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Venesa Vaughn\u2019s quest for the perfect look ended up changing her life for the worse\u2026<\/p>\n
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Meghan’s new lifestyle brand has raised a few eyebrows<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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The botched surgery left her pursuing legal action against her surgeon. She now wants to raise awareness about the dangers of labiaplasties. She says, \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Venesa\u2019s insecurities stemmed from childhood. She says, \u201cI\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She now warns others about the dangers of labiaplasties<\/p>\n
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One former partner in particular dealt a blow to Venesa\u2019s self-esteem. She recalls, \u201cI remember laying in bed with him when he said how my vagina was the worst he\u2019d ever seen. I was so humiliated and I felt awful about myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The two broke up shortly after, but Venesa\u2019s hang-ups followed her into her future relationships. She explains, \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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One day, Venesa, a mental health coach, decided to tackle her insecurities. She says, \u201cI took to Google and I kept seeing \u2018labiaplasty\u2019 popping up and I learnt that this was surgery to reduce the size of the labia minora.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She researched her options and saw quotes as high as \u00a38,000. She says, \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Venesa kept coming across one particular surgeon who offered labiaplasties for just \u00a32,700, so she got in touch. She says, \u201cWe spoke on the phone and he said he did labiaplasties three to four times a week, and that I\u2019d be out the same day.\u201d<\/p>\n
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When Venesa met with him, they discussed what she wanted. She says, \u201cI explained that I just wanted it trimmed neatly, nothing too drastic, which he said was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She booked herself in and months later, in 2020, made her way back to the surgeon\u2019s office in Sydney, which was an hour\u2019s drive away. Venesa recalls, \u201cWhen 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/4-1.jpg” title_text=”4″ force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|600|||||||” text_text_color=”#FFFFFF” background_color=”#111111″ text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”-2.75%||||false|false” custom_padding=”4px|8px|4px|8px|true|true” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Venesa and her husband Ajay now want kids<\/p>\n
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Venesa had a local anaesthetic and was awake for the three-hour long procedure. She says, \u201cWhen the surgeon was done, he explained to me that I needed to ice my vulva three times a day to reduce the swelling, and he gave me Valium for the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her friend took her home, but Venesa was in so much pain she could barely walk. Hoping the pain would subside, she took herself to bed.<\/p>\n
For the first two weeks after the surgery, Venesa was in agony. She says, \u201cI couldn\u2019t fathom looking at my vulva as it was so swollen. I followed the aftercare instructions but nothing seemed to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By the end of the third week, Venesa had a horrible feeling. She says, \u201cI thought, \u2018What if he\u2019s taken too much off?\u2019 When I finally had the courage to look, I couldn\u2019t believe what I saw. The stitches looked like they were about to pop and my vulva was so puffy. I was horrified.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also couldn\u2019t see any labia whatsoever \u2013 her surgeon had completely removed them. She says, \u201cPanicked, I rang the surgeon but he just brushed me off. He said the puffiness was normal and that the saltwater baths would heal it. But I knew he\u2019d taken too much off. My labia were gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Venesa struggled with insecurities for years<\/p>\n
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The surgeon asked Venesa to send him some photos and told her to come back in for her six-week check-up. She says, \u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t tell anyone what I was going through as I was too traumatised. When I saw the surgeon, I broke down and explained my anxieties, but he didn\u2019t care.\u201d She claims the doctor chopped off three more centimetres of labia than she had requested. \u201cI told him I wanted it to be trimmed, I didn\u2019t want it all gone, I just didn\u2019t want it sticking out. I trusted him,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Venesa launched legal action against him and received a six-figure out-of-court settlement. But she admits that no amount of money can fix the mental and physical pain she\u2019s suffered. She says, \u201cI\u2019ve battled constant pain and suffered from recurring UTIs as there was no labia minoria to stop the germs getting in. Inserting a tampon hurt so much and sex became incredibly painful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venesa eventually saw a specialist who confirmed her labia had been amputated. He also helped her improve her urinary tract to prevent UTIs.<\/p>\n
Fearing she\u2019d never find love or have sex again, Venesa met her husband, Ajay, who has been incredibly supportive. She says, \u201cI knew I had to tell him what I\u2019d been through. We\u2019d had sex and he knew it was painful for me but he didn\u2019t know why. He was sympathetic and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
As their relationship developed, the two knew they wanted kids. Venesa says, \u201cI still want to have a baby but after what I\u2019ve been through, the thought of childbirth is daunting. I don\u2019t know if I can do it. But we\u2019re trying IVF as I don\u2019t have much time left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Venesa feels it\u2019s her duty to raise awareness about the dangers of labiaplasties. She adds, \u201cSince sharing my story on TikTok, other women have come forward and said theirs are botched, or that I\u2019ve put them off all together. I wish I had never gone through with the surgery myself, but the only silver lining is that I\u2019m preventing other women from going through the hell that I\u2019ve been through.\u201d<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-author-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||on||||||” text_orientation=”right” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
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theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This woman’s quest for the perfect look ended up changing her life for the worse\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-life"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"kschwarz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2384"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2394,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions\/2394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/closer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Read 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