Vaginal Rejuvenation and How Ideals Can Harm Us

The Washington Post (link) and New York Times (link) published articles this last week about the FDA warning that cosmetic ‘vaginal rejuvenation’ laser treatments can cause burns and pain.

The FDA issued a warning (link) stating that Energy-based devices shouldn’t be used for cosmetic procedures. The energy-based devices are cleared for things like destruction of abnormal or pre-cancerous cervical or vaginal tissue and genital warts, but haven’t been cleared for cosmetic vaginal procedures or “rejuvenation” or for vaginal symptoms relating to menopause. They warned that using energy-based devices may lead to vaginal burns, scarring, pain during sexual intercourse, and recurring/chronic pain.

“These products have serious risks and don’t have adequate evidence to support their use for these purposes,” said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the F.D.A. commissioner. “We are deeply concerned women are being harmed.”

…The F.D.A. said the full extent of the risks is unknown, but that the agency has found cases of vaginal burns, scarring, and lasting pain following the treatments. The agency has received 14 reports of adverse events related to the treatments, including burning sensations and significant pain.

Injuring vaginas in an attempt to “rejuvenate them” is not just an issue for Americans. This echoes a story in the Sydney Morning Herald from 2015 (link), about unnecessary vaginal surgery, more “vaginal rejuvenations”.

The article discusses labiaplasty (where labia is trimmed to matching pairs and usually very short) and vaginoplasty (where skin from inside the vagina is removed, and then the remaining skin stitched to narrow the canal).

“It’s alarming that women whose bodies are quite normal and healthy can be enticed into this type of serious, potentially risky surgery," says Thierry Vancaillie, professor of gynaecology at the University of NSW and a world expert on pelvic pain. Vancaillie says there’s now clear evidence that women who experience unnecessary "vaginal rejuvenation" surgery can suffer life-long problems because of post-surgical neuralgia – pain from the surgical scars.”

This isn’t just adults either. In Peggy Orenstein’s fantastic TED talk, “What young women believe about their sexual pleasure”, (link) Orenstein states:
“labiaplasty is the fastest growing cosmetic surgery among teenage girls. It rose 80% between 2014 and 2015 ….

The most sought after look incidentally – in which the outer labia appear fused like a clam shell – is called… wait for it … the Barbie…”

Seems the trend continues here in Oz. The number of Medicare subsidised labiaplasty leapt from 240 in 1993 to 1584 in 2013-14. It’s now mostly off the books in Medicare, it’s only considered for certain cases, so the surgeries are happening privately - meaning there aren’t any decent stats anymore.

I want to make it clear that I’m not here to question individual choices or to state labiaplasty or vaginoplasty should never be conducted. But individual cosmetic choices don’t take place in a vacuum. They are informed by a social climate. I’m questioning the climate in which those choices cooked. When we’re lining up to have labia clipped off to look like a Barbie for instance, I think we’re alright to question why without disrespecting anyone.

Why don’t we want our labia? What’s wrong with our labia? Who or what is making us think we need a different labia than what we have? 

Who does it benefit if we dislike our labia? When the procedures are worth upwards of $5000 AUD it’s fair to question whether there's a cost benefit for someone disliking their labia.

Women’s Health Victoria created the Labia Library (link), an attempt to help share non-airbrushed images of labias and educate people about the vast variety and shapes of labia. For those who don’t see many vulva/labia outside their own or pornography, I think this is a great initiative.

From the Labia Library:

Risks of labioplasty (which is sometimes called labiaplasty) include things like scarring, numbness, pain, asymmetry, discoloration of the labia and an abnormal appearance to the skin along the edge of the labia. It can also affect sensation during sex. The labia minora have an important sensory role in sexual arousal and it’s not clear how this is affected by cosmetic surgery. 

I consider cosmetic “rejuvenated” vaginas and trimmed Barbie-labia just another facet of the ideal female form. These ideals never seem to benefit us, and, in the case of unnecessary vaginal surgeries and labiaplasty, can outright harm us.

Maybe instead of immediately thinking there is something abnormal or wrong with us or our body parts, we should remember that there is something wrong with a social climate that would make us feel this way.

Tee's drawing of a "stylized" vulva.

By: Tee Linden