Phallo without a Hysto

[GnomeKid]

Hello!

I am (like most of us) growing antsier and antsier about wanting to get Phallo.  I've been very lucky to have parents to help me out along the way with therapy/top surgery costs, and may be able to convince them to help me out with Phallo in the not so distant future. 

The biggest problem is that my mom has safety worries.  My issue is that I don't have the answers to some of her worries.  She is of course concerned about regular old surgical mishaps, but her main issue is with the seemingly required Hysto that seems to work its way into the bottom surgery discussion.  She attended a lecture at the philly trans health conference about the dangers of an early Hysto (including osteoporosis which she is now dealing with, so it hits close to home for her on the worrying scale).

I know I'd have a lot better time convincing her if I knew that the Hysto isn't so much requirement of the surgery, but I'm not sure that its not? I don't mind keeping it all in there as long as there is some way for a doc to check it out every now and again to make sure I'm not cancerous.  It doesn't seem to me that one couldn't have a phallo without entirely closing up that... erm.. passage. 

Any advice on this would be awesome.  (or even if anyone has any advice on how to ease a mother's worries) 

Thanks guys!

[Adam (birkin)]

I believe I read somewhere about a guy that got a phalloplasty but not a hysterectomy, but I don't really remember where, sorry.

The one thing that come to mind with all this, is, maybe you could do an ultrasound or whatever for most of the parts. But, what about cervical cancer? I'm not aware if there's a way to detect it other than through a pap, and that might be difficult as I imagine if they kept the hole, it would be somewhat collapsed.

[Sebryn]

I haven't had a phallo yet, nor am I looking to in the next few years but I have had a total hysterectomy and oophorectomy. I was also worried about the risk of osteoporosis since I am still very young. It also runs in my family on both maternal and paternal sides to a degree, worse on paternal.

This is basically what my doctor/endo and the surgeon told me: The main problem with this assumption in regards to transmen is that it has not been studied enough. All the studies are coming from young ciswomen who may or may not be on proper hormone replacement therapy, such as assuming she only needs estrogen and not a mix of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Or even worse assumes/is told she does not need any HRT. My mom went through that assumption, then only taking estrogen and had a lot of issues post hysterectomy and oophorectomy, but they cleared up once she paid a visit to my endo and got on the right mixture of hormones. As transmen we are pretty much committed to long term hormone replacement so in the cases my endo has personally seen involving transmen it hasn't been an issue.

Now an option that you may consider if this is a worry for you is to opt for a hysterectomy but keep one or both ovaries, which are responsible for the prevention of osteoporosis because they are what produces the hormone.

After viewing two of my post surgery blood tests (had to fiddle with the T dosage again) I saw that there was still quite a lot of E in my system, enough that osteoporosis should not be a worry in my doctor's opinion. I'll be getting another blood test for my hormones soon so I'll be comparing the hormone levels to the prior two to see if there is any changes since it's been almost a year since surgery. The first blood test was taken two months after surgery and the other seven months after surgery.

[King Malachite]

I've heard of surgeons doing phalloplastis while keeping everything below intact.  On Dr. Crane's website under phalloplasty, it says "Urethral lengthening, vaginectomy, scrotoplasty and penile implant placement are optional." So it "may" be a case of where the uterus and ovaries could remain intact.  I suppose it would depend on the surgeon.

[mangoslayer]

The risk of osteoperosis is because of the lack of hormones. As long as you remain on testosterone there will be no health problems caused by having a hysto.

[sneakersjay]

I personally think that transition along with top and bottom surgery saved my life.  My mother had similar concerns, and I am older than you are.  I went ahead with surgery because *I* needed it.  And shortly thereafter my mother and both of my sisters were diagnosed with cancer in all of those parts (breast for mom, ovarian for one sister, and uterine for another).  Prior to this there had not been any cancer in my family. 

My personal opinion is that if you do not need those parts, then get rid of them ASAP (read: as finances/insurance allows).  I know some people prefer to keep them, and that's fine.  But if you don't care, or want them gone, get rid of them.  I, for one, am thrilled they are gone.  I was happiest when I awoke from my total hysto surgery.  Much happier than even getting my penis I'd been praying for since I was 4 years old.  The parts that were the bane of my existence gone was the thrill of a lifetime.

Just my personal opinion.   I am not a doctor nor do I play one on the internet.


Jay

PS Yes, what others say is true; as long as you are on hormone replacement therapy you shouldn't have issues with osteoporosis and the like.