The trend of opting for cosmetic surgery is not new but one thing that is gaining high popularity among teenage girls is labiaplasty, a genital beautification procedure. This procedure surgically defines and reduces the sizes of labia minora, the inner lip like structure on the vulva. But why are young girls running for it?
The statistics show that most women who choose labiaplasty prefer private cosmetic clinics that don’t usually keep a record of such cases. But overall figures suggest that the number of women undergoing labiaplasty has been drastically increased. A survey reports a 30% increase in labiaplasty cases during the last five years among US citizens.
Among all of the labiaplasty genital procedures reported from the US in 2018, nearly 4% were performed on teenage girls who were less than 18 years old. This is surprising and sock at a time because typically at this age, even the genital development is not fully completed which is why going through such a procedure without any medical reasoning can be risky.
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The side effects of such cosmetic procedures can result in vaginal scarring, infections, painful intercourse, yeast infections, and sensation loss. The health experts suggest that the reason behind labiaplasty getting popular in teenage girls could be psychological.
Most of the women, during their development years, are unsure about their vagina’s appearance. They are not confident if it is normal and if they are supposed to look like this or maybe they have an underlying issue. Many of them don’t even know the anatomical structure which adds up to their genital insecurity.
To understand how the appearance of vaginas affects teenagers, it is necessary to consider them as grown-ups and see things from their perspective. Just like how appearance matters for the face and other body parts, the concerns on the vaginal image can start from a very early age. A research study suggests that young girls even of 12-13 years can have concerns over how their bodies, especially vaginal appearance.
Typically, most of the women try genital cosmetic surgeries in their middle ages when they can afford it. But the last five years suggest teenagers trying for labiaplasty before even settling in life or finishing their education. More than how they want their bodies to be perfect, this indicates how they may consider themselves low because of something like that.
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Making it a priority over career or education is not something that could be easily ignored. The psychologists believe, many times when girls think about dating someone, they consider their vaginal appearance can affect their relationships. It is also possible that they actually receive a negative reaction on their genital appearance from their sexual partners, which is why they are trying to ‘beautify’ it.
It is mandatory to educate young girls about how a normal vagina looks and functions. It is common to find most teenagers sensitive about their genital self-image but educating them is necessary so that they can make the right decision for themselves. The diversity in shapes, color, appearance is normal and for controlling this dangerously increasing genital cosmetic surgery trend, it is necessary to add up to the knowledge of genital anatomy.
