No Inner Labia......

LegacyUser

Didn't want to hijack the other thread. I am a female in a similar position to the girl worried about smear test. . I'm 26 and have never got a smear test. I'm very shy about having to spread my legs very wide whilst the nurse pokes around in there. Also people mentioned different sized speculums, how big do they come?! Sounds a bit daunting. Also, do you have to be completely bald waxed or shaven for any reason before getting this done, or is just a bikini wax ok?

The main thing I'm a bit concerned about though is something I've never told anyone. Been with my boyfriend since a teen and he has never mentioned it either so don't know if he notices that it is different , or just doesn't mind, but I have the following situation.
I have no inner labia. I never even realised until a few years ago when I saw a proper diagram that showed the inner labia as dangly. Before I had always thought the inner labia were just the inside surface of the outer labia and that the women I had seen with dangly bits were just as a result of some people having slightly different bodies or as a result of childbirth maybe. It was only when I started searching google for images and watched some vids that I realised that all the women have inner lips that either dangle very long, or with some they just protrude just a little but still definitely there and visible.
Further searching told me loads about surgeries available for women wanting to have their inner labias trimmed or removed, and how tiny or no labias had become popular within some areas of porn, but I found very little about never having any inner labia to begin with! I found a rather crude slang term for it called "clam pussy" (sorry but that it the way I found it described). Some people with this have a different formed clitoris aswell, or may have trouble having a clitoral orgasm but my clitoris is completely average looking, and I have no problems at all with sensation there either.

At first I was weirded out by this and I have never mentioned it to my boyfriend because I don't want to draw attention to it really. From reading online though I found I am not alone. There are a few others out there the same and from reading lots of forum sites guys don't seem to think girls with this are odd, in fact a lot seem to have expressed a preference for this out of the rare amount of girls they had come across with this whilst of course some others like dangly ones better, so it made me feel a bit less odd.

It has turned me into a bundle of nerves about going for the smear though. What if my nurse has never seen this because it does seem very rare? What if she starts calling in a doctor or other nurse just to show them for an opinion? What if she starts asking me if I had that surgery to have them removed made popular by the porn industry, I will have to embarrassingly explain that I was just born with this. What if she starts asking me loads of questions about it? I'm absolutely mortified even thinking about these scenarios to be honest. :-(

I know I have to get this done and I will, I'm just thinking the best way to go about it though. Should I mention it to the nurse beforehand, or just say nothing and hope she doesn't mention it either?

Big Bag of Chips

Trust me... The nurse will have seen all shapes and sizes!! She will either not mention it at all, because it will not be THAT unusual to her. Or she might ask you, very sensitively if it has ever caused you discomfort. But I'm guessing as someone trained in dealing with medical issues, she will know the story!

She certainly will not talk to you about porn!

username123

All aspects of the human body come in hundreds of different permutations and physical configurations. Each one of us is unique. No one has my exact armpit folds. See where Im going? The nurse or doctor wont pay any attention or probably even notice. What they are concerned about is getting the smear, the cosmetic look of your labia is irrelevant.

Calibos

That's the medical examination side covered.

As far as the preference side. Obviously I can only speak for myself, but my preference would be small or no inner labia as far as aesthetics go. Given a slang term for large inner labia is the not very nice sounding 'Meat Curtains', I gather that the majority of men prefer smaller inner labia too.

In other words, it sounds to me that you are lucky and perfect just the way you are.

kylith

You don't have to have your pubic hair trimmed or shaved in any way, mine is usually completely natural and my GP has never mentioned it. Hair or no hair won't interfere with the smear in any way.

Speculums come in different sizes to fit different vaginas. Ask for a smaller one and you probably won't even feel it.

Labia come in all sizes, and your doctor will have seen many so don't worry about it. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that she won't even mention it, and she certainly won't ask if you have had surgery for porn. Even on the very small chance that she might think you had surgery she would probably assume that it was for a medical reason; many women have the opposite problem to you, their labia are large enough to cause them problems with chaffing. Seriously, so small as to be almost absent, large enough to dangle, different colours, different shapes, short ones, long ones, doctors will have seen them all and will only mention anything if they see something that they medically need to.

