Cost of your transition

[emoxon]

Hi all,
I was just wondering what it's cost people here to transition so far? By which I mean how much you've paid for therapists, hrt, surgery, hair removal etc? I'm particularly interested to see how much it costs in other countries.

For me, since I live in the UK and started out privately its cost:
Therapist/gender specialist who prescribed me hormones, approx $797 (£500 (£100 for half an hour)) this is now free as I'm on the NHS
HRT, approx $11 (£7.30) every 3 months on the NHS
SRS/pre SRS assessment/genital hair removal, free on the NHS
Extra stuff in preparation for surgery (pain killers, lube etc) $33 (£21)

Which would make my total something like $1'064 (£667)

[MarinaM]

All figures in the flagging US dollar!

40 to 80 a month for therapy for about 8 months.
700 for doctor visits.
about 400 for pills.
Opportunity cost of discrimination, maybe about 27,000 in real earning potential so far.
A good marriage ending is said to be equitable to a loss in the neighborhood of 100,000.

As of today I would say it has really cost me $2000 dollars.
All the intangibles have totaled up to about up to about $130,000.


Worth it.

[MarinaM]

Sorry, origianal post edited for US Dollars

No, I was announcing I was going to use the dollar, we can use conversion calculators /miscommunication

[JenJen2011]

Therapy: Don't really remember sorry. Probably $80 twice a month for 3 months?

HRT: With Insurance $30/month. Without insurance $110/month. Started in 2005.

Electrolysis: $70 each session(one hour long). I had about 8-10 sessions.

Breast Aug/Nose job: $2,225 each in Colombia.

FFS coming up: Roughly $17,000.

That's not including clothes, beauty products, and many other things I can't think of right now.

[Lynne]

Because I don't want to wait for the government financed doctors, I will go the private way. I did not spend any money on these things yet.

Prices in Hungary are around these numbers:

Psychologist's assessment : $85

Psychiatrist's diagnosis:$150

Endocrinologist:
consultation $22
blood work: $85
prescription for HRT: $22

HRT meds, depending on dosage, around $44+ / month

Changing your IDs and school papers, total $100 maybe.

Cheapest IPL(full face): $26 / session

SRS: ranging from $550 to $8800

[Mahsa Tezani]

Therapy: Didn't go.

Hormones: 80 a month

Clothes/hair: up to a 100 a month depending on how much want to express.

Makeup: I use an expensive foundation. With two cheaper foundations for contour/highlight. About 70 bucks every 3-6 months. I already had the brushes. I use cheap transparent powder.

Upcoming Lip aug: 1200

Upcoming Nose job: 1200

Electro: I never even started this. Hormones thinned out the hair.

[Gingertrap]

Therapy - $15 every week or two for ~18 months - $734
Endocrinologist visits - $15 every 3 months - $105
Hormones - $18/month - $234
Electrolsis - $55/hour for 14 hours - $770

So for just those things it's costed me roughly $1,850,
but that's only a year into transitioning.

[eli77]

I live in Canada. I've gone entirely private.

So far in my first year:

Therapy Appointments: $1,150
Hormones: $910
Laser Hair Removal: $900
Electrolysis: $2,020
Voice Therapy: $660
Name Change (on various documents): $310
FFS (including hotel and travel): $25,000
Clothes & Accessories: ~$1,200
Hair: $140
Skin Care / Cosmetics: $350

Total: $31,880

Still to come...

SRS: ~$19,000
Electrolysis: ~$3,000
Therapy: ~$550
Hormones: $120 a month (less when I get coverage)
Hair: $70 every 6-8 weeks
Skin Care / Cosmetics: $35 a month
Clothes & Accessories: Lots!

[Rebekah with a K-A-H]

All told, it's going to be roughly USD 70,000, plus the cost of whoremoans 4 lyfe.

Being trans ain't cheap.

[Morgan.]

I'm lucky enough to have all my medical appointments covered by my benefits so far, so my GP appointments/psychologist/possibly my psychiatrist appointments pre-surgery will be free.
I get 3 shots per prescription of t, and again, with my benefits, the 3 shots only cost me $5.60.

The most expensive thing I'll have in the next year or two will be top surgery, but after I'm on my health fund for over 12 months, it becomes much less expensive, and I'll probably only be out of pocket by about $1,500AUD maximum (but I guess that depends on how long I stay in the hospital/if I'm in a private room, etc)

[Felix]

Too much. So much misery. Too much. I'd guess for me only about a couple hundred dollars so far, but my income is about 11k a year, and I'm raising a lunatic and living in a tiny box with no bathroom. Obviously money needs to be prioritized to things that make life more livable, but it's really awful that my transition should take so much of it. Feels really unfair. We budget to the dollar. I want to be able to go out for coffee with someone without stressing out so hard about the 3 dollars it might cost. I could do that a lot better if I wasn't sinking so much of my income into binders and clothes and other little things that prop up my sense of self and let me feel human.

