Labiaplasty – Mind the Gap: How the female genital cosmetic surgery industry has exposed gaps in medical anatomy education

Abstract

Background: In the PhD research described herein, I used the female genital cosmetic surgery (FGCS) industry to illustrate a contemporary challenge to traditional representations of female genital anatomy. The most popular of the FGCS procedures, labiaplasty, involves trimming the labia minora so that they sit level with or are completely obscured by the labia majora. The labiaplasty market is booming. The anatomical criterion behind the justification for labiaplasty is problematic, because normal labia, which show a range of size, shape and asymmetry, are being confused with idealised labia, as promulgated on social media and cosmetic surgery websites. Cosmetic surgery websites use the term..