Vaginal reconstruction is a kind of reconstructive surgery that could be for corrective or cosmetic purposes. It is also known as Vaginoplasty, which is the creation of a neovagina or the tightening and rejuvenation of the vagina and could include or exclude procedures such as Labiaplasty (restructuring or reduction of labia), Hymen Reconstruction and so on which are separate but related procedures.

Vaginal rejuvenation can be done by using tissue from the woman’s body from areas such as skin flaps, labia, the oral mucosa and so on. There are various different kinds of procedures used for reconstruction of the vagina, such as:

  • Balloon Vaginoplasty that uses a catheter to create a neovagina.
  • The procedure of  Colovaginoplasty creates a vagina and lines it by cutting away a part of the sigmoid colon.
  • The Labia Minora flap procedure uses the labia minora to create a neovagina.
  • The McIndoe technique uses skin grafts to cover a mold which is then used to create a vagina.
  • Another recent technique uses the oral mucosa tissue to line the vagina.
  • The Vecchietti procedure is able to create a realistic vagina using laparoscopic surgery.
  • Penile inversion is the most common kind of surgery for individuals who are born intersex and want to create a vagina with the help of vagina rejuvenation. The Wilson method is another version of penile inversion.

Vaginal reconstruction is performed in a number of different situations such as–

When an individual is born intersex

Some individuals are born with very shallow vaginas, which may require surgical reconstruction along with undescended testes that also require removal. This kind of surgery may be performed after puberty and when the physical development of the individual is complete.

Some intersex women require this surgery to have normal sex lives, however not all and a majority may have normal sex lives without the surgery.

Vaginal Atresia

This is birth defect that results in the absence of a vagina or deformation of a vagina so that it is not a functional organ. This condition may become known only at the time of puberty, when pain and lack of menstrual flow indicate the absence of incomplete formation of a vagina.

Perineal Trauma

Childbirth can sometimes cause the kind of tears that require surgical repair due to the injury done to the perineum (the area in between the vagina and the anus) when the baby’s head passes through the birth canal.

Sometimes such injury could be caused due to trauma sustained in an accident, a straddle injury caused by a bicycle or similar or due to injury sustained during participation in various sports.

Sexual abuse, sexual violence, or the insertion of a foreign object, or a penetrating injury with a knife could also cause the kind of extensive damage that requires vaginal reconstruction.

Other reasons

Sometimes how a woman looks down there could be something that troubles her, causing her self esteem issues and even problems with a normal sex life and relationship issues.

Such issues can give rise to the need to perform vaginal reconstruction, labia reduction, hymen reconstruction, and other procedures.