All women have them, but not all are happy with theirs. Cosmetic surgery to “improve” the look of female genitals is becoming more and more prevalent, so it’s scary to discover that information on the internet about such procedures is often misleading, and sometimes downright false. Adding to the problem, there are also no universal guidelines to standardise these types of surgeries. This is extremely worrying for anyone thinking about altering their lady bits.

A study published in the Obstetrics & Gynaecology edition of the online journal BMJ Open, found internet information available for women considering “designer vagina” procedures is seriously lacking. The authors of the study Googled private providers of said surgeries and analysed the UK and US sites that were at the top of the search results.

Websites were light on objective facts and heavy on fear-mongering, with one site stating: “A woman might have a face lift and look really young until she goes to bed and a partner can see the evidence of ageing there."

With language like this being thrown around it’s no wonder increasing amounts of women feel the need to have a vagina “face lift” (to resize the labia) or procedures to nip and tuck the “bud”.  

And if that wasn’t sufficiently disturbing, some sites are offering “hymen repairs” so you can become a virgin again. Sex is never comfortable the first time (no matter what 50 Shades of Grey says), so we can’t imagine having to go through it all over again. One website also said it could guarantee a woman could bleed on her wedding night and "keep [her] head high”, after having their procedure. It seems that loads of these websites are playing on women’s insecurities to peddle their products.

While most of them claimed there were (unsubstantiated) benefits to self-esteem and confidence post-procedure, they weren’t so forthcoming on actual facts. Only two of the sites studied indicated the success rate of the surgeries they offer, and NONE of them referred to a lower age limit for people undertaking a procedure. That’s scary. They were responsible enough to point out that there were risks involved, but dangers were downplayed and half of them didn’t bother to say what they actually are.

The study’s authors said: "This report highlights significant gaps in the breadth, depth, accuracy and quality of clinical information given by some service providers of female genital cosmetic surgery...and highlights a certain degree of distortion to the information provided by medical practitioners in an area that is imbued with value judgment.”

The moral of the story is, if you’ve decided that you want to look more “refreshed” in the nether regions, it would be smart to do some serious research beyond Google.