Recently, Binh Dan Hospital admitted a 40-year-old woman who suffered recurrent urinary infections and an inability to engage in sexual activity due to scar tissue rings in her vagina.

Previously, after giving birth, she felt her vagina became loose and sought a cosmetic surgery to narrow the vagina at a spa. However, the excessive intervention narrowed the vagina, causing pain and making intercourse impossible. Though she underwent re-surgery at the facility, the condition did not improve. It was only when the scar ring in the vagina continued to cause pain and seriously affect her life that the woman went to the hospital for medical treatment.

In another case, a 38-year-old woman suffered a vaginal perforation after undergoing a vagina narrowing procedure at a spa. A few hours after the surgery, she suffered from bleeding from her anus and vagina. Returning to the spa for a check-up, she was forwarded to the hospital due to complex injuries. Doctors found a perforation and decided to carry out emergency surgery.

Pham Huu Doan from Binh Dan Hospital said women believe that their vaginas widen after childbirth and need surgical tightening. However, vagina size is flexible. Therefore, the sensation of "looseness" many women feel is not caused by vagina enlargement, but the decreased elasticity in the vaginal walls and the reduction in muscle quality.

There are many causes of reduced vaginal elasticity, including pregnancy and childbirth, aging, decreased estrogen levels, illness and injury.

Currently, there are four methods to improve pelvic floor muscle elasticity, including lifestyle changes, pelvic floor muscle exercises, pelvic floor laser treatments, and surgery.

Surgery should be carried out in case of serious pelvic floor muscle weakness, such as bladder, uterine, or intestinal prolapse. It must be performed by well-trained specialists to avoid serious complications like vaginal and rectal perforations.

According to Pham Hieu Liem, PhD, Head of the Cosmetic Surgery Unit at the HCM City Dermatology Hospital, the demand for vaginal cosmetic procedures is fairly high.

"Today, women are more open to genital aesthetics. They consider it as important as facial aesthetics, because this helps them overcome post-birth inferiority complex and maintain family happiness," Liem noted.

Postpartum genital prolapse is another reason. In the long term, this condition may affect physiological functions. Therefore, cosmetic genital procedures are essential for this group of patients to prevent future gynecological complications.

Genital aesthetics has become commonplace in conversations among women and they are less reluctant to undergo these procedures. However, women tend to prefer private medical units and spas to large hospitals. 

Linh Thuy