Whether it’s to look svelte between the legs in a pair of gym leggings or to live up to unrealistic beauty standards set by pornography, more women than ever are getting ‘designer vaginas’.
In 2022 nearly 200,000 women around the world got labiaplasty surgeries to reduce the size of the labia minora (the flaps of skin either side of the vaginal opening).
And the number in the US is up 10-fold in the past decade. Yet the procedure is still largely taboo.
Bianca Censori is rumored to have had the same surgery to achieve the ‘Barbie look’ she rocked during her naked stunt at the Grammys.
Now, women have spoken out, revealing exactly what others can expect from the $4,500 procedure: both the good and the bad.
In a Reddit thread, several patients reveal their horror stories, with the surgery leaving them in pain, with swelling, numb and with lumpy skin.
One unhappy patient warned others: ‘I regret it! Lost most of sensation, sex isn’t enjoyable anymore, I am in discomfort, when I urinate it sprays everywhere and it looks so ugly!’
Another woman, who claims she had one of her labia trimmed as a teen, revealed a botched surgery left her unable to orgasm.
According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), in 2023 there were 189,058 labiaplasty procedures performed worldwide
The now 31-year-old said: ‘I can’t get over the grief of having an intimate surgery as a 15-year-old. I used to know my body so well and orgasm easily from a young age.
‘I had long labia which I was ashamed of as I never knew that vulvas were all so different. I thought my only option for a future sex life was to have a labiaplasty.
‘This surgery is barbaric and should be illegal. Doctors completely amputated my labia and they stole my sensation from me and have replaced it with pain and discomfort.
‘They cut my frenulum below my clitoris which is constantly sore and they have turned a pleasurable sensation into a burning pain.’
Another woman, who had one of her labia trimmed when she was also 15, said the edge is now a ‘little rougher than the side that was not cut’.
She also reveals that her doctor removed some more skin next to her clitoris hood without consulting her first and sealed it back together with medical glue instead of using stitches, which is what they used on her labia.
The glue, she said, came undone and the skin healed with more scar tissue. Because of the blunder, she says that one side of her clitoris has ‘never been the same’.
Offering advice to others, she says: ‘My one piece of advice is to really communicate with your doctor about what will be removed/ where/ how much and everything else they would do.
‘I love that my labia are more symmetrical now and no chaffing. I just think you really need to be on the same page as your doctor and advocate for yourself to make sure they only do what you ask for.’
Some other women complained of the procedure changing the texture of their skin.
One Redditor, who underwent labiaplasty to make her labia more symmetrical, explained that the labia she had trimmed now has ‘really’ really bad scalloping, worse than any photos I’ve seen online’.
As a warning to others, she recommends going to a plastic surgeon and not an OB-GYN, like she did.
She adds: ‘My insurance covered the OB-GYN… but I definitely regret it. If you can’t afford a plastic surgeon right now maybe think about leaving it alone.’
On the flip side of things, other women shared their joy after opting for labiaplasty surgeries.
One patient reveals it was the best thing she ever did, as her labia was causing her discomfort before she went under the knife. She paid just under $5,000 for the procedure with a plastic surgeon.
She explains: ‘I had mine one year ago, and it’s one of the best things I ever did for myself. I was so uncomfortable all the time before.’
It involves cutting away unwanted tissue with a scalpel of laser in procedure that takes about one to two hours.
Patients remain awake for the duration and surgeons say it takes anywhere between six to eight weeks for the area to heal completely.
The Redditor explains: ‘I had mine one year ago, and it’s one of the best things I ever did for myself. I was so uncomfortable all the time before.’
Bianca Censori sparked worldwide outrage as she went completely naked at the 2025 Grammys alongside covered-up husband Kanye West
During the procedure, she was given general anesthesia and ‘put under’ and she said she never felt any ‘extreme pain’ while she healed.
Detailing the recovery from her surgery further, she added: ‘Swelling took a while to subside, but I was expecting way worse. I don’t think swelling was anything crazy.
‘It’s healed beautifully, and I can’t see any scars. Even my gynecologist was impressed.
‘I’ve been really happy with my decision, and I do feel more confident but that wasn’t my main reason for getting it done in the first place – it caused me physical discomfort. Though I will say it’s prettier now and I wasn’t expecting that.’
Having large labia can cause discomfort primarily due to friction and irritation from excess tissue, particularly during physical activity like exercise, wearing tight clothing, or sex.
While some people undergo labiaplasty surgeries for this reason, some also do it for cosmetic reasons, to achieve a more symmetrical or aesthetically pleasing look.
Offering a tip to others considering the surgery, the Redditor said she used a squirt bottle to clean after using the bathroom for a while at first, because she couldn’t wipe with toilet paper.
‘I was expecting it to hurt when I peed post-op, but it didn’t,’ she added.
Similarly, another Redditor said it was the ‘best decision’ she ever made getting labiaplasty at age 25.
She said she also suffered from discomfort and ‘wouldn’t go for walks on the beach, or ride a bike because it felt that bad’.
Two years on from surgery, she says it has been ‘so relieving that I don’t even think about it anymore’.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
