Spin classes to blame for rise in labiaplasty surgery

Turns out, labiaplasty surgeries or 'designer vaginas' as they are commonly called, are now more popular than ever and spinning classes are partly to be blamed.

According to doctors, spin classes and athleisure trends may be to blame for the new obsession with "designer vaginas," a trend that has plastic surgeons seeing a sharp increase in requests for labiaplasty procedure.

The increase has to do with women becoming more aware of their anatomy while sat atop stationary bicycles. The surgeries are carried to reduce the labia minora or/and labia majora, the skin folds surrounding the human vulva.

Dr David L Cangello, a plastic surgeon who performs 20 to 30 labiaplasty procedures, talked to The Independent about the procedure and its rise - 39 percent - since 2016.

Dr Cangello said, "It tends to be women who are into their appearance and also active".

While initially, the women used to seek out the procedure for cosmetic reasons only, nowadays, comfort plays a big part.

Dr Cangello pointed out, "50/50 - It is a combination of the two reasons usually - usually it's not solely discomfort that causes women to come in for the procedure. It usually starts as an aesthetic issue, then when they also have discomfort they are more compelled to seek something".

He said that there are a number of factors that have lead to the rise in labiaplasty requests. He said, "Number one is people talk about it. And two, grooming techniques change. Labiaplasty ties into grooming trends where women want everything to be clean and neat and streamlined".

He continued, "The surgery is no longer primarily for aesthetics - now it is catering to women who find cycling or others forms of exercise cause discomfort.