Intimate Surgery - Plastic surgery of the genitals
WHAT IS INTIMATE SURGERY?
Despite the usual reluctance to talk about this subject, more and more women are resorting to plastic surgery to correct congenital malformations of the genitalia or to improve the external appearance or internal function of the genital system that has been compromised by trauma, natural childbirth or surgery. Intimate surgery includes all plastic surgery procedures that modify the shape of the internal and external female genitalia, allowing women, once the desired results are obtained, to be in harmony with their body and their sexuality.
WHAT PROCEDURE CAN BE DONE?
There are four main plastic surgery procedures that can be performed on the female genitalia: hymenoplasties, labia minora hypertrophy surgery, labiaplasties and vaginoplasties.
- Hymenoplasty: this procedure repairs the hymen, better known today as revirgination. In some cultures, particularly African, Arabic and Asian, virginity is still a very important value, particularly before marriage. In some cases, a woman’s hymen can break even though she has never had intercourse (due to intense athletic activity or the use of tampons). Professor Dini can perform a simple hymenoplasty procedure, which reshapes the hymen membrane that has ruptured (the operation requires local anaesthesia, is done as an outpatient procedure and takes about 20 minutes) or a surgical hymenoplasty with allograft, which reconstructs the hymen with laboratory tissue (the operation requires local anaesthesia, is done as an outpatient procedure and takes about 40 minutes). In both cases, patients can go back to work after 1-2 days, while they must wait a month to resume sexual activity.
- Labia minora hypertrophy: this is a congenital defect of the labia minora of the vagina. The hypertrophy is considered pathological when a patient has labia minora that are longer than 2.5 cm from the base to the free end. The surgical procedure corrects this malformation while respecting the normal anatomy in this region; it is not invasive. The operation takes about an hour and can be done under local or regional anaesthesia. Patients can go back to work the very next day but it is advisable to wait about a month before having sexual intercourse. The procedure is completely painless and does not require the removal of the stitches, which fall out on their own after about two weeks.
- Labioplasty: some women have excess fat in the pubic region and labia majora; this deposit cannot be removed through dieting, massages or other aesthetic medical techniques but only through surgical liposuction that suctions out the excess fat. The results are permanent. The procedure takes about 30 minutes, requires local anaesthesia and is done as an outpatient procedure. Patients are asked to wear an elastic-compression garment for about 2 weeks.
- Vaginoplasty: also known as vaginal rejuvenation, vaginoplasties are often requested by women whose vaginal muscles are excessively lax after one or more deliveries. The vaginoplasty surgical technique allows surgeons to tighten the vaginal muscles and bring them back to a pre-childbirth state. It is an outpatient procedure, under regional or general anaesthesia and takes about an hour. Patients can start walking again after a few days and can go back to normal sexual activity over the course of 4-6 weeks.
