What is a clitoral hood reduction?
The clitoral hood, or prepuce, is the fold of skin formed where the two inner labia meet at the top of the vulva. It covers the head of the clitoris the way an eyelid covers the eye, and like an eyelid it comes in every size. Excess hood skin takes three forms: the hood is long and hangs below the clitoris, it is wide, with redundant folds along either side of the midline, or the two sides do not match. A clitoral hood reduction removes that redundant skin and closes the edges with fine dissolvable sutures so the hood sits flat and the crease on each side runs smoothly into the labia. The cover over the head of the clitoris stays in place: the goal is a hood in proportion, not a clitoris on display. Because the inner labia and the hood are one sheet of tissue, the hood is usually reduced in the same surgery as a labiaplasty.
What a clitoral hood reduction is not
It is not a clitoral surgery. Nothing is done to the clitoris itself, its shaft or the nerves that supply it, and that is why the operation, done correctly, does not change sensation. It is not "unhooding": stripping the hood back to expose the head of the clitoris leaves a very sensitive structure rubbing against clothing, and most plastic surgeons, Dr. Cat among them, do not do it. And it is not a labiaplasty; the two operations treat neighboring structures, and one does not fix the other. Other names for the same procedure are clitoral hoodectomy, hoodoplasty and hood lift.
Labiaplasty against clitoral hood reduction
Labiaplasty
- Treats the labia minora, the inner lips, when they protrude, are enlarged or asymmetric, and the labia majora when they need reshaping
- Chosen for tugging, chafing, irritation in clothing or exercise, or appearance
- About $24,000 to $27,000 with Dr. Cat, with or without the hood
Clitoral hood reduction
- Treats the clitoral hood: excess skin folds covering and beside the clitoris
- Chosen for bulky or hanging hood folds, irritation, or balance beside a labiaplasty
- About $2,000 to $6,000 on its own; quoted within the combined plan with a labiaplasty
What the two share: they are usually done together, because reducing the inner labia alone can make a prominent hood more noticeable; sensation is preserved in both, because none of the incisions go near the clitoris or its dorsal nerve; and the recovery is the same, desk work in a few days, four weeks without tampons or exercise, and intercourse at six weeks.
Who is a good candidate for a clitoral hood reduction?
The right candidate has excess hood skin that bothers her. Many have wondered about it for years before asking; the enlarged labia they came in about turn out to include the hood, and our page on enlarged labia explains what is within the normal range and what surgery helps.
You may be a good candidate if
- The skin over the clitoris is bulky, hangs in folds below it, or is wider on one side than the other
- The hood catches, traps moisture or irritates, or looks heavy beside reduced labia
- A labiaplasty is being planned and the balance calls for the hood to be reshaped with it
- A labiaplasty done elsewhere reduced the labia and left the hood untouched
- You are an adult in good health, not pregnant, with no active infection in the area, and can stop smoking or vaping for two months before surgery
Not yet, or a different plan, if
- The complaint is the labia rather than the hood: that is a labiaplasty; the hood is touched only if the examination says so
- You hope that exposing the clitoris will increase sensation: that is not what a reduction does, and not what Dr. Cat offers
- You are still developing: the labia and the hood keep developing into the late teens, and cosmetic labial surgery waits until development is complete
- You want it on the same day as a tummy tuck: a labiaplasty is never done on a tummy tuck day, because the garment and the swelling would compromise the healing tissue
Whether you need one or both is decided by examination, not by request: some women have full labia and a modest hood, some the reverse, and many have some of each.
How Dr. Cat does it
Dr. Cat is a board-certified plastic surgeon who completed two surgical residencies, one in head and neck surgery, microvascular and facial reconstructive surgery, and advanced training in general plastic and reconstructive surgery, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained. She has performed more than 500 labiaplasties, authored the chapter on aesthetic surgery of the female genitalia in the International Textbook of Cosmetic Surgery, and treats the labia minora, the labia majora and the clitoral hood as one continuous structure, because the transition between them is where a result looks natural or operated on.
