a hypothetical question.

[kariann330]

So i was sitting around the house sipping some hot coco and started to wonder if something was possible, and if it was if anyone would be up for it one day...

Why can't doctors do extensive counseling with us transfolk and if we get the final go on it, wheel two trans persons, one MTF and one FTM who are donor matches, and basically swap out our goodies? In the end those of us who are MTF can benifit from everything naturally producing estrogen, we can experience periods and we can get pregnant. Of course the.FTM would be able to benefit from the constant flow of T, and be able to.father a baby in the end. Idk to me it makes more sense to me then those organs that still have plenty of miles left on them getting tossed into the trash.

I would love to hear not only the opinion of people on our side of this discussion, but also from the FTM community so if anyone knows anyone over in those forums, feel free to invite them over here.

Thanks.
Kari.

[Sammy]

Because You cant swap brains - if that is what You meant... Brain is unique and it is tuned up to this one exact body and being transplanted into another body, it wont know what to do... At least, that is the explanation which is on Intrawebz (yep, been wondering about exactly the same thing some time ago).

[LittleV]

I hope you don't mind my humour about it but it's one of those "It's so crazy... it might just work" situations.

But nevertheless, I would also like to see what people think about this and what scruples would medical science have in employing such surgeries.

[JennyH]

I have thought the same thing but even if they could mtf couldn't give birth because of the smaller pelvic bone.

[LittleV]

I have thought the same thing but even if they could mtf couldn't give birth because of the smaller pelvic bone.

How about Caesarean section? That sort of bypasses the problem, even though you'd have a scar on your belly for the rest of life.

[Ethedon]

I've thought about this as well or maybe both MTF and FTM donating their
external body parts (downstairs and top). Speaking from an FTM perspective
I WISH it was possible to auction my parts to an MTF or a cis gender woman.

[nikkit72]

Forget swapping things between 2 people. You'd get rejection issues with both sets of junk and loads of meds to deal with these issues. What about 3d printing ? Design your own bits in Solidworks and send them to a medical lab for printing. They've already printed replacement bladders, a bit of a liver and an oesophagus. No rejection issues because you are using your own cells.

I knew I should have gone to bed earlier......

[Ethedon]

I heard of 3D printing or whatever. They're actually trying to create a replacement for human male genitals using your cells. Which probably won't be for another 5-10 years. That would be awesome!!

[kariann330]

Forget swapping things between 2 people. You'd get rejection issues with both sets of junk and loads of meds to deal with these issues. What about 3d printing ? Design your own bits in Solidworks and send them to a medical lab for printing. They've already printed replacement bladders, a bit of a liver and an oesophagus. No rejection issues because you are using your own cells.

I knew I should have gone to bed earlier......

Not always. There have already been 3 or 4 experimental female to female uterine transplants done. That i can remember one experienced about 4 complete menstrual cycles before the uterus was removed, and another successfully carried full term and delivered a healthy baby. The other two i think were removed several weeks later to test the tissues for signs of rejection and proper blood flow.

[bethany]

If the 3d printing was based on my brain stem cells and could grow a pelvis, vagina, uterus, overies, and Fallopian  tubes, count me in. otherwise no thank you.

[Riley Skye]

It also has to do with rejections, it would seem like such a risky operation to have. I would think your best bets would be to have the desired body parts created from your adult stem cells or something. I hope to one day to have at least ovaries and maybe a vagina that doesn't require dilation, a girl has to dream

[Jennygirl]

What about 3d printing ? Design your own bits in Solidworks and send them to a medical lab for printing. They've already printed replacement bladders, a bit of a liver and an oesophagus. No rejection issues because you are using your own cells.

Yes you are on the right track... 3D printing and additive fabrication is the next wave of the future.

I have one slated for delivery in January. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to print organs with it!

[Oriah]

sounds like a bad idea.  there's enough things that could go wrong with transition as is

[Isabelle]

Printing is the future. I've done a lot of 3d printing using all types of machines. They have already printed a penis for a rabbit that was functional. The research is being funded by us military research groups who are looking at ways to help young soldiers with injuries cause by IEDs (they often explode and damage the legs and andogenital regions) With 3d printing though, it's not tissue they print, it's a type of lattice that stem cells are encouraged to grow on, the scaffold/lattice dissolves and leaves the part. I find the concept of replacement body parts fascinating. Tissue engineering, genetic therapy and printing will ultimately lead us to biological immortality and free humans from the limits of inherited biology.

[thatboyfresh]

Id be down!

[Ashey]

There has been a lot of progress with uterine transplantation but still a lot of risk for rejection and you really would have to load up on anti-rejection meds. But yeah, regenerative medicine is a more viable path. They're already able to augment breast and penis size using stem cells, and should be come the augmentation method of choice before the end of the decade. I read some things earlier this year that said 10 years from now, it will likely be possible to print out all the necessary parts and implant them without risk of rejection. Sounds good to me! Not sure if I'd want to get preggers with those parts though... seems a bit weird and squicky...

[Alainaluvsu]

It probably wouldn't be functional because the MTF brain is not wired to use ovaries and the FTM brain is not wired to use a penis. It'd be like putting a third arm on your body. Not only would you have to send nerves and blood vessels to the area, but you would have to somehow restructure the brain to USE the parts. If it were possible to do that, many health issues would be a thing of the past, such as menopause, many thyroid issues, and mental development issues.

Sorry, but a functional vagina w/ ovaries for a MTF is probably the last thing on the list for science to accomplish =/

[Isabelle]

I agree with Alaina, mtfs aren't really on many lists of priorities but, there's lots of rich women out there that would pay big dollars for more reliable firtility treatments.trans people will benefit from that research..

[Randi]

The idea is certainly not new.  Lili Elbe received a uterine transplant in 1931 and died shortly thereafter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Elbe

Randi

[Ms Grace]

I was listening to a science program this morning that was discussing growing replacement human organs from the patient's cells, and it wouldn't have to be the liver cells regrowing a new liver, it could for example be skin cells tricked into believing they were now liver cells. In theory it would get around the rejection issue. Using the same logic it stands to reason that, with a tickle of the chromosomes from X to Y (or vice versa), that the cells might be tricked into creating reproductive organs of the opposite gender for the patient (and not be biologically rejected when attached). I agree though that the wiring of the brain, and over coming the fact that it has developed to deal with the original set might prove problematic. The brain is fairly elastic though and might therefore grow new neurones over time to cope. Franken-science is so much fun to speculate with!

I did hear about a guy who received a hand transplant. The operation itself was a success but he rejected it psychologically... looking at it and using it freaked him out too much and they had to cut it off. Some people can cope with that kind of transplant (and some have had full face transplants) but others not so much, even if they really want/need it.

I have a F2M friend. When he first outed himself to me, although I was happy for him I felt it was a shame there wasn't a way we could just swap bodies (before he started on T, obviously!) I'd have his short, very cute girly body and he'd have my towering, meh guy body. Don't know if we would have then assumed each others identities or what. Mind you, even if we were both very happy with that arrangement, I don't know if his boyfriend would have been!