Vaginoplasty

Vaginoplasty is surgery to build or rebuild a vagina. Some babies are born with a problem where the vagina did not grow right. Doctors fix this with a vaginoplasty. Some women do not like how their vagina looks or feels. They can ask for a vaginoplasty. Some transsexual women ask for a vaginoplasty during their transition (sex reassignment surgery).

Most of the time, the goal of the surgery is to enable sexual intercourse withou pain. For transsexual women, it may also help them feel better with their bodies.

There are many ways to do a vaginoplasty. Most use tissue from other parts of the body of the patient. They can use tissue from inside the mouth, skin tissue, the vaginal labia, or the intestines. For transgender women, they can use the penis and scrotum to make a vagina, but they must continue to dilate the new vagina to keep it by a tool.

Further reading

• Karim RB, Hage JJ, Dekker JJ, Schoot CM. Evolution of the methods of neovaginoplasty for vaginal aplasia. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 1995 Jan;58(1):19-27. Review. PMID 7758640
• Karim RB, Hage JJ, Mulder JW. Neovaginoplasty in male transsexuals: review of surgical techniques and recommendations regarding eligibility. Ann Plast Surg. 1996 Dec;37(6):669-75. Review. PMID 8988784