Labiaplasty - A Story From A Vulva Model

“Hey Ellie,

I would have been 13 when I started to worry about the appearance of my vagina.

After hearing guys at school talking about how disgusting ‘outies’ were I realised I, in fact, had an ‘outie.’ I felt ashamed and embarrassed about my labia, like there was something wrong with me. I felt so alone, I felt like I was the only one. It wasn't just the guys who would say that I would hear the girls joke about them too.  I felt this was a topic I couldn't talk to anyone about. I avoided intimacy with guys, the thought of them finding out I had an outie terrified me. There was one night when I was about 14 and drunk.... very drunk I let a guy finger me, the next morning was horrible. I felt sick with worry that he knew and was so scared I was going to be a joke to him and his friends. I dreaded going to the beach as a teenager as all I could think about was the fact you could see I had ‘an outie’ when I had my bikini on, so I would try my best to hide it by not standing up and definitely not going in the ocean. At the age of 16 I got into a relationship. I was intimate with this person but I never took my underwear off, even when we had sex I would pull it to the side so he couldn't see my vagina. It was horrible and awful to feel so uncomfortable in your own skin. At the age of 17, I read about a procedure called labiaplasty. I was determined to have this done it would solve all my problems. I then opened up to my mum and told her about everything. I begged her to let me have it done right away she said no don't be so ridiculous. I was so devastated that I burst into tears. I was determined so when I turned 18 I came into some money and booked in for a consultation with a plastic surgeon. I was getting this done and no one could change my mind! The day arrived and I had my consultation, he showed me lots of photos of women's vaginas before and after. There were lots! Every vagina was different .. turns out I wasn't alone after all but that didn't stop me. I booked in for surgery the next week. 

The surgery was day surgery and I was home that afternoon. The next day was very painful my vagina had swelled up a lot and was black and blue after about a week the swelling had gone down. Even after having the surgery I was still critical of how it looked, sure I was happy but I thought it could have been better. 

I don't regret having it done however I think if a book like this had been around when I was growing up I would have thought about things a lot differently and I wouldn't have spent so many years feeling so alone. I would have saved myself a lot of money. 

Now that I have grown up a lot since then (it's been 11 years since I had the surgery) I have realised every vagina is different they come in all different sizes shapes and colours they are all beautiful and every woman should love them the way they are.”

- Anonymous, age 30

Below are the before, during and after pictures from the surgery.