Because of the growing number of Australian women who are going for labiaplasty or the medical procedure to craft designer vaginas, the government is reviewing if it would publicly fund the surgery through Medicare.

In the past 10 years, the number of women who had filed claims for female genital surgery surged to more than 1,500 yearly from just 200 a decade ago. As a result, the claims went up to $740,000 from $40,000.

The procedure trims the protruding labial tissue around the vagina, while others get fillers to even out the labial lips. The women claim they needed the procedure because of the change in the appearance of their labia after childbirth.

Some women said they need the surgery because the shape of their labia tissue causes them pain and discomfort every day due to frequent soreness, redness or infection.

In a 2009 study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gyanecology, 57 per cent of the respondents attributed the pain and discomfort they felt to their labial condition, while 21 per cent said it caused them to suffer difficulties with intercourse and 15 per cent experienced problems with undergarments and clothing.

Besides the physical need by some women for labiaplasty to relieve them of pain, experts said others want it for aesthetic reason as part of the current pornography culture which views neat and hair-free vaginas as the ideal, similar to the private parts of pre-pubescent girls.

The study came at about the same time that a growing number of men are going through ball ironing or laser treatment to lighten the colour and remove the wrinkles of the testicles and remove excess hair as well. The procedure became popular when American actor George Clooney mentioned it in an interview with an Italian magazine in January.

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