In LA, nothing is off limits. That’s why this latest surgery craze isn’t about looking good – it’s all about feeling good
By Julie Moult in LA
Dr Matlock about to administer one of his “G-Shots”
Huddled together on a sunny afternoon in LA, a group of glamorous 20-something women whisper and giggle. They’re at Tinseltown’s hottest new party. But there are no canapés, no champagne – there isn’t even a cake.
Instead, these women are gathered to have the latest trend in surgery – an “orgasm jab” – to improve their sex life.
Hollywood is a town where anything goes – especially when it comes to plastic surgery. From Brazilian butt lifts to liposuction for your cankles, there’s not a lot you can’t get done if you’ve got the cash to splash.
But the latest trend isn’t about looking younger, perkier or wrinkle-free. It’s about improving what goes on behind closed doors. Or at least, that’s what it claims.
Women are rushing to get the “G-Shot” – a surgical procedure which involves injecting filler into a woman’s G spot to improve her sex life.
Gynaecologist and surgeon Dr David Matlock has been performing various surgical techniques on ladies’ lady parts for more than 10 years.
At his Hollywood clinic – the Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute of America (no joke) – he hosts monthly “parties”, for women who want to try the G-Shot out.
It might sound extreme, but more than 2,000 women have had the procedure there since it was launched five years ago. They can come with friends, as part of a hen do, or by themselves, if they prefer.
“I’ve found women are more comfortable asking questions and talking about the procedure when they are in a group,” he explains.
Sexual chemistry
The leaflets scattered around the waiting room all display the same message: “Feel the rush with the G-Shot”. It’s something Jennifer Zambrano, an innocent-looking 29-year-old lab technician from California, hopes will happen to her.
Jennifer can count on one hand the number of times she’s climaxed during sex. “It’s been a problem my entire adult life,” she sighs. “My boyfriend feels bad about it… he’s like: ‘Why can’t you?’ I have to reassure him it’s not his fault. But I’ve never been able to find my G spot and I’m sick of trying.”
Clearly convinced it’s nothing he is – or isn’t – doing, her boyfriend Will*, read about the G-Shot online and suggested she give it a try. He’s even stumping up the cash. And it’s not cheap – each procedure costs £1,150. Which is perhaps why her friends are less enthusiastic that she’s here today.
“They tell me it’s all in my head and that I didn’t need to get this done,” Jennifer says. But after reading positive reviews from other women who’d had the G-Shot, she decided to go for it.
“It made sense to go to Dr Matlock because he invented the procedure,” she says. “I asked the nurses lots of questions about side effects and risks before I decided to go ahead.”
The technique – also available in the UK – involves a collagen-based filler called Hyaluronan being injected into a woman’s G spot. It is enlarged to the size of a 10p piece to supposedly heighten pleasure during sex with their partners.
Dr Matlock’s clients, from left to right: Crystal Ellis with boyfriend Paris Paul; Jennifer Zambrano and Audrey Ortega
As the women fill in their consent forms, Duran Duran is playing in the background to soothe their nerves. Nurses with perfectly smooth faces usher them into Dr Matlock’s office. Most people have pictures of family on their desk, but Dr Matlock has a plastic model of a vagina.
The women blush as they are talked through the procedure and Dr Matlock demonstrates on his plastic model how they should locate their G spot.
The effects of the injection last for four months before it is safely reabsorbed back into the body. “The most common question women have is: ‘How soon can I have sex afterwards?’” says Dr Matlock. “All I ask is that you wait until after you get out of the offices. And don’t yell out my name!”
We can’t help wondering how many hundreds of times he’s told that joke before – but no matter, because the ladies giggle away regardless. But they soon stop laughing when they realise it’s time to get started. One by one they are led into Dr Matlock’s surgery. First it’s the turn of Crystal Ellis, a 29-year-old DJ from LA, dressed in a black and white strapless dress, full make-up and false eyelashes. She’s brought her boyfriend, Paris Paul, 36, along for moral support.
“We have a great sex life but I figured having this done couldn’t hurt,” she says. “We’re friends with the receptionist and she told us about it and I was intrigued. I think the G spot definitely exists.” She points at Paris. “He finds it frequently.”
