WOMEN as young as 18 are being referred for psychiatric treatment after cosmetic surgery to enhance the look of their genitals fails to make them feel better about their bodies.

The head of psychiatry at St Vincent's Hospital told The Sunday Age three women had been referred to its body dysmorphia clinic this year after undergoing labioplasty surgery.

One feels permanently ''disfigured'', has not had sex for three years and has become so anxious about the way her genitals look she is on medication.

Professor David Castle wants mandatory psychological screening for all women seeking vaginal ''rejuvenation'' procedures, to detect those with underlying mental health issues such as body dysmorphic disorder, a condition that gives sufferers a distorted view of normal body parts.

''The girl who I saw recently hasn't had a physical relationship since she had the surgery and is very distressed about it. She has pain, she's tense and anxious and she spends half her life checking herself in the mirror, constantly agonising about the whole thing and wishing she hadn't had the procedure. At the same time she's thinking maybe I should have another surgery because they're [labia] still too long,'' Professor Castle said.