Please read this :) - Australia

Hello girls :) PLEASE KEEP READING, this is long but has VITAL, HELPFUL information I promise haha. LOOK, I know you have read heaps of horror stories, and don't get me wrong, you have to take into consideration the risks and complications that can occur. PLEASE DONT LET THIS DISCOURAGE YOU. As with ANY procedure, some will be happy and some wont, its a risk you should only decide if your willing to take the risk. I still went ahead with my procedure and only got it performed today. I am ESTATIC! I look FANTASTIC already!!! I am already feeling a boost in my confidence!!!!!! I am only 19 years old, and had to be very brave in order to do this, as you will too. Now, to the important stuff. I realize alot of people on this forum aren't from Australia, so some of this won't apply to you, but some very important details will in most of it so please keep reading. FIRSTLY, the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is to PICK YOUR SURGEON RIGHT. Do NOT go with a gynecologist!!!!! Although I realize some are genuinely qualified, ALOT aren't. Some gynos claim to be trained in areas they are NOT. Most are NOT SURGEONS AT ALL. All they have to have is a medical degree and then they can legally say they can perform certain procedures they have no experience operating on. I did not even have a gyno as an option. I agree some are happy with gynos work but I didn't even want to chance anything going wrong with the most personal, private and feminine part of my body that I have to live with FOREVER. Even if it takes you a few more years of saving. I know the price can vary but I would GREATLY recommend waiting and saving for a PLASTIC SURGEON or COSMETIC SURGEON. Finding the right surgeon can take MONTHS of researching. I think I spent about 60 hours on the computer, and many hours on the phone to clinics, so I KNOW what im talking about. Picking the right person can be a highly confusing exercise and I have stacks of paper with written scribbles on it, complaining surgeons and their qualifications, and researching the differences in methods. Not all practitioners claiming to be surgeons have the same training. The Royal Australian College of Surgeons is the only statutory body for training of plastic surgeons in Australia. The letters FRACS (plastic surgery) indicate your surgeon has full fellowship of the College in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. This fellowship represents years of training (at least 10 years) and rigorous examinations.
In fact FRACS is the only recognized surgical qualification in Australia and is the gold standard by which all other aspirants in this area are measured. Make sure your surgeon has a fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons by checking for the letters FRACS and is a member of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. You can check this on the ASPS website.The way you can do this in Australia, is by going on THIS WEBSITE AND ONLY THIS WESITE. It is the OFFICAL website for plastic surgeons in Australia Some of these surgeons don't perform labiaplasty so you will have to find one that performs it, and preferably, someone who specialities in it. I typed each ones name into google and looked at their website (some don't have one, so I didn't bother much with them as I think the more professional they are, they will have a website) I left numerous emails and phone calls and voicemails. I decided to get three consultations (each cost $150 each and I got around $71 back on each consultation with Medicare, but your out of pocket expensives may vary with each surgeon, depending on the initial cost for the consultation. As some surgeons cost a little more then $150, maybe $170 for example) I went with Paul Belt firstly (FORTITUDE VALLEY, BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA) He was FANTASTIC and EXTREMELY professional and sensitive. He went to great lengths to make the physical examination as less envasive as he possibly could, he was honest and realistic about the expectations and possible complications with labiaplasty and in particular the method he prefers and is more experinced in performing (he uses the trim method, which means exactly as the name indicates. He trims of the labia without touching the cliterol hood at all. He told me he would not perform anything around my clit as its a risk of sensation loss and he personally didnt think I needed it. After his consultation I was %99 per cent sure I wanted to go with him, but thought for my own peace of mind, ill go and get a few more consults anyway, more out of curiosity then anything, as I truely didn't believe anyone could be as caring and professional and understanding as he was. I then went to Andrew Broadhurst (FORTITUDE VALLEY, BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA) I was EXTREMELY disatisfied with his consultation..... He did NOT EVEN HAVE A BED FOR ME TO LAY DOWN ON!!!!! He told me to 'just stand up for me and drop your panties' He did not even have me lay down and touch me to spread my legs and lips so he could examine me