20 Years Old Labiaplasty. London, GB

Hi Everyone I am 20 from the UK and wanted to share my labiaplasty experience with everyone. I have had large labia since as young as I can remember, before puberty. I have never discussed it with any one at all, it has taken over my life for the past several years causing me discomfort with wearing tight clothes leggings/skinny jeans etc. I had to give up horse riding and cycling and jogging is also a pain. I had to be very careful about the underwear I wear also as they can cause swelling and pinching all of the time. I was also bullied at school for it as a close 'friend' caught a glimpse through my underwear and decided to spread it round to absolutely everyone and I felt ashamed I wanted to cut them off my self. A few years on a boyfriend taunted me for it after we split up and after years of researching and saving I knew labiaplasty was what I wanted to do. I felt it would change my life and which may be wrong to say but I felt it would make me feel more womanly I was so depressed about the way it looked down there I felt people could see it through my leggings as I often noticed people staring down there when I was walking, could be me being paranoid but it was still awful. How could I ever have a proper relationship whilst feeling as though I had to hide things and not be able to explore my sexuality or how could I wear a bikini on holiday or get back into horse riding. Even putting in a tampon caused me pain.
So finally after years of research I found the perfect surgeon and I could finally look forward to my surgery date. I asked my surgeon for some before and after photo's of his work, it is important to make sure you have the right surgeon. As I was travelling to London for my Surgery I had my consultation via e-mail and sent some pictures and filled out all of the medical forms etc, my surgeon was lovely he phoned and e-mailed up until the surgery and answered every question I had in detail.
So I actually had my surgery yesterday so I will be updating you all day by day with full details. So I drove 3 hours to where I was having my surgery done and booked a hotel close by. I bought some thick sanitary towels loose clothing, (jogging bottoms), painkillers (ibuprofen and paracetamol), ice packs and granny knickers !! I was not nervous at all until I actually got in to the operating room. It was really laid back back and a nice environment, I was having the surgery under local anaesthetic which meant I would be awake. My surgeon went through everything again and explained what would happen and the technique he would use (wedge technique and reducing the clitoral hood).
I got undressed and lay on the operating bed, there was a chaperone present who was so lovely she gave me a quick squeeze before hand and reassured me that everything would be okay. The worst part of the whole operation was actually getting the local anaesthetic, it was a few sharp scratches as you can imagine a needle in the labia isn't the nicest feeling in the world, but the chaperone held my hand the whole time. So within a few seconds I was numb, I had conversation throughout the surgery and watched Made in Chelsea on my phone while my surgery was cutting away ha! It took longer than expected 2 hours as I decided I wanted a bit more cut off when I looked in the mirror my surgeon was very happy with the result and so was i when I looked in the mirror I wanted to cry I was so happy with the result and in no pain at all.
I decided not to stay in the hotel an drive home, as the local anaesthetic would still keep me numb for a few hours, my surgeon said that would be a better idea. I took my boyfriend with me who is very supportive.
I was one of the unlucky ones as the anaesthetic wore off after an hour :'-( !! I was in absolute agony driving home, I was in excruciating pain to the point I was screaming crying. I had to pull into services several times and paracetamol and ibuprofen were not making any difference at all. I bought some co-codamol (the strongest over the counter painkillers) which seemed to work for 2 hours and also wore off and the dosage was every four hours. When I got home I could not sleep for the whole night I was crying all night I had never felt pain like it - however I have a very low pain threshold and I am rubbish with pain. I was bleeding just as much as an average period - which is normal. My surgeon phoned to give me some advice on pain relief and advised me to stay in bed and the first two days are the worst it has been around 30 hours since the surgery now and the pain is not as bad as last night or early hours of this morning but it is still very sore. Just tried to rub in the ointment my surgeon gave me and it was so sensitive.
Going to the toilet has been relatively okay, I used a spray bottle filled with water to keep the area clean after going to the toilet.
Down there is very swollen and doesn't look great at the moment as expected, but I am taking a photo each day and can't wait to see the finished result. The pain for a few days is worth the big life change for me. Everyone heals differently and I'm sure I am one of the unlucky ones who is affected by pain a lot more than others. I think pain is very mind over matter I have been taking deep breaths and keeping comfy in bed and watching Netflix to take my mind off things. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask away, I know being in the research stage of Labiaplasty is very important and I would love to help anyone who is interested.
[RS bleep]

Here is some before pics !!

So here are a few pictures of immediately after surgery. I know they are very gory but it's basically very swollen and bruised which is normal! I have been in the shower for about half an hour hoping that would wash some of the hard blood away but I don't want to touch it in case! In heaps of pain been in bed on my own for days! Wish I could tell my mum!