Surgical reduction of hypertrophy of the labia minora

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate postoperative satisfaction, including improvements in quality of life, among patients who had undergone labia minora reduction.

Methods: In a retrospective descriptive study, women who had undergone labiaplasty for hypertrophy of the labia minora between January 2005 and December 2009 were contacted by telephone. The women were asked to answer a satisfaction survey evaluating the esthetic and functional results of the surgery.

Results: Among 21 patients who had labiaplasty using either a pedicle flap reconstruction (n=18, 86%) or a nymphectomy technique (n=3, 14%), 18 (86%) were contacted successfully and took part in the survey. All of the contacted patients were satisfied with the overall outcome of the surgery, with a mean rating of 8.7 out of 10 at a median follow-up of 17 months (interquartile range 6-25 months). From an esthetic point of view, all 18 patients reported an improvement in comfort with respect to any form of original functional discomfort. Concerning sexuality, 95% of the sexually active patients had originally described some form of physical or psychologic discomfort, and all of them reported total disappearance of this symptomatology.

Conclusion: Labiaplasty provided overall satisfaction in terms of improvements in patient quality of life and sexuality.