If you're not comfortable with your own GP you can always go to a Well Woman clinic, many people do so for smears so they can feel more anonymous with a stranger because they dislike the idea of their regular doctor seeing them naked.

I don't enjoy going for a smear, but I just remind myself that it's better than cancer and that gets me through it.

Idle Passerby

It sounds like you're perfectly healthy and have a completely normal body. The nurse will have seen every size, shape and colour already. She will pass absolutely no comment or even be bothered unless she thinks there is a medical issue, That's her job.

In regards speculums, the small ones have a slightly bigger diameter than a tampon, the larger ones are still smaller than an average penis. They open up when inserted to allow the nurse to swab you. Its nothing to be alarmed by and shouldn't cause any pain. Its no more than you are used to as a sexually active woman, the only difference being its not a sexual situation, so it can feel a bit uncomfortable.

In terms of grooming, do whatever is normal for you. Personally I'm happy bikini line and a general trim. I wouldn't dream of going further than my regular grooming practices for the benefit of a medical professional doing a routine part of their job. Think about it, all sorts of women in a wide age range go for smears, not everyone is going to be waxing themselves bald as a matter of course.

No one enjoys smear tests, just the same way no one enjoys getting vaccinations or any other minor medial precaution. Its nothing at all to be scared of or worried about. Its for your health, that's more important than the awkward practicalities of the situation.

Emme

Calibos wrote: »

That's the medical examination side covered.

As far as the preference side. Obviously I can only speak for myself, but my preference would be small or no inner labia as far as aesthetics go. Given a slang term for large inner labia is the not very nice sounding 'Meat Curtains', I gather that the majority of men prefer smaller inner labia too.

In other words, it sounds to me that you are lucky and perfect just the way you are.

That's why some women feel they have to get cosmetic surgery down there. It's more common than people might think. At least women in this country have a choice, certain other societies force women to have their labia cut off to conform with religious and aesthetic ideals.

OP, first and foremost look after your health. No two women are alike and medical professionals know this.

Finally, and least important, being neat and tidy down there appeals more to some men so you're lucky! But even if your size and shape didn't fit current ideals (largely inspired by porn) as long as you were healthy that's all that would matter.

I think it's ironic that OP (I presume she is genuine) feels shy about her size and shape but she fits the current male preference. Other women reading this thread who may not fit this ideal may feel compelled to consider surgery or feel more shy about intimacy.

I could go off on a tangent here (size isn't everything etc.) but I'll leave it.

Again every woman is different, medical professionals have seen it all and as long as the OP is healthy that's all that matters.

Czarcasm

Can't really add much to the great advice you've already been given OP, but for your own sake, try not to focus so much on one particular aspect of your body. The Internet and certain sites have a habit of magnifying and dissecting women's bodies in all sorts of crazy ways that if you paid any attention to them, you'll end up far more self-conscious about minute examination of your body looking for all these physical traits.

Some girls have 'em, some girls don't, your boyfriend hasn't mentioned it because he's mature enough to see you as a whole person including your personality, a walking, talking real person, as opposed to objectifying you based solely on the appearance of your genitalia.

As for going for a smear test itself, perhaps following on from the advice here, a chat with your GP beforehand might help to reassure you about the procedure and hopefully once you understand more about it you'll be more comfortable when you have to go for the test.

LegacyUser

Thanks a million to every single person that replied.

You have all eased my fears a bit regarding the speculum size and grooming down there and of course the thing I am most worried about - the questioning about the labia.

I also want to apologise for what I now consider to be have been inconsiderate when I first posted this. Emme, you touched on a point that some societies forced women to have them removed and I was completely unaware of this. I had heard of other forms of fgm regarding hymen, but was unaware about ones involving forcible removal of labia, and I feel *****y now for whinging about being born with this when at least I was lucky enough not to have to endure any pain or forced to be this way.