The incisions: on the excess skin, away from the clitoris
Under 3.5X magnification operating lenses she plans each side in millimeters and removes the excess skin of the hood along the lines marked, most often as a narrow strip on either side of the midline, checking the two sides against each other. None of her incisions go near the clitoris or its dorsal nerve, and before surgery she goes through with you exactly which tissue will be removed, to be sure none of it is sensitive or involved in intimacy. The edges are closed with precise layered suturing and dissolvable sutures, so the scars sit in the natural creases.
Conservative by rule
Skin that is removed cannot be put back, and a hood reduced too far exposes the clitoris to friction. The aim is a hood that reads as part of the labia, with the crease on each side running from the top of the hood into the edge of the reduced labium in one line. When a labiaplasty is part of the plan, the labia are reduced first and the transition into the hood is shaped last.
Surgery day
The plan is agreed at the consultation, reviewed at your pre-op appointment and confirmed the morning of surgery with precise surgical markings. Surgery is under general anesthesia with a board-certified physician anesthesiologist in Dr. Cat's QUAD A accredited surgery center on Rodeo Drive, with a numbing solution applied as well. A labiaplasty with clitoral hood reduction takes two and a half to four and a half hours depending on complexity; a hood reduction on its own is shorter. No aftercare-facility night is needed: you go home the same day with someone to drive you and stay the first night.
Preparing for surgery
After the consultation, Dr. Cat's team gives you the pre-operative instructions: clearance and lab tests, at least two months without smoking or vaping, the medications to stop before and after surgery, a Hibiclens wash the night before, nothing to eat or drink from the night before, no makeup, skincare or jewelry on the day, and a ride home with someone who stays the first night.
Combining a clitoral hood reduction with a labiaplasty
Most of Dr. Cat's patients who have a hood reduction have it with a labiaplasty, and the reason is mechanical. The inner labia and the hood are one sheet of tissue: the labia run up and split to form the hood. Reduce the labia so they sit tucked within the outer lips and leave the hood as it was, and the hood is now the largest fold in view. So when the balance calls for it she reshapes the hood in the same operation, and the labia and the hood heal together as one contour. The combined surgery is quoted as one plan, about $24,000 to $27,000 all in, and takes two and a half to four and a half hours.
After a labiaplasty elsewhere
The second common route to a hood reduction is a labiaplasty done elsewhere that reduced the labia and left the hood alone, so the result looks unfinished. A full hood over reduced labia is one of the most common reasons patients come to Dr. Cat after surgery elsewhere, and reducing it is often part of a labiaplasty revision, about $29,000 to $33,000, planned at least six months after the first surgery. Our page on a botched labiaplasty explains the signs.
With a perineoplasty
If the opening of the vagina has changed with childbirth as well, a perineoplasty, which repairs and tightens the perineum between the vaginal opening and the anus, can be added to the same plan.
Clitoral hood reduction recovery timeline
The hood heals on the labiaplasty timeline, and Dr. Cat's technique is the reason it is a short one; most of her patients need no more than Tylenol, antibiotic ointment and ice. Our labiaplasty recovery timeline covers it week by week.
- The night of surgeryYou go home a few hours after waking, with someone to drive you and stay the night. Expect swelling and minimal soreness rather than pain; most patients take a Tylenol the first night, with antibiotic ointment and ice.
- The first weekSwelling and minimal soreness, managed with Tylenol, antibiotic ointment and ice. Shower carefully without scratching, rubbing or scrubbing the area, and wear loose cotton underwear. Most patients are back at a desk within a few days to a week.
- Weeks two to fourSwelling settles steadily. No tight clothing, tampons, swimming, hot tubs, crossing your legs or exercise. The dissolvable sutures come away on their own at about three and a half weeks, and the incision continues to fade and become less visible.
- Four weeksYou are healed and cleared for exercise, tampons, fitted clothing and physical work at your follow-up visit.
- Six weeksIntercourse waits six weeks, until Dr. Cat clears you at a follow-up visit.
- Three monthsThe scars, closed under magnification with dissolvable sutures, are nearly invisible even on close inspection.
- Three to four monthsThe tissues have settled and you see the final result: a hood that sits flat and matches the labia below it.
Clitoral hood reduction results
The result is a hood that sits flat and in proportion, with the folds on either side gone and the crease on each side running cleanly into the labia: a good hood reduction is invisible as a separate procedure. Sensation is unchanged, because the clitoris and its nerves were never in the field, and with Dr. Cat's technique most patients report an improvement, because tissue that pulled, twisted or covered the clitoris completely no longer does. The result is permanent: skin that has been removed does not return.
