More Chinese women are turning to cosmetic surgery for their vaginas

By Li Lin Source:Global Times Published: 2015-5-5 19:03:01

Some Chinese women turn to vaginal cosmetic surgery for health reasons, while others seek beauty or purity. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Yue Yue (pseudonym), a 29-year-old woman living in Beijing underwent her second cosmetic surgery procedure one month ago. It wasn't for her face, but for her vagina. Yue gave birth to a girl two years ago and underwent a vaginoplasty, or vaginal tightening surgery, when her daughter was 1 year old. This time, she had a labiaplasty, or a labial reduction surgery. Neither surgeries were complicated and she did not even need to be hospitalized.

"After I had received the first surgery I started planning the second," Yue said. She said she opted to have a vaginoplasty for functional reasons to prevent future health risks due to vaginal relaxation with age, constipation and urinary incontinence.

More importantly, she said, it has given her and her husband "more sexual pleasure."

After one year of rest and recovery, she did the labial reduction surgery to make her vagina look "more delicate and beautiful."

Yue said she only discusses her surgery anonymously online with women receiving similar surgeries. "Among our family members and friends, only my husband knows about it," she said. "My husband and I view it as a private matter, and it would be embarrassing for that information to be known by my family and friends."

Although most Chinese women like Yue tend to hide it from others, the desire for genital enhancement surgery is increasing. According to a 2014 China Women's News report, Wang Jianliu, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Peking University People's Hospital said that 20 percent of Chinese women are not satisfied with their vulval form.

"In 2011, 17.97 million women received cosmetic surgery on their vagina in China according to research by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery," Wang said. "And the number is increasing at a rate of 8 percent yearly."

Wang said women's genital cosmetic surgery consists of four main types: vaginal tightening, labial reduction, clitoris plastic surgery and hymen repair.

Tian Yong, a doctor at the cosmetic surgery department at The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University Xuefu Hospital, told Metropolitan they are having an increasing number of women clients seeking cosmetic surgery for their vagina. Among them, the number of those who are just looking for enhanced looks is increasing, Tian said.

"I see it as a symbol of social progress and women liberation," Tian said.

However, Tian said currently the most popular surgery among Chinese women is hymen repair, which is rare in the West.

"Repairing the hymen can not make these women feel better mentally and physically or make her more decent or beautiful, but many women still ask for it," Tian said. About one third of his female clients who seek cosmetic vaginal surgery want to repair their hymen.

"It can only satisfy men," Tian said. "I think Chinese society and culture needs to be more open, and I hope people will not want to get hymen repair in the future since it's not necessary."

Tian said not everyone is suitable for cosmetic surgery on their vagina. For example, women who have vaginitis, cervicitis, heart disease or high blood pressure can not undergo a vaginoplasty, or their pre-existing gynecological inflammation may be hard to cure and it can be dangerous when administering anesthesia.

Aside from physical health, there are other reasons women should avoid surgery below the belt.

"Those who want to improve marriage bonds and resolve relationship problems caused by psychological reasons through surgery are not advised to," Tian said. "It's not the root of their problems. Physical surgeries can not solve psychological and relationship problems."
Newspaper headline: Beauty below the belt


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