Monologu€s

Demand for cosmetic gynaecology has never been higher. For plastic surgeons, business is booming. Marie Myung-Ok Lee asks if it’s just a get rich quick scheme and do women really need it

THE setting is certainly nice: a five-star golf resort high in the Tortolita mountains outside Tucson, Arizona. Despite being in the middle of the desert, water is all around: two golf courses, three pools, a water park, plus three outdoor lawns raked by sprinklers. Inside, conventioneers are unloading displays of surgical instruments, orthopaedic furniture and clear plastic canisters designed to store human fat.

I’ve come to the Congress on Aesthetic Vaginal Surgery because I want to learn more about one of the fastest growing cosmetic procedures in the US. This newish industry consists of doctors and their clients (clients, not patients because these surgeries are cash-only elective procedures) who believe the female nether area can be improved upon or remediated. Procedures offered include labiaplasty (trimming or completely removing labia), vaginal rejuvenation (tightening), hymenoplasty (“revirgination”) and clitoral “unhooding” — among others.