Doubt cast on 'designer vagina' surgery

A Christchurch surgeon has seen a big increase in women wanting "designer vaginas", surgery that British researchers suggest may be unsafe.

Christchurch plastic surgeon Howard Klein said he had seen a dramatic increase in women wanting labiaplasty – an operation to make the labia smaller – over the past two years.

"It's one of those problems that's not spoken about a lot, but a lot of women are very concerned about it."

A few years ago he saw a couple of women a month who wanted the procedure. Now, it was several women every week.

"Some are uncomfortable doing normal activities like riding a bike, some are uncomfortable just about the appearance ... in tight knickers or bathers," Klein said.

Researchers from University College London have warned the increasingly common operation is being targeted at healthy women and may be unsafe.

In an article for BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, they said no studies had looked at the long-term safety of labiaplasty, which could damage the nerve supply to a woman's genitals, and more research was needed.

Klein said most women having the surgery, which cost between $2500 and $4000, were middle-aged mothers and a "pretty sensible group".

He was aware of the controversy in Britain over the procedure, but said it was a legitimate operation to offer patients for functional and aesthetic reasons.

Like any surgery, patients had to be informed of potential risks or complications and he would not perform it if he felt the patient had a normal vagina.

"It's a low complication rate and very high patient-satisfaction rate."

Klein said he stayed away from areas that could cause any loss of sensation.

"It's very much like women with drooping, sagging breasts.

"If they are concerned about it and we have something that can correct it and it's safe, and patients are properly chosen, then the satisfaction rate is phenomenally high."