18 Years Old, Very Nervous, Need Advice! - Alberta, AB

I'm kind of on the fence about whether you should wait or do it now. How do you think you'd react to the pain and anxiety? That would be the main criteria. I was 24 when I had mine, and the anxiety of not knowing how it would turn out or if my healing complications were going to be bad was almost more than I could take.

The odds of a botched surgery are strong if you go to a gynaecologist, a plastic surgeon who cannot show you before and after photos or tell you how often they perform this procedure, or if you try to go for the cheapest person available. I chose the best plastic surgeon in my area and am still not fully happy with my results -- although I wasn't botched and certainly it's an improvement over what I had before -- but that is to say, it may be unrealistic to expect that nothing will go wrong during your healing and you will be 100% happy with how it looks, no matter who you go to. So if you don't think you could handle that right now, you might consider waiting.

Obviously remember that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you right now, and that even if it feels like no one could accept you in a relationship, the right person would always be understanding and supportive. Best of luck!

From what I've seen, the VAST majority of botched labiaplasties are done by gynecologists, or are the trim method.
I would especially avoid the trim method in your case just because of how much tissue you have around your clit, a trim would not address that.
The most consistently good results I've seen are done by board certified plastic surgeons and are wedge. You also want to make sure your surgeon does these on a fairly regular basis, and has many photos available to view at the consultation

There will always be risks with surgery. Even with the best surgeon in the world, things can go wrong. That being said, do your research. Go to a plastic surgeon who has done many labiaplasties and avoid going to an OBGYN. Check out the surgeons history online - has he/she ever been sued or penalized for something major? Visit several surgeons and go with your gut feeling based on how you felt with the surgeons, their availability AFTER surgery plus what you learned from your research. If you aren't sure what method you prefer, ask them which you are the best candidate for and why. If you already know what you want, don't let them pressure you into changing what you want because they may or may not be comfortable with one of the methods. If they aren't - choose another surgeon. As for your age, I too felt this way at 18. I just had my surgery at 38 years old. I wish I had done it years ago - I let my fears and insecurities about how I looked effect my relationships. I pushed some good guys away because I was afraid they would be shocked at what they saw. That's the worst part of it for me. I actually allowed a natural body part (which I know was not technically abnormal) effect such an important area of my life. But I just could not get past my insecurities. I wish I had had the nerve to have the surgery 20 years ago, but I know now that many docs didn't do the surgeries then and I very well could have wound up having a botched surgery. I haven't told anyone I had the surgery and probably never will. I feel like most people won't understand or if they did would think I was crazy to spend over $4000 on a "cosmetic" procedure. Maybe you could find a story on the Internet about young women who have had the surgery because of how insecure they were and show it to your mom. Let someone else's words tell your mom how you are feeling. Heck, show her stories here on Real Self where women my age are having the surgery after suffering from insecurities for half their lives! I'm sure your mom would want you to be happy and be able to be comfortable with your body (showering with the lights on would be nice, wouldn't it?). Show her my story if you want - I was you (minus the lesbian part. Lol). But I felt EXACTLY the same way you do. You deserve to feel like you can have a sexual relationship with someone when you want. I have regrets and I do t want you to have to same. You said you've felt this way for 8 years, so it doesn't seem like this insecurity will fade. Mine didn't, it only got worse the older I got. Best of luck to you. I hope you can move down the right path for yourself. Keep us updated if you do wind up having surgery.

I think you should take confidence from the success stories on this site. I too am gay and am planning mine and going ahead. I don't think that being gay has anything to do with the emotional response one has to how one looks down there. One just needs to be confident about it and in my case I think surgery is the way to get this done.

My anatomy is similar to yours but I am also getting hood reduction.