The mons pubis is the front pubic area of a woman that is naturally covered with hair. It forms a triangle when viewed from the front, as it extends from the pubic hair line down to the groin on both sides. Below the mons pubis is the labia majora and labia minora. Under the skin and the hair, subcutaneous tissue is found on the mons pubis over the pubic bone and the ligament structures and muscle insertions.
A prominent mons pubis can have various causes. One of the most common causes is being overweight, which results in the swelling of the fatty tissue that naturally occurs in this area. Hormones can also play a role, e.g. during pregnancy. Here, the tissue swells naturally, the skin stretches and does not fully retract sufficiently after the pregnancy, resulting in the sagging of the mons pubis. Genetic predisposition can also lead to an excessively prominent mons pubis, or there may be other unknown causes. During the ageing process, the mons pubis can sag and drop due to gravity. This can be considered unattractive.
There are no conservative measures other than a radical change in diet to considerably reduce the subcutaneous fatty tissue, which can reduce the size of the mons pubis without surgery. However, diet does not return the stretched and sagging skin to its original position. Therefore, surgery is usually required to reduce and tighten the mons pubis. The procedure is frequently performed together with a tummy tuck, as the causes for this are frequently the same. Recently, special machines have been developed that can medically ‘freeze’ the fatty tissue, a procedure that we do not perform due to its limited controllability.
A mons pubis reduction is a procedure that is becoming increasing popular, during which excess, prominent fatty tissue is removed by liposuction or, in some cases, excision. The excess sagging skin must usually be removed by excision in order to achieve a tighter effect. For small procedures in a specific area, the procedure can sometimes be performed with a local anaesthetic or after administering an analgesic medical infiltration solution. For larger areas with stretched skin, twilight anaesthesia or, in rare cases, general anaesthesia is required.
Normally, a mons pubis reduction is considered an aesthetic procedure and therefore the patient has to cover the costs. There are exceptions, e.g. in cases of radical weight loss of patients, where individual health insurance companies cover the costs for lifting procedures. The patient would have to make an enquiry with their health insurance provider in this case.