Design-a-Vagina

Which side are you on? While the debate still rages over natural selection versus “intelligent design,” The Origin of Species versus Genesis, it’s ironic that so many people invest so much money to change the bodies that God (or Mother Nature) gave them.

More and more people are bleaching their teeth, laying on mascara and blush, donning wigs and hairpieces, and heading to the doctor for liposuction, Botox and collagen injections, breast enhancement, tummy tucks, nose jobs, stomach staples . . . the list is long, and it’s getting longer.

The hottest alteration available lately may make you cross your legs and cringe at first thought, but plenty of women are spending as much as $12,000 for it: vaginoplasty.

Originally, vaginoplasty was used to create or reshape the vagina in order to fix anomalies and congenital conditions, such as the absence of a vagina at birth, or to repair the area following disease or injury. Many male-to-female transsexuals have undergone this procedure.

Now, though, a lot of women resort to surgery to tighten up their vaginas after childbirth, or simply to reverse normal aging. Some opt for additional surgery called labiaplasty, which enlarges or reduces the labia in order to “beautify” them.

So what’s the standard of beauty for women’s genitals? Evidently, women often rely on Playboy magazine to show their surgeons what they want. That troubles some doctors, who worry that a woman may seek unneeded surgery merely to please a man, rather than to benefit herself.

Some women even go so far as to have hymenoplasty (repair or reconstruction of the hymen) to restore lost virginity. Obviously, the reasons for that are anything but physical.

All of these are outpatient procedures, usually taking only one or two hours. Patients are back at work within a week, and back in the sack (so to speak) in four to six weeks. As with any other surgery, the risks include bleeding, infection, scarring, and reaction to the anesthesia. Specific dangers are the off-chance of ending up too tight (or not tight enough) and the possibility of damage to other structures, such as the rectum or bladder.

In the end, of course, it’s all about feeling healthy, feeling good, and feeling comfortable with your own body. And whatever you may believe about the origin of the species, you’ll probably agree with this: God does help those that help themselves.

By: Roxie Sockham