Imagine yourself at a five-star golf resort in the Tortolita Mountains outside Tuscon, Arizona with water all around you with three pools, a water park, and a beautiful golf course. Sound luxurious, doesn't it? If you are a gynecologist and interested in performing cosmetic gynecological procedures, you could be here too.

Performing cosmetic gynecological procedures range from labiaplasty (trimming or completely removing labia), vaginal rejuvenation (tightening), hymenoplasty ("revirgination") and clitoral "unhooding" to many more.

Although these procedures have not been approved by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, an increasing women still opt to have these surgeries.

Many women who undergo these surgeries often have to have corrective surgeries like a 36-year old from Oregon. While there may be nothing wrong with women attempting to make themselves look better and thus, increasing their self-esteem, these procedures are often done in combination with a vaginal mesh procedure. This can be dangerous because vaginal mesh has been scientifically linked to several serious complications.

A vaginal mesh is a synthetic msurgical esh that can help treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP), a condition common in women who have undergone childbirth or a hysterectomy. In this condition, the pelvic muscles and ligaments that hold the pelvic organs in place become so weakened and stretched that they descend- or bulge into the vagina. A vaginal mesh is supposed to hold these organs into place.

However, there are many complications that are associated with this device, including infection, bleeding, painful sexual intercourse, painful urination and recurrence of prolapse. Also, according to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the most commonly reported complication is one in which the mesh erodes into surrounding organs and can break through the skin.

Since 2008, the FDA has been warning health care professionals about the dangers of the device, asking surgeons to receive specialized training on how to correctly implant the device and warn patients about dangers the agency deemed rare, but serious. Still, the procedure has been marketed heavily by industry and paid physician consultants.

Last month, the FDA met with outside experts to discuss further regulatory steps regarding this device. The agency decided to change the device from a class II medical device to a class III, the most stringent classification type that the agency has. However, that still doesn't help the thousands of women who have already been hurt, some permanently, by an adverse vaginal mesh procedure.