There's a concerning trend of young girls undergoing labiaplasty surgery because they are so distressed by the appearance of their vaginas, according to a leading adolescent gynaecologist on BBC2's Victoria Derbyshire show.
Doctor Naomi Crouch warned that the number of girls requesting the operation was on the rise, and that shockingly, some as young as nine have been requesting the surgery.
Labiaplasty - which involves the lips of the vagina being reshaped or shortened - is available on the NHS to girls aged 18 and over who have a proven medical reason for requiring it, ensuring it's not purely cosmetic. But in 2015-16, more than 200 girls under 18 underwent the procedure on the NHS.
The BBC claims that 150 of the girls were under 15.
Crouch added she has yet to see a patient who physically required the operation, telling Victoria's daily news show: 'I find it very hard to believe there are 150 girls with a medical abnormality which means they needed an operation on their labia.
'Girls will sometimes come out with comments like, "I just hate it, I just want it removed," and for a girl to feel that way about any part of her body - especially a part that's intimate - is very upsetting.'
She also drew disturbing parallels between Labiaplasty operations and FGM, which is illegal in the UK.
'The law says we shouldn't perform these operations on developing bodies for cultural reasons,' she explained.
'Current Western culture is to have very small lips, tucked inside. I see this as the same thing.'
Meanwhile, GP Paquita de Zulueta revealed it was only over the last few years that girls had visited her with concerns over the appearance of their genitals.
'I'm seeing young girls around 11, 12, 13 thinking there's something wrong with their vulva - that they're the wrong shape, the wrong size, and really expressing almost disgust,' she told the BBC.
'Their perception is that the inner lips should be invisible, almost like a Barbie, but the reality is that there is a huge variation. It's very normal for the lips to protrude.'
She suggested that part of the problem is young girls being exposed to unrealistic images on social media and in pornography.
She added: 'There isn't enough education and it should start really quite young, explaining that there is a range and that - just as we all look different in our faces - we all look different down there, and that's OK.'
The NHS says it only carries out the procedure for clinical conditions - such as the labia causing discomfort - and not for cosmetic reasons.
They added that the procedure will only be performed if the 'vaginal lips are obviously abnormal and causing the woman distress or harming her health.'
However, they stressed: 'It's natural and normal for a woman to have noticeable skin folds around her vaginal opening and, in most cases, this shouldn't cause any problems.'
Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
