Is porn pushing popularity of "designer vaginas?"

istockphoto

(CBS) Designer vaginas. That's what some are calling the surgically modified genitals that new research shows are all the rage with some women - and which are stirring outrage among critics of "vaginal rejuvenation."

Over the past decade, there's been a five-fold increase in the number of women seeking cosmetic surgery to reduce the size of their labia, according to a study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. As part of the first-of-its-kind study, researchers measured the length and width of the labia minora of 33 English women and girls who had requested the surgery.

What was wrong with the ladies' labia? Nothing. All the women - including some as young as 11 years of age - were perfectly normal "down there."

"It is surprising that all of the study participants had normal sized labia minora and despite this nearly half were still keen to pursue surgery as an option," study author Dr. Sarah Creighton, of the University College London Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute of Women's Health, said in a written statement.

If they women were anatomically normal, why were they seeking labial reduction surgery? Sixty percent said they wanted a better-looking vagina. Other reasons included a desire to ease discomfort or to boost self-confidence. Some women said they had sought the surgery after hearing a comment from a partner, others that they had simply watch TV programs that described cosmetic genital surgery.

"Women are bombarded with images suggesting they are not normal," Dr. Creighton told the Daily Mail.

And TV programs may be only part of the story.

"We haven't completed the research, but there is suspicion that this is related to much greater access to porn, so it is easier for women to compare themselves to actresses who may have had it done," Dr. David Veale, a psychiatrist who has studied vaginal rejuvenation, told the Guardian. "This is to do with the increasing sexualization of society - it's the last part of the body to be changed."

How about American women? Has porn pushed them to have the procedure? That's hard to say, given the absence of reliable statistics.

A spokeswoman for the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery told CBS News that the number of vaginal rejuvenation procedures in the U.S. dropped from 4,506 in 2007 to 2,531 in 2009. But she said most of the procedures were being performed not by plastic surgeons but by obstetrician-gynecologists - and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists told CBS that it has no statistics on vaginal rejuvenation.

What the og-gyn organization does have is a formal position on the procedure. It questions the safety of the procedure, saying it could can lead to infection, scarring, altered sensation, and "dyspareunia" - doctor-speak for painful sexual intercourse. It's conclusion: "Patients who are anxious or insecure about their genital appearance or sexual function may be further traumatized by undergoing an unproven surgical procedure with obvious risks."

What do you think? Should women leave well enough alone "down there" - or feel free to dial up a "designer vagina?"

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[wolfmann4u-2009]

They have Extenz for men now they can have Vagshrink for woman

[rickstas]

LOLOLO! It's a free country!

[drmatlock]

Posted by David 9 minutes ago
Unfortunately I believe journalist writing on this subject matter have no concept of what cosmetic surgery is. Nor have they ever been in a surgical consult to listen to complaints and issues of women who are actually having the procedures. Nor have they ever been in the operating room to view a procedure. These procedures aren't for everyone but if you so desire to have such a procedure they are available. Cosmetic surgery is about a personal choice. Female genital plastic surgery is no different than any other cosmetic surgery. In regards to indications, NO COSMETIC SURGERY IS INDICATED including breast augmentations, lifts, reductions, tummy tucks, liposuction etc.

[mcgad]

A genital procedure is NOT the same as other cosmetic surgery. It is in the area where women experience sexual sensation and any surgery there risks altering or eliminating that sensation and possibly even causing pain. Western culture frowns down on genital mutilation in Third World countries, but some people think it's okay here in the guise of plastic surgery? Not only is a woman risking her sexuality, it's to please another person. No woman can see her own genitalia in that area without a mirror. If a partner doesn't like it, she should find a new partner. A lot of men wouldn't care. As it is, from pictures I've seen of the surgery, it causes a woman to appear as she did pre-puberty. It goes hand-in-hand with the mania for waxing body hair in that region. Modern porn culture wants women to look like little girls. It's pedophilic. Human beings have procreated for centuries with women who had public hair and "large" genitalia. Apparently, men's dads, granddads, and ancestors had no problems with grown women looking like women. I suggest modern males do the same and grow up.

[voxpopulus]

No one who says porn could be responsible for an idiocy like this has ever watched any porn.

[andrewjsacks]

Designer vagina?

A lot of jokes there....

[rwsmith29456]

My balls are a little big in proportion to the rest of my genitals. I sure hope they come out with ball reduction surgery in my lifetime so I won't be deprived of the right not to have big balls.

[ddog88]

What's a labia? I can't even find a ********. Great. I give up.

[mick7364]

Nothing prettier that a good looking set of lips but to be honest, never walked away from any of them. I would think most women have it done because of what they've seen on or been told by their girlfriends on how they look "down there" or what a man told them.

I'm sure many men have been told, with the amount of sex partners today it's not uncommon, they're not big enough, too crooked, or just ugly. What are the facts surrounding men having surgery to increase their size or some sort of corrective surgery?

[voxpopulus]

Leave it the heck alone. Women are pretty fine au naturel. And while they are at it, stop shaving it and giving it little Hitler moustaches or landing strips too.