Labiaplasty most often refers to a reduction of the labia tissue, either the inner folds of skin around the vaginal opening (the labia minor) and/or the the outer folds of skin around the labia minor (the labia major). The procedure may or may not help you achieve your cosmetic goals, and there are a number of similar treatments and alternatives for the procedure that may be a better match for your goals.
Vaginoplasty
Labiaplasty is for the reduction of the labia tissue for cosmetic, comfort and/or functional reasons. You may have been born with labia you find to be too long or pregnancy and childbirth may have stretched and swollen the tissue. However, if you're actually looking to increase the tightness of your vagina following childbirth, vaginoplasty is the procedure you're looking for. You may undergo vaginoplasty for cosmetic reasons, but the most common reason is for increased sexual pleasure--whereas reducing labia is often done purely for cosmetic reasons.
Both reducing the size of the labia and tightening the vaginal muscles are fairly invasive procedures that will most likely interrupt your normal activities in some ways for a period of from between six to eight weeks. You may also need between two and seven days off from work. Both procedures cost about the same amount of money--about $6000--and share similar side effects, although the vaginoplasty might be slightly more risky and invasive, solely because much of the work is id performed on internal muscles instead of external tissue.
Augmentation Labiaplasty
There is another form of labiaplasty that is less often performed in which the labia are actually increased in size. You may feel that your labia are too small to be attractive or that the small size of the labia do not offer you adequate protection from bacteria. The labia are also connected to the clitoral hood and you may need to re-sculpt the area in order to achieve better orgasms. You may also need an augmentation procedure performed if a reduction procedure went poorly.
The cost for an augmentation procedure ranges from about the same to slightly higher than a reduction procedure. The side effects and recovery periods are also about the same. The primary difference is that fat from elsewhere in the body is injected into your labia in order to stretch them out.
Hymenoplasty
Another procedure that's performed in order to cosmetically alter the vaginal area is the hymenoplasty, although its aims are quite different from that of a labiaplasty. Although the procedures may cost about the same, the results of the hymenoplasty are deliberately short-term. The hymenoplasty restores the vagina's hymen, effectively putting the vagina back to a virginal state, at least in the physical sense. Once you've had sexual intercourse again or if you accidentally tear the hymen during physical activity, the hymen will be broken. Hymenoplasty is usually performed for religious or cultural reasons and not for long-term cosmetic reasons.
Discuss your cosmetic goals with your surgeon and decide whether labiaplasty or another similar procedure or alternative is right for you. It may be that you need to combine several of these treatments before you achieve your ideal results.
