Is vaginoplasty for you?

VAGINOPLASTY is a procedure that aims to tighten up a vagina that’s become slack or loose from childbirth or ageing.

While the procedure is gaining traction locally, Dr Germaine Spencer, cosmetic gynaecologist and laparoscopic surgeon at Baywest Wellness Clinic in Montego Bay, said the procedure treats a condition called vaginal relaxation.

“Not a day goes by and someone doesn’t enquire about it. Most women who do it are those who say, ‘Doc, I can’t feel my partner anymore’. Within the vagina there’s muscle and tissue. Whenever there’s laxity of the muscle and the tissue (looseness), it’s most commonly caused through vaginal delivery. So some women, with regards to their vagina muscles not going back to where it was before, are no longer able to accommodate and enjoy sex.”

Dr Spencer added that when this happens, there is lack of friction and the vaginal muscle tone is not as it was before, hence vaginoplasty is done to repair that muscle tone and increase friction during sex, leading to sexual gratification.

But he pointed out that ‘lack of friction’ can be subjective as a woman might say she’s not ‘feeling’ one partner because her muscles are not feeling his penis, but if she changes partners everything is OK.

He said the bottom line is that the women who really need it (vaginoplasty) are those who have trauma during the birthing process where they had to be cut or they got lacerations from pushing. He added that women should pursue vaginoplasty as an option if sex doesn’t feel the same and there’s no friction, resulting in no gratification.

After the procedure, Dr Spencer said many women complain of burning, but explained that the sensation doesn’t last very long and is just the natural healing process taking place.

He said the cost of the procedure in Jamaica is 75 per cent cheaper than in the United States.

– Kimberley Hibbert