Labiaplasty: Much More Common Than You Think
While the ASPS (American Society of Plastic Surgeons) tracks the number of labiaplasties performed by it’s members, there are no total numbers for how many labiaplasties are performed in the U.S. There are no U.S. numbers for how many labiaplasties are performed by OB/GYNs, who likely perform the vast majority of these procedures. There are no numbers for how many are performed by urologists either.
However, back in 2012, I used data from the NHS to estimate how many surgeries were done in the U.S. This should maybe done again by anyone who is interested and knows how to get NHS data (open source but complicated). Alternatively, people should consider getting the actual numbers for how many labiaplasties are done in the U.S. Instead, journalists consistently underestimate the number of these procedures by only reporting those done by plastic surgeons.
Though the NHS limits funding of these procedures only to those that are claimed medically necessary, as of 2010, the numbers were growing exponentially. This alarming growth has continued by all media accounts.
If we make the following assumptions, we can estimate the number of labiaplasties in the U.S. based on NHS data:
- The NHS pays for 20–40% of the labiaplasties performed per year in the U.K.
- Labiaplasties are just as commonly performed in the U.S. as they are in the U.K.
If these assumptions are valid, then the following equations can be used to estimate the number of labiaplasties performed in the U.S.
If no more than 40% of labiaplasties in the U.K. were performed under the NHS (and paid for with tax dollars), and if labiaplasty is as common in the U.S. as the U.K., then at least 26,000 labiaplasties were performed in the U.S. as of 2010.
This was an extremely conservative estimate, as it assumes that the NHS was paying for almost half of what is fundamentally a cosmetic procedure. It is likely the number covered by the NHS is much lower, as 30 of 33 women seeking surgery under the NHS in one study were rejected. In that study, 12 (40%) remained “keen to pursue surgery by any other route.” That would mean the NHS paid for 20% of labiaplasty procedures for women seeking labiaplasty, who initially tried to get it paid for by the NHS.
Though there is no quantitative data regarding this, it was (and still is) reported that the majority of labiaplasty requests in the U.K. were met by the private sector. Within the private sector, it was reported in a 2008 documetary that one clinic alone observed a “300% increase in these surgeries” in just two years.
I regret that my data and estimates are now so outdated. I wish I had shared them online back when I made them in 2012. However, I hope that they can still be appreciated today and used to motivate people to find out the actual number of labiaplasties performed in the U.S., which I believe is near 100,000.
Here is a table I made to illustrate just how many women may have had labiaplasties by 2012, based on an assumption that 20% of labiaplasties in the UK were performed under the NHS.
These numbers are important, as professional OB/GYN organizations remain in denial about how many of these surgeries are done. In consequence, ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) refuses to offer CME for these procedures, which would help standardize training and make surgeries safer for patients. ABOG (American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) furthemore insists not many people are doing these while simultaneously assuring ambulatory care providers OB/GYNs are qualified to do them without any training in labiaplasty techniques.
More alarmingly, no data exists at all for clitoral hood reductions, often performed with labiaplasty. As most of the clitoral hood is clitoral shaft skin, these are fundamentally clitoral surgeries, yet few surgeons recognize any risk to clitoral function. Surgeons frequently demonstrate their ignorance in comments on RealSelf, where they describe the anatomy incorrectly in order to support a belief that clitoral injuries aren’t possible. Patients who have suffered loss of sensation are told their surgery could not have been the cause.
Though labiaplasty is very common, there are still no training standards. In trying to draw attention to this systemic negligence, I have contacted countless journalists who have all wanted to know numbers for how many people get hurt. There obviously are no numbers for how many people get harmed. There aren’t even numbers for how many of these surgeries are done.
I often feel alone with my injury. But I believe patients may simply struggle to speak up. Because surgeons tell them their injuries aren’t possible, they may question their own judgement and face additional trauma by speaking up. Given the pervasive ignorance of anatomy and female sexual function demonstrated by female genital cosmetic surgeons in the peer reviewed literature, it is difficult to understand how there wouldn’t be more stories like mine. I suspect they just aren’t being told.