Ideal Candidates for Labiaplasty who experienced:

• pain from twisting and tugging of the labia when riding a bike or during intercourse
• itching
• irritation
• self-consciousness

During your labiaplasty consultation be prepared to discuss:

 

• Your surgical goals
• Medical conditions, drug allergies and medical treatments
• Current medications, vitamins, herbal supplements, alcohol, tobacco and drug use
• Previous surgeries

 

Your surgeon may also:

 

• Evaluate your general health status and any pre-existing health conditions or risk factors
• Take photographs
• Discuss your options
• Recommend a course of treatment
• Discuss likely outcomes of labiaplasty and any risks or potential complications
• Discuss the use of anesthesia during the  procedure

 

Be sure to ask questions. To help, we have prepared a checklist of questions to ask your plastic surgeon that you can take with you to your consultation.

It’s very important to understand all aspects of the procedure. It’s natural to feel some anxiety, whether it’s excitement for your anticipated new look or a bit of preoperative stress. Don’t be shy about discussing these feelings with your plastic surgeon.

In preparing for labiaplasty surgery, you may be asked to:

 

• Get lab testing or a medical evaluation
• Take certain medications or adjust your current medications
• Stop smoking
• Avoid taking aspirin, anti-inflammatory drugs and herbal supplements as they can increase bleeding

 

A labiaplasty may be performed in an accredited office-based surgical facility, licensed ambulatory surgical center or a hospital. If your labiaplasty is performed on an outpatient basis, be sure to arrange for someone to drive you to and from surgery and to stay with you for at least the first night following surgery.

What does a labiaplasty do?

The goal of the procedure is to reduce the labia minora so that they don’t hang below the hair-bearing labia majora. A labiaplasty may be performed to reduce asymmetry when one is longer than the other, or, more commonly, to reduce the length of both labia so that the labia no longer twist, tug or fall out of a bathing suit.

Labiaplasty is a procedure that can be done under either local anesthesia with oral sedation or under general anesthesia.The most common type of labiaplasty is the trim procedure, in which the extra tissue is removed and sewn up directly. Next in popularity is the wedge procedure, which maintains a natural border after a pie-shaped piece of tissue has been removed. Extra folds of the clitoral hood can also be reduced at the same time. Closure is usually done with absorbable sutures.

Most patients take a week off from work, during which they can reduce swelling and pain by icing with a cold pack sandwiched between the patient’s underpants and an elastic garment, like Spanx. This can be done “twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off.” The patient can also lie with her bottom elevated to reduce swelling.

Patients can resume wearing tampons or having intercourse after four to six weeks. Trim labiaplasty generally allows for a quicker recovery.

While the most distorting swelling is gone by 6 weeks, residual swelling may take six months to disappear.

What to expect in Labiaplasty

 

Labiaplasty typically results in shorter labia that no longer hang down below the level of the hair-bearing labia majora. Most patients who experienced symptoms from twisting and tugging of their labia generally find relief after surgery. According to multiple studies, labiaplasty surgery is associated with a high satisfaction rate of over 90 percent.