Transgender labiaplasty

This feminizing bottom surgery (sometimes spelled labioplasty) involves the creation or reshaping of the labia (lips) around the vagina.

For non-transgender women

Labiaplasty is sometimes performed to revise anomalies and congenital conditions such as large inner labia, as well as to repair the area following disease or injury, especially from childbirth.

As with other procedures, like plastic surgery of the nose (rhinoplasty), labiaplasty may be undertaken for functional reasons, aesthetic reasons, or a combination of the two.

Labiaplasty evokes very strong emotional responses (both pro and con) more often than other surgical procedures like rhinoplasty. There is considerable controversy regarding surgery on some patients, notably women who are worried that their labia are not “normal.”

For our community

For our community, labiaplasty is the second part of a two-stage vaginoplasty, where labia and a clitoral hood are created. This is often performed a few months after the first part of the procedure. In some cases, labiaplasty is undergone to improve appearance after a one-stage vaginoplasty.

Unlike vaginoplasty, labiaplasty is usually an outpatient procedure performed under local anesthesia, so there usually is not a hospital stay involved. After surgery, women may experience some mild discomfort and swelling, which usually disappears completely after 1-2 weeks.