I also don't feel I should have put preference into my post at all, I think I was just rambling on about what I had read when learning about this on other sites and that a few men had expressed preference for this shape but that others much preferred larger inner labia and found them very womanly and attractive. I think that is why I originally felt so strange about this when I noticed it was different, because I felt like I was "missing" something down there that most other women have, and did that make me less womanly?

Also at the start of me looking into this, the only mention of it I heard of was in the porn industry which made feel stranger again that I didn't find lots of just regular girls with this, although I never asked any girl I'm friends with so who knows, maybe they are the same? I felt that if it was only known in a small amount of porn that it was something like a fetish that majority of guys would prefer regular ones. I did eventually find regular girls the same, but I did get a bit paranoid wondering if my boyfriend had always found this weird but just never mentioned it, but I prefer Czarcasm's explanation much better so am going to remind myself of it if I start thinking this way again. :-)

I didn't mean to make any other woman feel insecure by reading my post about whether they have big ones, small ones or practically non existent. I think I should probably have put more thought into how I worded my post. So apologies again if I used descriptions that may have offended other girls who are the same as me, or others who are different.

I have decided to stick to my regular grooming, and to just not mention anything to the nurse at all about the other thing. I do feel silly for putting too much focus on this to begin with. I've already put off several appointments. If the nurse says anything I'm just going to tell her I was always like this, and have luckily never had any discomfort or pain and that everything else seems to be working fine.

Thanks so much again everyone. :-)

LegacyUser

Emme wrote: »

I think it's ironic that OP (I presume she is genuine) feels shy about her size and shape but she fits the current male preference. Other women reading this thread who may not fit this ideal may feel compelled to consider surgery or feel more shy about intimacy.

I could go off on a tangent here (size isn't everything etc.) but I'll leave it.

I'm not quite sure what exactly you're trying to imply here, but it's worded rather insultingly tbh.
I like the OP don't have any inner labia, (you can presume i'm genuine too, women like us do exist) I can still feel pretty insecure about it when being intimate with a new partner for the first time. The idea that just because I fall into an apparently rare body type that men find attractive automatically means I have less right to be self conscious than others with the opposite problem is pretty offensive really.The Op is not talking about having perfect tiny labia, she's talking about having none at all.

OP to this day I have never actually seen an image of a vagina in porn or elsewhere that looks like mine, so I can understand your concerns. I too was terrified when going for my first smear. There's absolutely nothing to worry about though, I've had quite a few smears since then and no doctor or nurse has ever mentioned it to me or commented on it. While it may be pretty rare they have no reason to comment on it as medically the absence of labia has no effect on any workings down there :-) look at it this way Op I'm sure doctors see women who've have boob jobs all the time, there's no way they'd start asking them why they had surgery or they'd be sued for misconduct, even if a nurse or doctor was curious about what you look like down there, it'd be completely unprofessional to question you about it! You'll be fine OP :-)

Calibos

Emme wrote: »

That's why some women feel they have to get cosmetic surgery down there. It's more common than people might think. At least women in this country have a choice, certain other societies force women to have their labia cut off to conform with religious and aesthetic ideals.

OP, first and foremost look after your health. No two women are alike and medical professionals know this.

Finally, and least important, being neat and tidy down there appeals more to some men so you're lucky! But even if your size and shape didn't fit current ideals (largely inspired by porn) as long as you were healthy that's all that would matter.

I think it's ironic that OP (I presume she is genuine) feels shy about her size and shape but she fits the current male preference. Other women reading this thread who may not fit this ideal may feel compelled to consider surgery or feel more shy about intimacy.

I could go off on a tangent here (size isn't everything etc.) but I'll leave it.

Again every woman is different, medical professionals have seen it all and as long as the OP is healthy that's all that matters.

Came back to the thread and reread the OP and my response and even before I'd read this post I was thinking to myself that while I might have helped the OP feel a bit better about her lady bits I might well have made others start worrying about theirs.

Can I just say that while personally I have a preference, it's just like hair colour really. I might prefer brunettes but it's not like I don't love blondes and redheads too. I would never in a million years want nor expect someone to have surgery just to conform to my preferences.

