Have we gone mad????The Brazilian wax - or total pubic hair
waxing - has laid bare the female anatomy to such an extent that at
least one in five women believe they need cosmetic genital surgery.In
the past few years GPs have been so inundated with requests for
labiaplasties, known in the industry as "The Barbie", that the Royal
Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is now working on a
tool kit to help doctors manage the demand.Labiaplasty is a surgical procedure for altering the folds of skin surrounding the vulva.The number of women who have their labiaplasties subsidised by Medicare has more than tripled in Australia in the past decade.But Melbourne GP Magda Simonis says the real number is unknown, because far more women simply opt for private treatment."The
removal of pubic hair is becoming so much more common, in fact in the Y
Generation it's probably 80 per cent, so removing the pubic hair has
played a big part in this discovery of self," she said.Dr
Simonis said a consultation with a mother and her 17-year-old daughter a
year ago prompted her to approach the RCGP to put together a tool kit
for doctors."I had a teenaged girl present with her
mother requesting referral to a plastic surgeon following a Brazilian
wax, and the statement the mother made was that the teenaged girl's
vagina had prolapsed," she said.The girl was completely normal, but Dr Simonis said there was widespread ignorance about what a normal vulva looked like.She
said she hoped the new toolkit would help patients who felt convinced
their genitals were deformed because they did not match up to the
"Barbie Doll" ideal."The standard that is mostly promulgated is one of a neat, single slit and nothing hanging out," she said."Now
the reality is, that 50 per cent of women have labia minora that extend
beyond the margin of the labia majora. But that is not what is
advertised online. In fact, if you look at the labiaplasty advertising
online, the comments [include] approximately 30 per cent of women have
excess genital tissue," she said.The trend towards
labiaplasties will be high on the agenda at the Australasian Sexual
Health Conference, which has begun in Sydney today.
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