As she lays back in the chair with her feet in stirrups and only a paper sheet to cover her modesty, she looks nervous. You can’t blame her. Even watching the procedure is terrifying.
Under the needle
After being swabbed with antiseptic, Dr Matlock uses a specially designed speculum, which allows for a needle to go through. Once she and the doctor have agreed where her G spot is located, the filler is slowly injected.
“How does it feel babe?” asks Paris. “It’s fine,” says Crystal, insisting she feels nothing more than a slight pinch.
Dr Matlock’s kit
Jennifer is next – but the procedure is stalled when she can’t find her G spot for the doctor to inject the filler. “I have no clue where it is,” she says. He talks her through how to find it – on the upper wall of her vagina between 4.6cm and 7.8cm from the entrance. “It’s an area that will just feel different to you,” he says. “Use the middle finger and push up. Relax and be confident.”
Jennifer thinks she’s located it – and she emerges soon after to say she has been successfully treated.
Last up is Audrey Ortega, a 29-year-old Louboutin-wearing make-up artist from LA. No stranger to cosmetic surgery, she has already had liposuction and breast implants and was an existing patient of Dr Matlock when she heard about the “G-Shot”. This is her fourth jab in three years.
“In 2009, I came into the office and this was the latest thing out there,” she says. “I try whatever’s new.”
She says it helps to keep sex between her and Jake*, her boyfriend of six years, interesting – although she has never told him she’s had it done. “My boyfriend is old school. He even thinks Botox is unnecessary. So to avoid any disagreements I don’t tell him.
“He hasn’t been able to tell anything and he would never guess. But because I am having a great time he thinks he is it. It feeds his ego.”
Great expectations
Audrey says the shot is more than worth the money. “It helps our relationship and keeps things fresh. It’s like the cosmetic version of Fifty Shades Of Grey. Sex is better and you have multiple orgasms. All women should try it once.”
Putting his patients at ease, Dr Matlock hosts monthly “parties” for women to undergo the procedure
Some experts believe the procedure is unnecessary and also pointless as they think the G spot is a myth (and even if it isn’t, a man in a white coat won’t find it for you in five minutes).
It’s been the subject of controversy since 1950, when German gynaecologist Ernst Gräfenberg claimed to have found an area behind the upper wall of the vagina that, when stimulated, leads to heightened sexual arousal. But others dispute the zone’s very existence, arguing there is no scientific evidence.
“There’s a tremendous amount of information about the G spot in medical literature and papers,” says Dr Matlock. “Why is it so difficult to accept? Because it’s not something like your nose that you can point to that you can see or feel.”
If business is anything to go by, others certainly believe – Dr Matlock has recently opened another office in Dubai.
Critics say his work leads to further pressure on women to be perfect. “In a world of Viagra, there are escalating expectations, based on pseudo-scientific information,” says Leonore Tiefer, a psychiatrist at the NYU School of Medicine. “This creates a cultural insecurity around sex. Couples should talk to each other, or visit a therapist if they are dissatisfied with their sex life.”
Girl power
Unsurprisingly, Dr Matlock disagrees. “All my procedures are inspired by what women want. But we do turn patients away if we don’t think their expectations are realistic.”
So, just how effective is it? Audrey was already sold, but for Jennifer and Crystal, the results were met with mixed reactions. A few days later, when Fabulous catches up with Crystal, she is pleased that there are no side effects – but she hasn’t noticed much difference.
“Maybe I have been thinking about ‘the spot’ so much, that it was distracting me from the actual sex itself,” she says.
But another week later, things are looking up. “Before the shot, sex was enjoyable. But now it’s more intense, and my orgasms are stronger and last longer,” says Crystal. And although the shot is more about improving the women’s pleasure than the man’s, Paris is happy Crystal is enjoying herself more.
Jennifer had to wait a week to try out the treatment, as her boyfriend was away. She still hasn’t managed to hit the big O, but is much closer.
“I do feel a significant difference after getting the G-Shot,” she says. “I get closer to climax more often and that happens a lot quicker. I also find myself wanting to have sex more often – because I’m hopeful I’ll orgasm soon.”
As long as he has satisfied customers, Dr Matlock will keep on doing what he’s doing. “People have said I’m a feminist and maybe I am,” he says. “I want to empower and educate, and for women to be in tune with themselves.”
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