‘I wanted a designer vagina since I was 14 – but I now live in excruciating pain’
A 14-year-old woman who desperately wanted “specially designed vagina” surgery wants to ban the surgery after being left in “unbearable pain”.
Campaigners are calling for labiaplasty, which changes the appearance of skin folds at the vaginal opening and is sometimes referred to as having a “Barbie” vagina, to be considered female genital mutilation (FGM).
They say that the operation, which plastic surgeons warned a few years ago was the “fastest growing plastic surgery in the world”, has been on the rise as a TikTok trend in recent months.
Riley Smith* said the procedure was introduced to her as a “corrective” after she felt “insecure” about the size of her inner lips. he said Independent Their “mean” friend reaffirmed their “worst insecurities” when she confided in them about her concerns.
She underwent labiaplasty surgery at the age of 22 after being described as the “perfect candidate” and claims she was not warned about the risks but was instead told it was a “super simple surgery”.
She later felt “extremely exhausted and uncomfortable” and said she has since experienced irritation, dryness and recurrent infections from the tissue removed.
He can no longer “sit directly on it for long periods of time” and finds sex to be “excruciatingly painful and mentally distressing.” Ms Smith added: “I’m so sorry. Penetration has never been painful before. I’m so angry at the surgeon, the system and myself for making this decision.”
“It makes me very angry that this procedure is casually promoted as increasing sexual confidence, improving hygiene, or even making underwear more physically comfortable.”
She said a doctor talked to her about reconstruction surgery using the same techniques used for female genital mutilation victims.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines female circumcision as “all procedures that involve the partial or complete removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”
Female circumcision is illegal in the UK and is generally not consensual, but plastic surgeons can legally perform labiaplasty on anyone over the age of 18 who consents. Figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons show 635 labiaplasty surgeries will be performed in the UK in 2024; This figure is a slight decrease compared to the previous year.
Charity The Vavengers, which works to end violence against women and girls in the UK, is fighting for labiaplasty to be criminalized like female genital mutilation. Chief executive Sema Gornall argued it was impossible to “consent to this much bodily harm” and claimed on social media that labiaplasty had been “normalised”.
Searching for the procedure on TikTok turns up more than 7,000 posts since 2024. There was a 90 percent increase in Google searches for “before and after labiaplasty UK” last year, and a 70 percent increase in searches for “what is labiaplasty” in the last five years.
Ms Gornall added: “There are more than 10,000 nerve fibers in the female genitalia. If I can’t consent to having my arm amputated without a medical reason… I can’t consent to having my genitals amputated.”
Female circumcision, as defined in the United Kingdom’s Female Circumcision Act 2003, involves cutting, pricking, stitching or cauterizing the vulva for “ritual” reasons.
Dr. is a lecturer at the University of Exeter who specializes in political philosophy, especially body and children’s rights. Kate Goldie Townsend said: Independent: “[FGM] It is often linked to myths about cleanliness, and exposure to this practice is said to make the girl or woman more marriageable.
“The rise of labiaplasty as a trend on platforms like TikTok increases the incessant pressure on girls and women to conform to rigid, patriarchal beauty norms, no doubt fueled by mainstream hetero-pornography.”
He explained that current FGM legislation states that it is not an offense for an approved person to perform “a surgical operation on a girl child that is necessary for her physical or mental health”, meaning that a child could technically have a labiaplasty if they are intensely concerned about the appearance of their vulva.
Dr Townsend said the risks of labiaplasty mirror those of female circumcision, including “bleeding, infection, reduced sexual function due to removal of nerve endings, psychological distress due to friction, scarring and regret”.
The benefits are “increased socio-cultural confidence” due to the feeling of “complying with patriarchal beauty standards.” However, Dr Townsend said “many women regret having the procedure and some private clinics capitalize on women and girls’ physical concerns”.
Vavengers ambassador Payzee Mahmood, who has undergone female genital mutilation, said: “I know women who suffer every day of their lives, not just by having sex, but simply by being in their bodies. They live with this pain.”
She said labiaplasty is “decorated and masked with the idea that women are choosing to have an engineered vagina, that it’s a sense of empowerment and freedom, but actually it’s all based on patriarchy, because it’s done for men in the same way that female circumcision is done for men.”
The government has said it has no current plans to ban the private labiaplasty surgery for adults, which costs around £4,000.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Prioritising women’s health and safety is paramount. Labioplasty can only be performed on the NHS in exceptional circumstances where patients require clinical surgery, for example to remove cancerous tissue.
“FGM is different. It is a crime, it is child abuse and it can destroy lives. We will not tolerate a practice that can inflict extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering on women and girls, and offenders will face the full force of the law.”
A WHO spokesperson said it had developed “guidance and resources to support high-prevalence countries” to implement prevention and care services, but that “decisions on labiaplasty and other types of plastic surgery are not the focus of WHO’s efforts to end female genital mutilation.”
*Name changed
