What causes this wrinkle look after having a majoraplasty? (photos)

Surgery on the labia minora or majora can cause swelling, stiffness and tension that comes and goes and gives strange appearances during the healing process. This is common in this area because the tissues are very elastic. When the healing process is finished it should look more natural.

Hi harp,
First , I think that you had a very nice result from your surgery. One needs to undersatnd that it is difficult to restore a completely youthful labia majora. If your surgeon had attempted to remove all the wrinkly skin, you would have had a a major exposure of your labia minora and the scarring would have been worse.

You can have a bit of laser treatment, but this would be a very light treatment.
Fat injections tend not to work over time and stretch the skin even more.

Hope this helps a bit

Best Wishes,

Dr. Christine Rodgers

It looks like your surgery was recently, but I can't tell for sure because of the photo quality. Things look like they're healing well, but since you're still in your healing phase I would stress that what you're seeing now isn't going to be your long-term outcome. Give it some time, atleast 3-4 months, before you see your end result.

Thank you for sharing your question and photographs. Likely some tension along your incision line is causing the wrinkled look but there is a fair amount of a crinkled appearance to the labia majora tissue in many women. Allow your tissues time to fully heal and try to resist the urge of pulling on the skin.

In majoraplasty incision, the outer incision length is longer than the inner incision length. When the outer and inner incisions are sutured against each other, the outer incision remains redundant. In order to avoid this excess, the outer incision is sutured before it coincides with the inner incision. Therefore, there may be wrinkles on the outer incision side. In order to avoid this wrinkle, it should be removed a little by the outer incision.

Q: What can cause labia majora rippling after cosmetic gynecologic surgery?
A: Unfortunately, your surgeon selected the wrong procedures and wrongly executed your surgery. The wrong operations include a) straightforward amputation of the labia minora, also known as labial trimming. This procedure should never be used since it causes anatomical changes of the labia minora from rounded structures to straight ones. Additionally, it often leads to over-resection of the labia minora, as both pictures illustrate. Over-resection of the labia minora can occur and cause severe pain at the side of the incision (neuropathy) or referral pain (neuralgia) of the pudendal nerve, affecting many pelvic sides.; b) the skin of the labia majora was resected, and no adipose sac was reconstructed (see my scientific-clinical articles on this very topic). The labia majora was intimately and unnaturally sutured to the labia minora. By doing so, the labia minora (inner labia) and the labia majora (outer labia) became fixed structures and lost natural functions; c) by obliterating the natural space (groove) between labia minora and labia majora, the natural look and function of both labia were changed permanently. Eliminating the natural space between the labia minora and the labia majora and suturing these structures together are the direct causes of your labia majora wrinkles. The postoperative time will not eradicate these complications.Additionally, the function of the labia minora has been compromised, and the patient can suffer from sexual dysfunction due to pain during vaginal sexual intercourse (superficial dyspareunia).
Later on, you will benefit from corrective surgery that must be done in two phases.
With regards,Prof. Dr. Adam OstrzenskiUS Cosmetic-Plastic Gynecologic Surgeon

Looks like you are still early in the healing process. The wrinkling you are referring to appears to be the caused by the skin being pulled towards the incision line or scar. This will calm down over time, but always best to ask your PS.

You are brand-newly post-op, as evidenced by the blue dye still on your incision lines. You have had a combined labia minora + majoraplasty, and everything looks absolutely normal for this stage of recovery. As others have said, and I concur, your vulva will go through all sorts of "colorful," swollen, weird and ugly appearances during the first 2-3 weeks post-op. Keep your hands off it (!) and be of good faith. You will see amazing changes, but you will not have a clue about how things will look until ~ 6 weeks post-op, and it will take a full 3-4 months minimum before "...what you see is what you get." Your operating surgeon might have clued you in about this, but perhaps (s)he did... RealSelf's web reference below shows labial appearance during the "Frankenstein phase" of post-operative recovery. If you're still concerned at 6 weeks, discuss your concerns with your operating surgeon. Best wishes, Michael P Goodman, MD, FACOG, IF, AAACS. Davis, CA, USA