REAL LIFE
Venesa Vaughn’s quest for the perfect look ended up changing her life for the worse…
When Venesa Vaughn, 47, underwent a labiaplasty following years of insecurity about her vagina, she thought it would be the answer to her problems. However, Venesa, who lives in Australia, was horrified to discover that her surgeon had amputated all of her labia, leaving her with re-occuring UTIs and pain during sex.
The botched surgery left her pursuing legal action against her surgeon. She now wants to raise awareness about the dangers of labiaplasties. She says, “They should be banned. At the end of the day, labia is just skin and we need to normalise that our vaginas are perfect as they are.”
Venesa’s insecurities stemmed from childhood. She says, “I’ve always struggled with my self-esteem. My mum always commented on my weight and I constantly compared myself to others. I felt especially abnormal compared to adult movie stars who had neatly tucked-in vulvas.”
INSECURE
One former partner in particular dealt a blow to Venesa’s self-esteem. She recalls, “I remember laying in bed with him when he said how my vagina was the worst he’d ever seen. I was so humiliated and I felt awful about myself.”
The two broke up shortly after, but Venesa’s hang-ups followed her into her future relationships. She explains, “I got into a new relationship years later and he cheated on me, and I wondered if the look of my vagina had anything to do with his infidelity.”
One day, Venesa, a mental health coach, decided to tackle her insecurities. She says, “I took to Google and I kept seeing ‘labiaplasty’ popping up and I learnt that this was surgery to reduce the size of the labia minora.”
She researched her options and saw quotes as high as £8,000. She says, “It was so much money, but I just wanted to be normal. One of my friends said it sounded dangerous, but I was determined to go ahead.”
Venesa kept coming across one particular surgeon who offered labiaplasties for just £2,700, so she got in touch. She says, “We spoke on the phone and he said he did labiaplasties three to four times a week, and that I’d be out the same day.”
When Venesa met with him, they discussed what she wanted. She says, “I explained that I just wanted it trimmed neatly, nothing too drastic, which he said was fine.”
She booked herself in and months later, in 2020, made her way back to the surgeon’s office in Sydney, which was an hour’s drive away. Venesa recalls, “When the nurse called me through, I followed her into a small room which contained just a surgical chair. I reiterated to the surgeon how much I wanted removed before he started operating.”
