Australian health journalist and TV presenter Casey Beros, who had labiaplasty to make her vagina look like a "perfect Barbie doll," is dissatisfied with the result and regrets getting cosmetic surgery on her genitals, The Sun is reporting.
Beros explained why she decided to go under the knife in her book, The ‘Bad’ Girl’s Guide To Better, which is out on Amazon. A large excerpt was published by the British media outlet, Metro, detailing her experience with labiaplasty.
Read about below!
According to Beros, she first became interested in the idea of "designer vaginas" in her early twenties after watching a documentary on labiaplasty. As PlasticSurgery.org explains, labiaplasty is part of the broader spectrum of vaginal rejuvenation procedures and involves surgically changing the appearance of the labia.
Specifically, this type of cosmetic surgery "aims to decrease the size of the labia minora (inner tissues of the female genitalia) so that it is flush with the labia majora (outer part of the female genitalia)," shows PlasticSurgery.org, detailing the types of techniques used and what postsurgical care for labiaplasty looks like.
Beros, who had labiaplasty in 2007, spent plenty of time researching the procedure before booking her appointment. She even got the same plastic surgeon she had seen in the documentary to perform her operation. However, the results left much to be desired, she detailed in her book.
"You see, somewhere along the line I got the idea that if I changed my genitals, I’d feel better about myself. More confident. Less self-conscious. Extra sexual," Beros wrote, per Metro. "But all I really got was a slightly smaller labia minora and some lost sensitivity, which isn’t ideal."
As Beros pointed out, her decision to change the appearance of her vagina was influenced by airbrushed photos of vulvas in "lad mags," which were digitally altered in accordance to Australian law.
"That’s right – by law, magazines had to give everyone a ‘digital’ labiaplasty," the author wrote in her book, saying she wasn't aware of that at the time.
"All I had seen at that stage in my life were heavily manipulated pictures of women with seemingly ‘perfect’ vaginas," said Beros, who confessed she didn't realize "that the spectrum of a ‘normal’ vulva is vast and varied."
"All I knew was that I wanted a Barbie panel; neat and tidy with no extra bits."
Fourteen years after the cosmetic surgery, Beros discussed the emotional toll of undertaking labiaplasty in her book, admitting: "I was nowhere near mature enough to weigh up the emotional and physical consequences of my decision."
The author recounted feeling shame, regret, and a lack of ease and respect for her body.
"I wasn’t proud of myself and I sure as hell wasn’t proud of my newfound Barbie panel."
Beros further touched on her emotional discomfort, writing: "As I healed physically, over the ensuing years, my emotional wounds would become more apparent, especially when I became a mother to two little girls."
The journalist also noted she wouldn't want her daughters "ever believing they are not 100 percent perfect as they are."
"My relationship with my body these days is completely different to what it was back then," she said.
"I have learned that my sexual self-worth isn’t tied to how perfect (or imperfect) my body is. It never was, and it never should’ve been."
