Top surgery at university of michigan?

[Isaac]

Maybe a shot in the dark, but has anyone got their top surgery done there?  Their website says they do it, but they don't have pics or any in-depth info.  And I've heard some bad things about the place.  (That they stall people trying to get on hormones, or will try to convince people to detransition.)

[conformer]

I've seen pictures of results on Transbucket (transbucket.com) and  they don't look bad, however I too have heard that you have to jump through hoops to get top surgery done through them.

[Cameron James]

I can't speak to top surgery at UM - though I have a few friends who went through UMHS for surgery and their results look good. They both did DI, I don't know anything about peri results.

I'm a UM grad student and just started hormones through the UM Comprehensive Gender Services Program (CGSP). I was pretty wary when starting, since I'd heard it was pretty gatekeeper-y, but they just revamped the way the program is set up last year and it's much more streamlined.

I had to do 4, one hour long therapy sessions before getting referred for hormones. Then my therapist presented me to the Program board and I got approved for T. Within 2 days of my approval, my therapist emailed me 3 doctors who I could contact to get started with hormones. There are more than 3 doctors in the area, of course, but they like to spread people out so you don't have a huge wait. It only took me 2.5 months to get an appointment (compared to the usual 6 month wait most endos have) and my doctor prescribed me T and gave me my first shot at that appointment.

They do want you to do a year of RLE, which starts from your first appointment, before you can get top surgery. My therapist is going to write me my first top surgery letter and have another therapist in the program write the second. It's all pretty streamlined, and I've had a GREAT experience with the program.

Feel free to PM me if you want to chat about the program. And if you do end up going through the program and have any issues, let me know. I work at the UM Spectrum Center and can make sure any issues you have get reported to the right people.

[wheat thins are delicious]

They do want you to do a year of RLE, which starts from your first appointment, before you can get top surgery.

I wonder how they'd do it if someone starts college there and has already been on T for a year or more or has already been living as male for a year or more.

[Cameron James]

I wonder how they'd do it if someone starts college there and has already been on T for a year or more or has already been living as male for a year or more.

My guess is that they'd go from when you started T, since that's documented. I'd been living as male for a while before I started therapy, and none of it was able to count since I couldn't provide sufficient documentation.

[Snowman77]

I can't speak to top surgery at UM - though I have a few friends who went through UMHS for surgery and their results look good. They both did DI, I don't know anything about peri results.

I'm a UM grad student and just started hormones through the UM Comprehensive Gender Services Program (CGSP). I was pretty wary when starting, since I'd heard it was pretty gatekeeper-y, but they just revamped the way the program is set up last year and it's much more streamlined.

"I had to do 4, one hour long therapy sessions before getting referred for hormones. "

Did your insurance pay for it? If not, how much did it cost?

"My doctor prescribed me T and gave me my first shot at that appointment"

Don't mean to repeat myself: Did your insurance pay for it? If not, how much did it cost?

[Cameron James]

Did your insurance pay for it? If not, how much did it cost?

I'm actually uninsured, so I'm paying for everything out of pocket.

The initial doctor's visit included a physical, and totaled something like $300. I got two shots in house after that and they ended up being about $100 each ($30 for T, $15 for the needle & injection supplies, plus $40~ for the nurse).

The therapy I haven't paid for yet, so I actually don't know how much it's going to cost me. I know they work on a sliding scale - so if you let them know you're uninsured they'll work with you. I originally went in expecting to be on a particular insurance plan, but got dropped from the plan due to circumstances out of my control - so I didn't have the sliding scale talk.

[Isaac]

They do want you to do a year of RLE, which starts from your first appointment, before you can get top surgery. My therapist is going to write me my first top surgery letter and have another therapist in the program write the second. It's all pretty streamlined, and I've had a GREAT experience with the program.

Feel free to PM me if you want to chat about the program. And if you do end up going through the program and have any issues, let me know. I work at the UM Spectrum Center and can make sure any issues you have get reported to the right people.

I can't PM yet because I don't have enough posts.  I have always wondered, what exactly is required for RLE?  Do you have to be out to every single person you know, including employers?  What happens if you don't pass at all..?

[Cameron James]

I can't PM yet because I don't have enough posts.  I have always wondered, what exactly is required for RLE?  Do you have to be out to every single person you know, including employers?  What happens if you don't pass at all..?

For UM it's living your life as male 24/7. So this means going by a male name, using the men's room, and being out to the majority of people in your daily life. You don't have to introduce yourself as male to strangers or anything like that. I'm out to my employers and my classmates, but I work for the University and my immediate supervisor is also a trans guy and my program is very LGBT-inclusive - so it wasn't really an issue for me. My therapist did encourage me to come out to my parents before she was comfortable writing me my T scrip, but I think she still would have encouraged the CGSP board approve me regardless.

My therapist hasn't checked in about my RLE at all though. She knows that everyone calls me by my preferred (and now legal) name - which is easy to do since UM has a preferred name system so you can get it printed on your ID card and in class rosters - and uses male pronouns for me. Before I started passing consistently I avoided gendered bathrooms and used the gender inclusive ones (which thankfully, UM has a lot of).

I'm under the impression that the requirements for RLE really vary based on your therapist and how strictly they follow the Trans* Standards of Care.