Bottom Surgery Question

[Eli_]

In the past, I really leaned towards phalloplasty but I've gradually shifted towards wanting metoidioplasty. One of the major concerns I have about it though is that I won't have an adequate bulge in my pants. My packers are small, I'm not looking for anything huge, but I wonder if something as small as metoidioplasty will require a packer along with it in certain pants for it to look like anything, which is not something I want to have to do.

(to clarify, my concern is not so much that people will notice that there isn't much of a bulge and be suspicious of my gender, but rather that I will notice that and be uncomfortable with it if it deviates from a standard masculine appearance when clothed)

[JesseO]

I think it depends on what you want out of the surgery and your anatomy. I had a meta done in May, and I am already looking into a phalloplasty. The surgery didn't do for me what I thought it would. If you have had a lot of growth on T, you might have a small bulge in pants. I do not.

[Make_It_Good]

I went straight in for phallo, I knew from day 1 that that was what I personally needed (and Im very happy with everything).
   You can specify with the surgeon if you want it on the smaller side (as some phallo results can be huge and out of proportion). That is, given that you are fine with the scarring, and the cost and additional time off for healing. Phalloplasty obviously isn't for everyone though so its good that youre thinking about the implications of both surgeries.

[mm]

I am thinking meta for me, I like the idea of having more sensations afterward.  I never really consider how the bulge would look in pants afterwards.  I know I want to have guy bulge when I would wear tight pants.  I don't think many men or women spend much time checking  how big a guy bulge is.  Jesso, how do you like the results of your meta now?  I believe you had urethra lengthening too, can you pee easily at a urinal now?

[Nygeel]

Hey, so here's my +1 for meta reasonings.

If you have meta, you can decide later to get phallo where as (I think) if you get phallo it's not as if you can try meta after. Yeah, this does mean more surgeries, and more time off from work but you would be able to decide if meta works for you. A lot of the time, I think trans guys tend to get larger testicular implants than cis men have (in terms of size of balls)...so I think that adds to the bulge a bit. Results vary.

[mangoslayer]

I know of some guys who still wear a packer after meta. While having more surgeries wouldn't really be pleasant, you can have phallo after meta. Personally I just went straight for phallo since I knew that was what I wanted.

[Kreuzfidel]

I don't want to go through the expense, pain and sacrifices of having bottom surgery and still have to wear a packer afterwards.  For me, it defeats the purpose.  Yes, I want to be able to pee standing up - but more than that, I want to have something that I am happy to look down and see every day - and which makes me feel less dysphoric, not more.  I think that having to still wear a packer after bottom surgery would be very triggering for me, and would probably make me feel as though I would have endured all of the pain for not much gain.

So that being said, I'm also going to opt for phalloplasty first as I don't believe that I have enough growth "down there" to lend tissue to an adequately-sized metoidioplasty.