The money is why I don't have top surgery (between 5k and 10k), and part of why I've dragged my feet on the name change ($105 in my county), the license change (my current one cost 40 I think), and gender therapy. I can't buy a commercially-produced packer or stp device, because I can't justify paying money for something I could make myself if I just worked a little harder.

I think the real cost of transition isn't in money, but integrity. We pay in pounds of mind and flesh.

[Colleen Ireland]

I'm in Canada, so I'll be going the OHIP route for my surgery, but other costs so far (first year):

Laser/Electro:  At least $2,000 so far (ongoing, with laser every 6 weeks @ $300, electro every week @ $75
Therapy:  About $2400
Hormones:  Dispensing fee only, about $15/mo (Total about $100 so far)
Wigs: $210
Hair extensions: $150
Hair extensions removal: $120 (incl. wash/colour/trim)
Name change on various docs: $360 (so far)

Edit:  So... about $5800 in real dollars so far, for the first year of stuff... oy!

Not to mention gas/maintenance on my car (I've been doing a LOT of driving related to my transition), marital breakup (support payments, loss of half the family assets, emotional turmoil, stress, etc...)

Yeah.  Being trans AIN'T cheap!  But... Looking in the mirror and seeing ME?  Priceless! 

[kelly_aus]

Nothing - at least compared to the alternative..

[Felix]

My earlier response was fueled by emotion and sleep deprivation, which isn't super helpful. On a more rational note -

-I spent $25 on a barber cut (it felt important to do just once), and $7 buying beer in a fit of trying to be cool and male afterward in the grocery store across the street. Plus $4 getting something for my kid, because she knows if I ever get alcohol I'm going to feel guilty and so buy her a treat as well.
-I spent close to $10 on deodorant and body wash.
-I spent $8 getting a pair of shoes, after haunting the closest thrift store for awhile until they stocked a pair of male sneakers that fit me.
-I spent $2 on underwear at that same store (it's not icky I swear).
-I spent $30 on a binder (underworks 997), and then it got torn up through stupid circumstances.
-I spent $5 on shipping for a binder (underworks 983 I think) from a charity organization.
-I spent $30 for a mooncup (regretting that now) because too many times I felt nervous or ashamed after tampons became visible while I was digging through pockets or my backpack.
-I've spent ~ $100 in food stamps to supply and reimburse a friend for watching my daughter so I can occasionally go to trans support groups and events.
-I spent ~ $7 on used sports bras, because regular bras make me dysphoric.
-I spent ~ $35 on a harness and smallish dildo (both on clearance sale) so I can have more of the sexual options a normal man has.
-I spent $10 to see Kate Bornstein speak (it was sliding scale and I could've paid nothing, but my daughter started telling the folks who were tabling that we're poor we barely pay rent we never get to eat at restaurants my mom can't pay you, and my pride was so pierced by that that I puffed up and casually handed over the suggested donation).
-I've spent at least $40 on books about gender that my library doesn't carry.
-I pay $5 a session for therapy, sometimes. They know exactly how I live, and are often cool with letting me keep the money for happier pursuits.

I'm not on T, haven't had top surgery, haven't changed my name, haven't gotten my uterus taken out, and I don't own any ties or a nice razor. Plenty expense ahead.

Also, I wish there was a way for all of us to count the ways we spend money to maintain sanity in the face of a situation that seems pretty cosmically unfair and that society shuns us for.

[El]

Clothes im probably about £300 in. I love a bargin!

Make-up and toiletries have set me back maybe £5 a month but that is actually decreasing as i build up a stockpile lol

Everything medical so far has been free on the NHS

Emotionally transition has cost me a bit but no-where near as much as the time where i wasnt transitioning!

[JenniL]

How much:

Therapy: $385 for the year so far.
Doctor visit: $255 ($80 a visit)
Labs: $198 for the year
HRT: $113 a month. (1243 for the year, doing the health saving thing next year and paying for meds pretax next year figured better to loose the money pretax than after tax).
Laser:  750  for six sessions got the last free. Will see what happens in a few months to determine if I need to follow up with electrolysis or not so I am not counting that in.


So far just I spent roughly $2831 this year. I am not going to even figure out the costs of clothes, shoes, makeup, and other things  that I had spent money on.

[Eve87]

Therapy 8x: Covered, nothing
HRT & tests every 3 months: Covered, nothing
Name change: 10 euros
Voice coach: Partly covered, 7x~20 euros
Laser: Not covered, 8x ~100 euros. Ouch.
Sperm cryopreservation: ~500 euros. Ouch but it's important to me since I like ladyfolk.
SRS in about 18 months: 90% covered, pitch in ~2-3000 euros
Breast augmentation: Undecided atm
Rhinoplasty: Purely aesthetic so not covered, ~4200 euros and worth it
Cosmetics so far: ~3-400 Euros
Clothes & accesories: Five bajillion euros
Shoes: Eighteen trillion euros

[Re: Joyce]

I'm a fully transitioned post op.  The question--

     "What does it cost to transition?"

     Correct answer:  "Everything".

     And worth every penny, heartache, emotional crisis and lost friendships.