properly. Oddly enough, I found this SO much more invasive as Paul's, even though with Paul's, I had my legs completely spread and he quickly touched the area just to spread the legs and labia. He was very considerate by not touching or looking around that area longer then necessarily, although he did a through review, unlike Andrew Broadhurst. As soon as I walked into his room and realised he had no bed for me to even lay on, my mind was already made up. Obviously he didn't perform these procedures enough to even warrant having a bed to examine people that are consulting for this type of surgery!!! And that to me, indicates less experience then Paul Belt. Andrew Broadhurst performs the trim method or the wedge method, whereas Paul only really was keen on the trim as he believed too many complications happened with the wedge) Andrew was honest about the healing process, and this I did like about him. He told me that alot of surgeons photos on their websites are airbrushed, and that on reality, you will look pretty unsightly for a while. He also explained many surgeons talk to you about it as a minor surgery with minimal pain, and although it is minor compared to other surgerious, you will still be in pain and will have trouble sitting. It's a very inconvenient place to have surgery in that regard. I did love Andrews honestly about the pain afterwards. Although his receptionist ( I went to the CONOSA (think thats the correct spelling, clinic in OXLEY, BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND) was less then encouraging. She said that the receptionist spent the whole time whining about how tired she was, and looking at her clock and yawning, even though my appointment was at 11am. Not only that, my mother could still hear the muffled voices of Andrews and my very private discussion, over the receptionists LOUD phone calls to other patients, on which she was discussing their personal issues so loud that my mother could hear, and also I could hear between a closed door. She made no attempt to be discreet with the words she was using, discussing their full names and the procedures they were getting in great personal depth, and was not even attemtping to even quieten her naturally very loud voice. I believe thats very unprofessional of the receptionist to behave like this when we are spending thousands of dollars on a very discreet surgery and unlrofessional of Andrew to have someone so careless working for him. Just gives an air and vibe of unprofessionalism and didn't exactly make me want to get my procedure done by him. It's also unprofessional that my mum could even hear our muffled voices and some clear words spoken between Andrew and myself. Luckily, there was not one else in the waiting room besides my mum. This is very off putting when your spending so much money on something as serious as surgery. After much time thinking, I decided I was not overly satisfied with the two most common procedures (trim and method) as they all seemed to have their benefits, but they mainly had complications I was not willing to risk. The trim makes you look most unnatural, and cuts off nerve endings ( I don't care if anyone on this forum wants to debate this, as it is CUTTING OFF BLOOD VESSELS and your flesh where nerve endings are) This is the same with the wedge. I did not like the fact that the trim and wedge method has every possibility of making you appear 'top heavy' once it is performed, especially if you have a little excess skin around your cliterol hood. I did not feel that I needed a complete surgery on my cliterois skin, although I did feel that without a slight procedure to cut off a tiny bit of skin around the SIDES (not top) I would appear a little top heavy.... Then my problem would just be the opposite after healing. Instead of looking too big on the bottom, I'd now look too big on the top. I hope this all makes sense. Paul Belt felt as if this wasn't necessary, although I did to a slight degree. Andrew said he would perform a wedge or a trim and then could do a operation around my clit to even it out. Although I still didn't like the idea that the trim method as it can leave a very unnatural appearance and can leave a very long scar from the bottom to the top, on the edges of your labia, and that this could be a painful scar ( any technique can leave a painful scar however, but moreso a risk with the trim) ) I preferred the fact that the wedge left a smaller scar and leaves a more natural appareance, as they are keeping the frilled edge, but with the trim method, it completely cuts off your natural edges; wedge does not do it as much, only in the spot that they actually cut out, which obviously you will never even see anyway as it will be stiched together. As they literally cut a V into your labia and then sew it back up, from the inside of the scar to the outer part where it connects. It's like cutting a peiece of paper in a circle, and then cutting a v shape into the center of the circle, ( kind of like the pie graph in school mathmatics haha) then joining the two edges together. So intimately, a big chunk of your skin (and