29yrs Old, One Kid, Long Awaited Labiaplasty - Albuquerque, NM

It's the day before my surgery so I figured I'd share my journey so far. I'll continue to post updates as I go. Ever since I was 12 or 13, I knew I was different. More so after having sex and my boyfriend at the time made a comment about my "big lips." I always thought I was deformed or that maybe I did something to make my vagina "stretch." I've been super self conscious about it my whole life. Hiding during sex or scared to death somone might notice my "roast beef vagina" in my bathing suit...most hurtful term EVER by the way! It wasn't until about a year ago that I realized having longer labia minora was common.

About two months ago I made the choice to go forth with labiaplasty and started researching like CRAZY! Real Self has been a God send. In fact, I feel better already knowing just how normal I actually am!! To the point I almost backed out of surgery. But let's face it...I want my flower to look as pretty as a [RS bleep] star's! And it would be great to be able to go pantiless with out chafing or ride a bike without pain.

It's not easy finding doctors that do this surgery. I found two in ABQ. One board certified PS and one OBGYN PS. I chose the OBGYN, Dr. Rowe, based on how comfortable he made me feel, the time he took to answer my questions, the level of experience in labiaplasty (avg 3/week!!), and the results he showed me.

Both doctors treated it as an in-office procedure. I was prescribed oxycodone and an anti-anxiety medicine. I'll bring these with me to the office, where the doc will administer. Once they kick in, he'll inject my entire vaginal area with lidocaine (scared to death) to numb it completely. He will then remove the excess skin using the trim method. The other PS prefers the wedge method, but verified that I wasn't a good candidate and would also go with trim. Although the trim method is said to be more painful, I wanted it so all the discolored skin would be removed. I was very clear with Dr. Rowe about my expectations and he showed me exactly where he would cut. After reading all the reviews of labiaplasty, I found this to be SO important. too many people end up botched or with no minora left at all because they didn't have the confirmation. Dr. Rowe said it was important not to take too much skin off in case there was nerve damage that needed to be removed, or if minor revisions were needed. He assured me that out of all his patients, only one needed revision and only because of chronic nerve pain. I appreciated his honesty. Now whether or not Dr. Rowe follows the plan is something I'll have to see.

One other concern I had was removable or dissolvable sutures. I've read that removable leaves less of a scar and once they're removed, the annoyance and pain of sutures is gone. Whereas dissolvable a can take six weeks, and are said to be the worst part of this procedure. He uses dissolvable but in 7 days will cut the knots out so they don't snag and bother (knots are what take longest to dissolve). And he showed me post op pictures to easy my worry about the scar. They were all very clean smooth looks.

So tomorrow is the day. If you've ever given birth vaginally these items are invaluable, so I'm all stocked up:
- Maxi pads (non-cotton kind so you don't stick)
- Boy shorts that I can wear loosely
- Dermoplast pain relief spray (saved my life after child birth)
- Sits bath or squirt bottle for when I need to pee
- stool softener in case the pain mess stop me up.
- Soft gel freezer packs for the swelling
- a rubber donut to sit on (I actually use a travel pillow because it's softer)
- and of course lots of great movies n junk food to eat during recovery.

Wish me luck! I'll post my before pics later this evening.

Friday the thirteenth. Good thing I'm not superstitious. Took my pain pill, anxiety pill, and antibiotics and they've officially kicked in. Relaxed in the operating chair with my legs wide open and feet in the stirrups. The numbing was just finished and OUCH that wasn't fun. They poked me several times with numbing injections in all areas, including my clit! It's lidocaine n epinephrine (reduces bleeding). The poke hurts and the medication burns pretty bad but goes away quickly and all the numbing was done in about five minutes. I assume this would be worse had I not taken my pain pill prior. Now he's cutting and I can feel movement down there but no pain. Towards the bottom I felt some tuggs but no pain. My legs are shaking from the nerves but writing this is sure helping keep distracted. Music in the background would be nice. Someone turned it off from the control on the outside. Grrrr. Well ten minutes has past and my labia is gone! Close your eyes if you don't want to see it lol. He's doing the sutures now. Long sub-cuticular on each side took 20 minutes total. Didn't feel a thing. Says the numbing stuff will wear off in a couple hours. All set to go. I quickly glanced down there n saw nothing. Yes! Now to heal! Overall this was the perfect setting. Nice office, friendly staff, and very clean. Dr. Rowe talked to me the entire time and had no issue distracting myself with my phone. He made me feel at ease. Overall, the procedure was perfect and a breeze! I love this man!