Vaginal rejuvenation continues to grow as a procedure, both as a cosmetic fix and to help alleviate functional issues. The labiaplasty procedure in particular involves trimming of the labia minora, a procedure that provides aesthetic relief to women and also some functional benefits, like quelling discomfort. Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. William P. Adams Jr. discovered a story of a labiaplasty patient who took the removed skin from the procedure and turned it into a necklace. “A woman uses her excised labia and turns it into a sparkly necklace,” Dr. Adams shares to the No Spin Live panel. “There are sometimes patients who will say they’d like to have their breast implants changed out, but I’ve never heard of this.”
Board certified plastic surgeons discuss on the latest episode of No Spin Live!
Attention Grab or Real Deal?
Bizarrely grotesque to many, patients asking for things post-op is not uncommon. Plastic surgeons have certainly dealt with patients asking for their implants after removal or exchange, but body parts?
“Ehhh, I don’t know about this. It’s like another person looking for a sensation,” shares board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Jason Pozner. “I’m with Bill. If someone asks for their breast implants, we’ll sterilize them and give them back to the patient. But, I’m really not into giving body parts back to the patients that we’ve taken out. Maybe next will be someone will want to frame their fat that we took out. I think it’s a no.”
Is this someone looking for attention? Or someone who seriously thinks wearing their excised labia is important?
“This is attention grab on social media,” says board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Dan Del Vecchio. “I remember a friend of mine, his mother had her gallbladder out and she asked for gallstones to be put in a little jar on the window. I thought she was a freak. This is weird.”
The Positives of Awareness
Unfortunately, such a bizarre story will have the beneficial aspects looked over in a fevered page scroll to find out what a labia looks like encased in a wearable necklace. The woman in question did preface the story with a very accurate and important statement on labiaplasty and how the procedure took her life from one of discomfort to none.
“One good thing came of it in that she really explained why she had it done and the irritation she was experiencing,” explains Dr. Tiffany McCormack, a board certified plastic surgeon practicing in Reno. “She brought up the point that not a lot of women talk about this or know this is something that can be fixed. She had me there on a good note… until she started talking about the jewelry, I thought that was a little weird. Not the strangest thing I’ve heard, not even today!”
Labiaplasty patients typically have one of two complaints. One, their labia minora may be so large that she finds the aesthetics of her gential region unsightly. The other is patients who experience discomfort because of an overly large labia minora. Frequently, the complaints exist in parallel. Many who may have only wanted an aesthetic improvement find that they actually were experiencing discomfort prior but no longer.
“Like Tiffany said, the only good thing out of this is that she did say she was chronically plagued by discomfort,” says board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Charles Messa. “She brought more awareness to the procedure and performing it for reasons other than cosmetic – which is why it’s an increasingly popular procedure. But I don’t know how she got the skin in the first place and what surgeon would hand it over to her. I think that’s inappropriate and a little bizarre.”