The Labiaplasty Procedure

A labiaplasty can be performed on the labia majora (outer vaginal lips) or labia minora (the inner vaginal lips) to alter its size and shape to reduce the length of both labia (which can tug or fall out of underwear or bathing suit) and/or correct symmetry when one is longer than the other.

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The two most common types of labiaplasty are the trim procedure that removes extra tissue, and the wedge procedure that keeps a natural border after a piece of tissue has been excised. With the trim method, a long incision is usually done along the edge of the labia minora to remove excess tissue. This technique works well for taking out darker-pigmented tissue. The wedge method is a bit more complex, involving shorter incisions across the width of the labia where a V-shaped wedge of tissue is removed, before stitching the remaining tissue back together. It does not deal with the appearance of other areas like the outer edges. A labiaplasty procedure usually takes between one to two hours and is performed under general or local anesthesia. The incision is sutured with dissolvable stitches.