JuliusCaesar

OddVulva? wrote: »

What if my nurse has never seen this because it does seem very rare? What if she starts calling in a doctor or other nurse just to show them for an opinion? What if she starts asking me if I had that surgery to have them removed made popular by the porn industry, I will have to embarrassingly explain that I was just born with this. What if she starts asking me loads of questions about it?

It's no rarer than any other kind of vulva. They are all different in the same way that faces are all different. <Mod snip>
As for what men prefer, it varies. Most of them like their partners, regardless of what their vulvas look like - in the same way that women like their partners regardless of what their willys look like.

LegacyUser

OddVulva? wrote: »

It has turned me into a bundle of nerves about going for the smear though. What if my nurse has never seen this because it does seem very rare? What if she starts calling in a doctor or other nurse just to show them for an opinion? What if she starts asking me if I had that surgery to have them removed made popular by the porn industry, I will have to embarrassingly explain that I was just born with this. What if she starts asking me loads of questions about it? I'm absolutely mortified even thinking about these scenarios to be honest. :-(

Hi Op,

I just wanted to add my two cents and hopefully put your mind at ease. Although I'm not a Nurse who does smear tests specifically, I am a midwife and through catching many babies have seen many a vulva! No two look the same, and honestly I see them so often, the appearance of them doesn't even register with me. I'm sure the nurse who will look after you will be in the same boat. Hope this makes you feel a little better, and hope it goes ok for you! (There is also a smaller size speculum available so you can always ask for that beforehand if you're worried about it being uncomfortable).

Good Luck!

Kiwi in IE

Hi there,

I am a nurse and I have done smears. Trust me this will not be an issue. Body's come in all shapes and sizes and no one knows that better than a health professional who sees 'private' bits every day. Unless unhealthy, the cosmetic appearance of female genitals will be of no more interest to a gynae nurse/doctor, than eggs, bread and milk are to a checkout operator.

kylith

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

It's no rarer than any other kind of vulva. They are all different in the same way that faces are all different. <Mod snip>

As for what men prefer, it varies. Most of them like their partners, regardless of what their vulvas look like - in the same way that women like their partners regardless of what their willys look like.

Yep, IME men don't much mind what it looks like as long as it's clean they can put their willy in it

Teyla Emmagan

OddVulva? wrote: »

I have decided to stick to my regular grooming, and to just not mention anything to the nurse at all about the other thing. I do feel silly for putting too much focus on this to begin with. I've already put off several appointments. If the nurse says anything I'm just going to tell her I was always like this, and have luckily never had any discomfort or pain and that everything else seems to be working fine.

Thanks so much again everyone. :-)

She's not going to say a word, trust me. They don't even look down there in my experience, my doc does mine and he basically does it all by feel/knowing where to go by sheer experience alone. He will be yapping about the weather and it will be in before I know it. There is no inspection of any sort, and they won't care if you are as hairy as a mammoth down there. It's not a beauty contest.

Good luck!

charlietheminxx

I have no inner labia. Didn't even think it was that rare to be honest! Of all the things I've felt self conscious about, and there are many, that's never been one. It looks like what it looks like. Once it doesn't cause any sensation or health issues I wouldn't be worried at all! Couldn't give a flying feck what men prefer either... I've never had a complaint or even a comment on it :P

It's like some men have slight curves in their bits, it's just different shapes of the same parts!

Glad you're feeling better about it

LegacyUser

I haven't got back to this thread for a few days.

Just wanted to thank everybody else who has responded since I was last here. Hearing from the nurse and midwife especially was reassuring and also from everyone else who has experience of smears, particularly the posters who had smears who also have the same layout as me down there. Everybody has made me feel less apprehensive about this now and made me realise that the nurse will only be interested in getting it done quickly and not so interested in what style grooming I have or the absence of inner labia. I'm going to book an appointment for next Thursday, wear a dress (as was suggested on the other ladies thread), and am going to keep chatting the head of the nurse whilst she's doing her thing mainly to make myself feel less awkward. Unless she tells me to be quiet! :-D

All I will hope for now is that all results are ok but I'm not going to stress myself out worrying about what ifs before I even get the test, so hopefully all will be good.

Thanks again everybody. :-)