nerves, blood vessels) have been cut out. This causes some, and I have to stress this, SOME to cause loss of sensation, but not all; I just didn't like the idea of it. There is then also a risk that the scar will not heal properly and split open, which is then very difficult to reconnect because of scar tissue. It can only be successfully reconnected in some instances. If it cannot, you will in essence end up with two labias on one side. Then if it happens to the other labia, you will have four labiaplasty in total. Iv seen photos and its HORRIBLE. No only that, it is extremely hard to revise, as your labia has been cut into in a V shape. There is not much left to work with for a revision ( At least with a trim, if they dont cut off enough, you can easily get a revision and have more cut off. But you also run the risk with the trim of them cutting off too much or even amputating them completely, like some women on some forums have said) I personally, did not like the sounds of each of these procedures. I decided to book a third appointment with Dr Georgina Konrat ( ANNERLY- I think that's how it's spelt, BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA) and she was FANTASTIC. She is a COSMETIC SURGEON. Which I believed meant she had more expertise in making it appear nice in the end rather than a plastic surgeon. ALTHOUGH BOTH ARE FREAT AND BETTER THEN A GYNECOLOGIST. I have to stress, the main realized I decided to get this was because of functionality, it was painful, although I also did not want to come out of this still being self conscious about its appearance as I was before. She explained that she does not do either the wedge or trim, as she thoroughly agreed with me, there are too many possible complications and a less appealing and natural looking finish. She uses a technique called the Dove. It is a relatively new procedure that she developed herself. And let me tell you, it is the WAY TO GO. She does NOT CUTT ANYTHING OFF, she uses a laser and thins your labia and connects it back to itself ( To be honest, it was very hard for me to even understand what exactly she does in the consultation, as I believe it's even a bit difficult for her to even explain ) but basically there's nothing cut off. The top part of your labia is just pulled downwards and the longer stretched part of the labia is sort of 'tucked in' if that makes sense. When I first heard this I was worried that if she was folding the excess skin over the labia, it would come off thicker then before. But she explained that the skin of the labia itself is very thin so will not come off with a thicker appearance on each labia then before. I went back for a second consultation and it was still a tad confusing for me to totally understand, although, it is a much more complex procedure then the trim or the wedge. This is why it also takes much more time. The trim only takes 15-20 mins, cause they just snip it off, and the wedge takes a little longer, perhaps 40min to an hour, but the dove takes an hour to two hours. Although, mine took 2 hours and 35 mins as I had labiaplasty and slight trimming of the cliterol skin on the sides. Because once Georgina examined me, she agreed with EVERYTHING I had thought about coming off appearing top heavy. She said to me 'yes, you definitely don't need a full cliterol hood reduction, but you would benefit from a little excess skin taken from the sides in order to 'even out' the appearance so that the transition from the cliteriois skin to the labia, is more proportional. I was so ecstatic that someone finally understood my concerns. I loved the fact that she was a female also, as I personally believe ( considering she has her own haha ) that she would understand more from a females perspective what another female would like to look like down there... And not to mention, it was more comfortable going to a female, even as nice as Paul Belt was. If you have ANY questions, and I mean ANY, do NOT hesitate to email me. I would LOVE to be able to give advice as I know myself that I researched SO many different reviews trying to find all the peices of information I wanted, as many didn't provide all of that in one review.... Hence the reason I have wrote such a long one. As for now, I am feeling so great, in no pain as all, it's more of an uncomfortable feeling as many people have describe on the net. DO NOT let those horror stories freak you out... I do realize I still don't know if I will have healing problems, an infection or what not, but what I can say, is I'm hardly swollen and I look better then what I did before the surgery! MUCH BETTER. I can send photos to people if desired. I have before photos taken an hour before surgery, and numerous photos taken today, one of them only 15 min after. My email is april*******.com.au I look forward to hearing any responses and sorry if there's spelling mistakes, autocorrect is the devil! Haha Australian this all cost $5,180. Although it will cost less if you are wanting just labiaplasty and nothing near your cliterious hood. I went in as a day surgery under twilight sedation and local anesthetic