More women undergo surgery in quest for 'designer vaginas'

Labiaplasty - an operation to reduce one or both of the labia minora, or inner lips of the vagina - is rapidly gaining popularity as women go under the knife for health-related or purely cosmetic reasons.

In the West, the rise in the operation's popularity is startling. In Britain, for example, there's been a five-fold increase in the past five years to more than 2,000 surgeries in 2011 in the public health system alone; while American women spent US$6.8 million on the procedure in 2009, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

It's increasingly common in Asia, too, with the cosmetic surgery hot spot of Thailand catering to a growing number of women from around the region - including plenty from Hong Kong.

Part of the trend for so-called "designer vaginas" - other popular types of cosmetic vaginal surgery include vaginal rejuvenation or tightening, hymenoplasty ("revirgination") and clitoral unhooding - labiaplasty is a fairly straightforward surgical procedure, using a scalpel or laser. It can be performed either under local or general anaesthetic, takes about 20 minutes and rarely goes wrong.

Still, it is not the type of operation that any woman would take lightly. So why are so many women willing to undertake the surgery when many doctors question whether, in most cases, it's necessary, or even advisable, for them to do so?

In this type of surgery, there is no clear dividing line between what is necessary and what isn't.