Clitoral hood reduction, also termed clitoral hoodectomy, clitoral unhooding, clitoridotomy, or (partial) hoodectomy, is a plastic surgery procedure for reducing the size and the area of the clitoral hood (prepuce) in order to further expose the clitoral glans of the clitoris.
It is usually performed as an elective cosmetic surgery meant to improve sexual satisfaction and to change the aesthetic appearance of the vulva. The reduction of the clitoral hood usually is done together with a labiaplasty that reduces the labia minora, and occasionally within a vaginoplasty.
Though patient surveys have indicated satisfaction with the outcome of such procedures, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists cautioned in 2007 that for this type of vaginal surgeries, which are not medically indicated, women should be informed about the lack of data on their efficacy and potential complications.
The procedures for labiaplasty occasionally include a clitoral hood reduction. One technique for reducing the clitoral hood is the bilateral excision (cutting) of the prepuce tissues covering the clitoral glans, with especial attention to maintaining the glans in the midline. Another technique cuts away (excises) the redundant folds of clitoral prepuce tissue, with incisions parallel to the long axis of the clitoris.
Clitoral hood reduction can be included in the extended wedge resection labiaplasty technique, wherein the extension of the exterior wedge sections is applied to reducing the prepuce tissues of the clitoral glans. Yet, occasionally excess prepuce-skin, in the center of the clitoral hood, is removed with separate incisions.
Studies have reported a high rate of patient satisfaction with the aesthetic changes to the vulvo-vaginal complex after labioplasty, and a low incidence rate of medical complications. The study Aesthetic Labia Minora and Clitoral Hood Reduction using Extended Central Wedge Resection (2008) reported that of a 407-woman cohort, 98 per cent were satisfied with the labial reduction outcomes; that the average patient satisfaction score was 9.