Clitoral hood reduction before and after photos
Because the hood is almost always reduced with the labia, its results appear in our labiaplasty before and after photos, and the six cases below are all labiaplasties with clitoral hood reduction by Dr. Cat. Look at the top of each after photo, where the labia meet: the hood sits flat and matches the labia below it. LBP-0976 came in with excess labia minora that tore from friction, LBP-0894 with marked asymmetry, and LBP-0991 and LBP-0845 with discomfort in exercise and clothing; in each after photo the hood is in proportion.
Risks and safety
A clitoral hood reduction is a small operation, and it is still surgery on a sensitive structure. Here is what can happen, what Dr. Cat does to prevent it, and when to call us.
What can go wrong
- Over-resection, where too much skin is taken and the head of the clitoris is left exposed to friction: it cannot be undone
- Under-resection, where a fold remains and a second, smaller procedure is needed
- Asymmetry between the two sides
- A scar that is thicker or more visible than expected, or wound separation along an edge
- Altered sensation, rare when the clitoris and its dorsal nerve are left alone
- Bleeding, a hematoma or an infection, all uncommon
- Anesthesia risks, which the board-certified anesthesiologist reviews with you before surgery
How Dr. Cat reduces these risks
- Every step by Dr. Cat herself, with her special technique and precise layered suturing under 3.5X magnification, so the two sides match and the closure is extremely secure
- Incisions that never approach the clitoris or its dorsal nerve, on skin confirmed with you beforehand as not sensitive
- A conservative plan: the hood reduced, never stripped, with its cover over the clitoris kept
- General anesthesia with a physician anesthesiologist in an accredited facility, no nicotine for two months, and the four-week and six-week rules
- Written aftercare instructions, follow-up visits, and a team available throughout your recovery; for patients who follow the post-op instructions, complications rarely occur
Call us right away for wound edges pulling apart, a fever over 101°F, spreading redness or warmth, foul-smelling discharge, bleeding that soaks a pad, or pain that worsens instead of easing. Early treatment is what stops a problem becoming a scar that needs a revision later.
Call 911 first, then us, for chest pain, shortness of breath, or calf pain or swelling in one leg. And for anything that worries you: Dr. Cat and our staff are available to you throughout your recovery.
How much does a clitoral hood reduction cost in Beverly Hills?
A clitoral hood reduction on its own is about $2,000 to $6,000 with Dr. Cat, quoted in writing at your consultation. Most patients who have one have it with a labiaplasty, and a labiaplasty with or without clitoral hood reduction is about $24,000 to $27,000 all in; the hood is quoted within the combined plan, because one anesthesia, one facility and one recovery cover both. A labiaplasty revision is about $29,000 to $33,000. Every quote is itemized: the surgeon's fee, the board-certified physician anesthesiologist, the accredited facility and your follow-up visits.
The price reflects one surgeon who performs every step herself under magnification, a physician anesthesiologist for the whole case and an accredited facility. Please do not shop for the cheapest hood reduction: skin removed from the hood cannot be put back, and a hood stripped too far is a lifelong problem. Our labiaplasty cost guide explains what a quote is made of.
Consultation fee, insurance and financing
A consultation with Dr. Cat is $500, or $1,500 for a revision consultation, credited in full toward your surgery. To pay over time, the practice partners with Cherry, its primary financing partner, and also accepts CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit; see financing and payment plans. A clitoral hood reduction is cosmetic and not covered by insurance, even when the excess skin causes irritation; Dr. Cat's office does not bill insurance.
Your consultation with Dr. Cat
It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call with our Patient Concierge, who books your consultation. The consultation is private and conducted by Dr. Cat herself, in person on Rodeo Drive or, for out-of-town patients, by private video consultation through OnPatient, the HIPAA-secure patient portal. She starts by asking what specifically bothers you and what you want to achieve, then examines the anatomy to establish which tissue is involved and whether the two sides differ. You look at photographs together, she tells you whether the hood alone, the labia alone or both will give a balanced result, and you leave with an itemized written quote. It is one of the questions patients are most nervous to ask, and one she answers without hurry.
