Vaginal Rejuvenation: What Is It, and Why Women Have It Done

“I just had plastic surgery — and not on my face,” one of your female friends might whisper. With the help of gynecologists or plastic surgeons, women are changing what their vaginal areas look like. Some involve surgery, others don’t; all come under the umbrella of “vaginal rejuvenation” or “vaginal reconstruction.”

4 Reasons Women Want Vaginal Rejuvenation

Women ask gynecologists and plastic surgeons to rebuild parts of their vaginal area for four reasons:

• Medical. As women age, especially after giving birth, they might need surgical help for vaginal dryness, incontinence, organ prolapse, fallen bladder or similar issues.
• Comfort. If your labia (outer vaginal lips) are exceptionally long, they can catch on your underwear or be uncomfortable when wearing tight apparel such as jeans. A labiaplasty operation to shorten the lip might solve the problem.
• Aesthetics. If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, you can have it changed.
• Sexual sensations. Certain surgeries can increase your sensation, or make intercourse more exciting for your partner.

Here’s How Doctors Can Rebuild Your Vaginal Area

Medical necessity aside, many women of all ages seek procedures that will make their vagina, vulva or clitoris look or feel better. Often women in their 40s seek female genital cosmetic surgery treatments once they’re done having children. They’re conscious of how their private areas have changed, looks-wise, and prefer to appear and feel more youthful in the pubic region. Types of procedures include:

• Vulvar reconstruction. The word “vulva” refers to the entire outer vaginal area — everything you can see with the naked eye (and possibly a handheld mirror). If yours appears more fatty than you’d like, a gynecologist or surgeon can thin it down.
• Labiaplasty. The vaginal lips, technically the labia minora, can be fleshy, floppy or in between. Some women have lips of different lengths or plumpness and want to even them out. While labia that are too large (labia hypertrophy) can cause pain, as mentioned above, they also might simply strike you as unattractive. Plastic surgeons can rebuild them into the shape, size and thickness that you request.
• Clitoral hood reduction. The tip of your clitoris is tissue right above where your two lips meet. A fold of skin on top protects this organ, which is tied to orgasm. If your hood is too large with excess tissue, it might reduce your sensation during intercourse or other stimulation. In that case, you can have the hood made smaller.
• Tightened vagina. Following vaginal deliveries, some women’s vaginal openings widen. A technique known as perineoplasty, or a yet more ambitious vaginoplasty, will tighten it back up. Following this procedure, you might feel more sensation during intercourse, and your male partner most certainly will notice a snugger hugging against the penis.
• Mons pubis reduction. This is the fatty area below your belly and above your pubic bones. The mons pubis is cushy by nature for comfort during intercourse. If you find yours to be overly fatty, you can get a cosmetic procedure to slim it down. Usually this involves sucking out fat (liposuction) through small incisions. If your skin will sag afterward, you might have the area tightened at the same time. That part is called “monsplasty,” or a pubic lift.
• Laser therapy to combat vaginal dryness. If you’re extremely dry, certain laser therapies might help. The procedures are pricey, and no good data exists proving that they work effectively.

Watch Out for These Downsides

Like any surgery, vaginal reconstruction comes with risk. Skin is cut, blood is released, anesthesia is used and outcomes can be unpredictable. That’s true for both vaginal reconstruction surgeries done with local anesthetics in a doctor’s office, where you stay awake, and for those involving general anesthetics, where you’ll be asleep, performed in a surgical center or hospital.

We’re all born with different genital areas. If a vaginal reconstruction surgery will help you feel better about yourself, go ahead and look into it. The final decision is personal, and it’s yours to make.