22-year-old Nina had a labiaplasty as soon as she turned 18. “But I’d wanted it for ages,” she says. “I knew I wanted it done since I used to be 12.”

Should you’re unfamiliar, labiaplasty is a cosmetic surgery procedure to change the looks of the vulva, generally by reducing the scale of the labia minora in order that they don’t protrude below the labia majora. Often women hunt down the procedure for practical reasons – in some cases protruding labia minora could cause chafing and discomfort, especially during exercise – but many do it for cosmetic reasons too. 

“There’s a so-called ‘ideal’ genital appearance that hasn’t modified for a while, where there is no such thing as a protruding labia minora tissue beyond the labia majora,” says Dr Gemma Sharp, an associate professor at Monash University who has extensively researched female genital body image concerns. “The difficulty is that almost all women have genitals which don’t look this fashion.”

Nina’s decision was predominantly driven by insecurities concerning the appearance of her genitals. She recalls developing these insecurities on the age of ten; while watching Kidulthood, a British teen film released in 2006, she noticed one in every of the characters claimed to only sleep with women who had “neat” vulvas. “I remember considering, ‘shit, I don’t think I even have that’,” Nina says. As she got older and commenced to observe porn, her preexisting anxieties only got worse. And in order soon as she turned 18, Nina flew from the UK to a clinic in Lithuania and forked over £1,300 to have the surgery she’d been dreaming about since childhood. “I felt on top of the fucking world,” she says.

Nina isn’t alone. In recent times, the number of girls looking for labiaplasties has rapidly risen: in 2017, it was reported that labiaplasty was the “fastest growing cosmetic procedure”, with the variety of surgeries on the time rising 45 per cent year-on-year globally. Notably, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons began collecting data on the variety of labiaplasty surgeries carried out every 12 months for the primary time in 2022, owing to the sudden uptick in women looking for out the procedure. In 2023, the association recorded 680 labiaplasty surgeries going down within the UK.

Sujatha Tadiparthi is a number one plastic surgeon with extensive experience in carrying out labiaplasties. She explains that while the vast majority of patients in her clinic hunt down the surgery for “comfort reasons, somewhat than to change the way in which it looks”, she will understand why labiaplasty is becoming more common across the board. “There’s definitely more awareness that this can be a procedure that’s possible,” she says. “I suppose that may prompt you to start out occupied with your personal anatomy and wondering what’s ‘normal’ and what isn’t.” This chimes with Dr Sharp. “Labiaplasty is taken into account way more of a mainstream surgery now in comparison with within the 2010,” she adds.

Many ladies feel insecure about their vulvas. An Australian study published by Women’s Health Victoria (WHV) last week found that one in six women are anxious or embarrassed about how their labia looks – notably rising to 1 in 4 amongst Gen Z respondents. An extra 31 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds associated their labia with negative words resembling “weird”, “disgusting”, or “ugly”.

23-year-old Abbie* had a labiaplasty two years ago, shelling out £3,500 for the procedure at a clinic in Manchester. While Abbie had the surgery partly as a result of the very fact her protruding inner labia made it uncomfortable to wear certain clothes, like Nina, self-consciousness was also a big think about her decision to go under the knife. “I began feeling insecure about it as early as primary school or early highschool,” she explains. “There have been comments made by boys, and even members of the family. I used to be all the time embarrassed about it – I assumed there was something unsuitable with me.” She adds that she never saw much “representation” of vulvas that looked like hers. “I assumed it was normal to have a Barbie-looking one.”

Dr Sharp points out that homogenous portrayals of genitals in popular culture, mainstream pornography, and on social media can lead to young women feeling that if their vulvas don’t conform that they’re in some way ‘abnormal’. This isn’t surprising: most recently, a viral TikTok video of a woman flaunting her recent manicure (and concurrently flashing her ‘outie’ vulva within the background) triggered a wave of harmful comments about larger labia. “We’d like to do more to deal with genital appearance concerns from developing at younger ages,” Dr Sharp says. “Unfortunately, genital body image will not be covered in positive body image programs neither is it covered in sexual health education classes in schools. So, we’re pushing for this topic to be taught to all young people as a normal a part of the curriculum.”

@gabygabss Your partners should love you for the way you might be. Nobody should want to alter you! My insecurities down there amplified when i used to be told this, but i noticed there have been so many other people on the market who would think i used to be perfect AS I AM 🫶 the primary person to that’s yourself #selflove #bodypositiviy #bodypostive #roastbeef #outiegang ♬ original sound – Zoe

Tadiparthi also stresses that labiaplasty is removed from a fast fix for a more deep-seated issue. “Every surgery has risks, and with labiaplasty there isn’t huge room for manoeuvre. Surgeons need to be very careful and know what they’re doing,” she says, adding that some techniques are riskier than others. She reports that she’s seen complications following procedures carried out by other surgeons where an excessive amount of of the labia minora is removed, and stresses that it’s vital anyone looking for a labiaplasty goes with a “reputable surgeon who has experience” and would recommend counselling for any women fighting body image issues.

In an excellent world, no woman would feel compelled to surgically alter the looks of their genitalia for aesthetic reasons alone. But the very fact stays that we don’t live in an excellent world, and so it tracks that today’s young women – lots of whom grew up listening to talk about “designer vaginas” or watching plastic surgeons fuel patient anxieties on reality TV shows like Embarrassing Bodies – are looking for out cosmetic labia surgery in unprecedented droves.

Cheeringly, though, there are signs that we may very well be inching towards a world where women feel more positive – or, ideally, completely neutral – concerning the way their genitalia looks. As Abbie has grown older, she’s discovered spaces on social media where creators speak candidly concerning the appearance of their vulvas. “I discovered pages on Instagram that spoke about that kind of diversity, and I began to feel higher about it,” she says. “I’m still completely happy I got my labiaplasty done, but I wish that I didn’t feel like I needed to do it in the primary place.” She adds that she has a daughter now, and hopes that things will likely be different for the subsequent generation of young women. “I will likely be teaching her from a young age that it’s completely normal [to have larger labia minora], because I don’t want her to have the identical insecurity as I did,” she says. “I don’t want her to feel like she has to get this surgery when she grows up.”

*Name has been modified