It’s normal for young girls to dislike parts of their body, and to say they want to change how they look. But according to The New York Times, there is one more part of the body that girls are now disliking more and more—the vulva.
According to data from The American Society For Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 400 girls ages 18 and younger had labiaplasty, or surgery on the labia, last year. The year before that it was only 222 girls who had the cosmetic genital surgery. Because more and more teen girls are seeking this surgery to “trim or shape the external genitalia,” according to the Times, the Committee on Adolescent Health Care issued a note to doctors urging them to tell their patients the risk associated with the surgery and to suggest alternatives.
Doctors and researchers are unsure as to why there has been an increase in young women wanting this surgery, as it’s usually geared toward much older women, the Times reports. But now that it’s so common to wax or shave pubic hair, many girls are getting rid of hair only to realize they don’t like what’s underneath—or that it doesn’t match what they’ve seen in pictures of what a vulva is ‘supposed’ to look like.
For some teenagers, the surgery is necessary because the labia is causing pain or discomfort. But for women who just don’t like the way their labia look, doctors stress that it’s important to realize that there’s a ton of variation in people’s bodies (duh!) and your genitals are probably absolutely fine the way they are.