My friend is curious as to what affects would vaginal rejuvenation do to her ability to have an orgasm.

From Brian (originally posted under "Welcome to the Sex Questions blog")

Let me just start by saying that Vaginal Rejuvenation is a VERY new trend in cosmetic plastic surgery. Up to this point there has been no long-term study of what happens to women post-surgery in the long-term. The results from Vaginal Rejuvenation surgeries have been varied. The procedures that women have are also varied. Since there are different types of Vaginal Rejuvenation surgery, there are a number of different results that can affect a woman’s ability to have an orgasm.

The first pretty common (as common as these rare surgeries can be) Vaginal Rejuvenation procedure is called the “G-shot” in pop culture terms. Basically, this procedure is like plumping your lips, only you are plumping the G-spot. For some women, they can orgasm from G-spot stimulation, so it seems logical that if they plump up that region, then they will be able to have more intense G-spot orgasms. Like I said before, the results of this procedure vary.

Another procedure that is promoted for the purpose of orgasm increase (in intensity) rather than cosmetic is the labia reduction. In my opinion, this is a funny surgery because women are decreasing the size of their labia with the goal of getting better orgasms. The funny part of this is that the labia are a part of the vulva that, when stimulated, contribute to orgasms. Some women think that by reducing the size of their labia, they will have better/easier clitoral orgasms, but frankly, the clitoris can be reached either way by moving aside the lips. But sometimes the extra exposure that the clitoris is experiencing could lead to unwanted pain (it is more sensitive than the head of the penis) or greater sensitivity.

Originally, these types of surgeries were to fix any damage done by birthing a child. Now they are more for cosmetic purposes. The main reason why some women have various forms of Vaginal Rejuvenation surgery is typically because they want to boost their self-esteem and confidence in their appearance or to make their vagina appear more youthful. Doctors perform these surgeries in order to make the appearance of the vagina more appealing, similar to getting a nose-job. If your friend wants to have some form of Vaginal Rejuvenation surgery with the goal of better orgasms, then she may want to reconsider. Since these surgeries are dealing with an area that is HIGHLY sensitive (there are lots of nerve endings in the vulva), there is still a risk that having one or more of these procedures will cause nerve damage. In some cases women cannot feel the pleasure of orgasm because of the damage that has been done to their nerves during these surgeries.

There have been a few notable articles over the last 5 years about Vaginal Rejuvenation. Below are the links to a few of them.

http://www.vaginalrejuvenationguide.com/
http://womenshealthnews.wordpress.com/2007/08/31/vaginal-rejuvenation-not-proven-safe-or-necessary/
http://www.aboardcertifiedplasticsurgeonresource.com/vaginal-rejuvenation/index.html
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/under-the-knife-below-the-belt/?emc=eta1
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/fashion/28PLAS.html?_r=1

I hope this blog and the links will help your friend to learn more about Vaginal Rejuvenation! Thanks for asking this question! This is such a new topic in Sexuality and I thank you for bringing it to our attention. ☺

For everyone else out there, what do you all think about this new trend in sexuality and plastic surgery? The more points of view we get, the better educated we can be. Thanks again!

Your Loving Sex-pert,

Emily

Eao2116@columbia.edu