Cosmetic Trend for Teen Girls: Labia Surgery
This undated file photo released by the Baltimore Museum of Art shows the Georgia O'Keefe painting “Pink Tulip,” 1926. (Image via AP Photo/Georgia O'Keefe Museum)
Adult women can choose to have their labia reshaped as part of a “vaginal rejuvenation” surgery, in which the muscles of the vagina are tightened. Now teenage girls apparently want in on the action, too. Doctors say they’re increasingly getting requests from young girls to have their labia trimmed—sometimes to relieve discomfort or a risk of infection, but more often because they’re unhappy with the way it looks, reports the New York Times.
Related: Woman Develops ‘Temporary Kleptomania’ After Surgery
Some 400 girls 18 or under had labiaplasty last year; that’s an 80% increase over 2014, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (that count doesn’t include operations performed by gynecologists). Why the jump? Experts cite the preponderance of young girls who shave or wax their pubic hair, thereby making the flesh there more visible.
Related: Why Women Are Injecting Botox Under Their Hair
What they see might not jibe with their often-skewed expectations regarding size, shape, and color. And when it comes to those characteristics, there’s a huge range of what’s “normal,” reports Health. It cites a study that found length can range from three-quarters of an inch to nearly 4 inches, and width from a quarter of an inch to two inches. Teens might also feel self-conscious in tight clothing, per Health Day.
“This age group may be under particular stress regarding these issues because of societal conceptions of the ideal female body,” the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists explains in new guidelines for adolescent labiaplasty.
Related: 7 People Who Had Surgery to Look Like a Celebrity
A recent study showed many British women were worried their genitals weren’t normal, per the Huffington Post, and even comedian Nikki Glaser debated labiaplasty as a youth. (Temporary “vacation breasts" may soon be available.)
By Arden Dier
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This article originally appeared on Newser: Cosmetic Trend for Teen Girls: Labia Surgery
