and smooth, the correct surgical procedure will require labial augmentation; again, this will likely occur through fat transfer.
Finally, there is occasionally a patient with what is known as labia majora asymmetry. This simply means one labium has a size or shape different from what the other has. One of the surgical techniques used in the other conditions we’ve discussed can be effective here, depending on the factors which have contributed to the asymmetry.
If you’re one of the women who feels you have one of these conditions with your labia majora, requiring surgical alteration, you can take comfort in the fact that each of the procedures we’ve mentioned is familiar to those in the field–and the techniques we’ve outlined are generally safe. Speak candidly with a plastic surgeon about your concerns. And as always, research the surgeon to make sure he or she is adequately qualified to handle your surgery.
