The demand for increasingly bizarre cosmetic surgery has taken a new twist, with women undergoing genital operations in order to boost their sex life and their self-esteem.
More than 100 women over the past year have been to private clinics around the UK to undergo surgery which is aimed at improving their relationships, particularly after childbirth.
Two forms of the surgery, which involve cutting out a piece of the vagina to make it smaller, and labial reduction, which is where fatty tissue is removed from around the organ, are performed under general anaesthetic.
This in itself carries a small but significant mortality risk, but there is also the danger of developing an infection, which is particularly high in genital areas.
With demand growing for cosmetic surgery there is nothing to stop the clinics offering the procedure, which they market as helping women give more sexual pleasure to themselves and their partner.
The news of the surgery follows the latest trend in New York, where women are having their toes shortened in order to fit into the latest fashionable narrow shoes.
The Harley Medical Group, which has 10 clinics around the country, is now offering both vaginal tightening and labial reduction for a total of around £5,000. The surgery is performed in London, but the group was unable to supply the name of the surgeon who performs the technique.
But women who have had the surgery spoke to The Observer, on condition of anonymity, about their feelings. They were all glad they had had it.
A 31-year-old woman from Suffolk said she had never felt happy about the size of her labia, the lips surrounding the opening to the vagina, and had become quite self-conscious about it, particularly as she did a lot of sporting activities.
'It was quite simple - I went in the morning and I was out in the afternoon. It meant taking a week off work, and I had stitches but they dissolved naturally,' she said. 'I haven't told my friends, except for one bloke, and he just laughed about it. I feel a lot more confident now. The whole procedure cost me £2,800 and it cost me a long time to save up, but I feel it was well worth it.'
Another woman, aged 41, had the vaginal tightening operation as well as labial reduction, which she felt were necessary after having had four children. When she split up from her husband and found a new partner, she felt it was worth the effort. 'The internal part of the surgery was fine, but I did feel some pain on the outside', she said. 'I'm really glad I had it done, it was important to me.'
Fiona Brown, manager of the Manchester clinic of the the Harley Medical Group, said: 'A lot of the women I see have had several children, and the vagina has become very stretched. This can take away the pleasure of intercourse.'
The Government's chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has ordered an immediate review into cosmetic surgery. He may decide that the clinics need to be more stringently controlled.
Nips, tucks, jabs and fat vacuuming
Collagen implants in the lips produce a fuller mouth but can create 'trout pout'.
Isolagen, the new facelift, works by taking skin from behind the ear which is then placed at a laboratory into a tissue culture where it generates new cells.
Botox injections, which turn wrinkles into taut flesh by paralysing the facial muscles, can create a 'mask-like' visage.
Liposuction, the removal of 'saddlebags' of fat from the hips, stomach and the back and outer thighs, may make thigh skin more prone to aging.
Tummy tucks are a supposedly simple procedure but ex-Scotland football captain Colin Hendry's wife Denise almost died last April after her bowel was perforated accidentally.
Compiled by David Walker
