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Last update - 18:35 11/12/2007 Intimate perfection By Daphna Berman Tags: plastic surgery  When women come to Dr. Bernard Stern's office for plastic surgery, they aren't seeking larger breasts, fewer wrinkles or even a flatter stomach. Instead, they've come to him for help in reshaping their most intimate body part, an area hardly anyone - including themselves - ever even sees: their vaginas. Stern, an American physician visiting Israel this week, is at the forefront of this new, lucrative and controversial trend in genital cosmetic surgery, often marketed as "vaginal rejuvenation." The trend, still relatively new in the United States, has yet to make serious forays in Israel. But American women, it seems, are no longer just injecting Botox, getting liposuction or turning to silicon to carve out a more perfect body. New surgeries now also allow them to tighten vaginal muscles, trim or plump their labia and make cosmetic changes to their most intimate body parts in what some pundits have referred to as the making of "designer vaginas." Stern, an obstetrician/gynecologist by training, has performed about 750 of these surgeries from his office in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He specializes in labiaplasty, reshaping the labia (the lips surrounding the vagina); as well as vaginoplasty, a procedure that tightens the vagina. He also performs hymenoplasty, which restores the hymen to its "pre-sexual state." The prodecure is done mostly for Muslim women who want to appear like virgins on their wedding night, even if they've already had sex. Advertisement "The demand is definitely growing," Stern, here on vacation, said of the surgeries. "I make it very clear to my patients that they don't need this, that it is an elective cosmetic procedure. But this isn't about vanity. My patients aren't strippers and dancers. These are educated women." The trend in vaginal plastic surgery, blasted by feminists, also has received a tepid response from the established medical community. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises women against the procedures, citing a lack of "documentation of their safety and effectiveness." In a statement issued by the organization in September, the doctors also warned, "It is deceptive to give the impression that any of these procedures are accepted and routine surgical practices." In Israel, Prof. Rami Neuman, the head of plastic surgery at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, says he refuses to perform the surgery. "If there is a growth there, we will operate," Neuman said. "Anything else is stupid." But that hasn't stopped women from flocking to Stern and the hundreds of doctors in the U.S. who now advertise the procedures. Indeed, this newest rage is considered the fastest-growing sector of American cosmetic surgery. Stern says he performs about five surgeries a day on busy Fridays, and that most of his patients come from out of state. He's been featured in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and Bloomberg news, as well as Hustler, the pornographic magazine. "Just like women have larger than average ears, they can have labia sizes," Stern explained. "They can have labias that are four times as large or as thick. Even though nobody else sees it, they know it's there and it bothers them." Stern, 61, spent most of his career delivering babies, specializing in high-risk cases. He worked closely with the Chabad community in South Florida and was its unofficial chief obstetrician for many years. But in 2001, Stern shifted gears, to put it mildly, and began performing the vaginal plastic surgery procedures. In his first year, he worked with 17 patients; now, he'll see that many patients in a week. "It's a matter of exposure," he said of the explosion in interest. "Women are just now finding out that these kinds of operations exist." He also points to television programs like Nip/Tuck and the reality show Dr. 90210, as well as women's more "heightened knowledge of their anatomy" as additional influences. "It's a very private surgery and many women seek this but won't tell anyone about it," he said. "Vaginal plastic surgery is still taboo, the way that breast augmentation was 20 years ago. Women are now open about getting face lifts, but 25 years ago, they'd just disappear for six weeks." Some 11.5 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed last year in the United States, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). Although the trend in Israel is obviously on a smaller scale, it, too, is growing. More than 11,600 cosmetic procedures were carried out this year, according to the Israel Society of Plastic Surgeons, compared with 10,000 in 2005, an increase of 16 percent. In the U.S., the cosmetic procedures are advertised mostly online and come with promises of increased sexual fulfillment. Vaginoplasty, for example, which costs some $6,500 and is popular with women in their late 30s who have had children, is designed to restore vaginal tightness. The surgery, according to Stern's Web site, "can usually correct the problem of stretched vaginal muscles resulting from childbirth(s), and is a direct means of enhancing one's sexual life once again. The procedure typically tones vaginal muscle, resulting in greater contraction strength and control, thereby permitting greater sensation during sexual experiences." "Women ask, 'Will I have an orgasm if I never had one before?' and I tell them no," Stern says. "This operation will restore the vagina to the way it was when you were 18 or 20 years old, before you had children." Equally popular is labiaplasty, which costs some $5,500. Stern says women come to him distressed by large or disproportionate labias and though he admits there's no real need for "pretty labia," he says that the operation can also have a functional aspect. Some women, he says, wish to rid themselves of the discomfort from wearing tight pants or horseback riding. His Web site, www.cosmeticsurgery2.com, includes before and after pictures of patients who have undergone the procedure. Stern also specializes in hymenoplasty, performed mostly for ethnic and religious reasons, on patients who wish to re-rupture their hymen on their wedding night as a sign of virginity. Some married women have reportedly sought the procedure as a kind of "ultimate gift" to their husbands - an intimate and painful take on the traditional watch or necktie wedding anniversary present - though Stern says he refuses to conduct the procedure in those cases. Critics, meanwhile, are disturbed by the surge in demand for these unnecessary and costly surgeries. Increasingly exposed to pornography that is often digitally altered, they say people don't realize that female genitalia can vary significantly from woman to woman. And in a culture where beauty is becoming increasingly standardized, it is unclear where this latest craze will lead. Stern, for example, says he's been approached by three Israeli physicians who have expressed interest in studying with him in order to import the procedure. But he nevertheless rejects claims of fueling the craze, insisting that he is simply boosting women's self-confidence in intimate areas. "You won't see me on late-night television or on billboards," he says. "People don't know I exist until they come looking for me." "I delivered babies for many years as an OB/GYN and I brought so much joy and happiness to my patients. I have the same joy now doing what I do. For those who want the surgery, it is crucial. I restore a sense of normalcy and am changing lives, one woman at a time." Still, he admits that he won't casually discuss his specialty with strangers he meets at dinner parties. "People don't feel comfortable talking about it," he explains. "I'll just say I'm a cosmetic surgeon, without going into the specifics." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Animated massacre Animated Israeli film at Cannes explores Sabra and Shatila massacre. 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