Top surgery options & surgeon recommendation

[makipu]

I had a few more questions regarding top surgery...
Do I get to choose the kind of reconstruction for my chest or does the doctor determine it after examining the breast size/shape? 
The thing with me is, I want the breast tissue to be removed entirely.

Also, who would you recommend  (in U.S.A) in terms of less scarring, pain, healing times, the care of the doctor?

[aleon515]

You *could* choose the surgery, but I wouldn't recommend it. I'd go with what the surgeons wants to do. You may think you'd be fine with peri, but that might not be the case. Dr Garramone will never recommend peri, afaik. That said if you are small and want peri, you could get two decisions. In that case, you can take whatever you want. NOrmally peri is done with someone with a very small chest (A cup or the largest a small B)  and elastic skin.

There are quite a number of really good surgeons. But I don't quite think they are all equally good.

--Jay

I had a few more questions regarding top surgery...
Do I get to choose the kind of reconstruction for my chest or does the doctor determine it after examining the breast size/shape? 
The thing with me is, I want the breast tissue to be removed entirely.

Also, who would you recommend  (in U.S.A) in terms of less scarring, pain, healing times, the care of the doctor?

[Bimmer Guy]

Go to transbucket and youtube.  Pick your favorites based on pictures.  Come back here and post the name of the surgeon's chests you like and people will give you a yay or nay based on what we all know about the surgeon and also hopefully people's individual history.  Also, scan the Top Surgery Recovery Thread (the sticky), for surgeons' work.  Take into account the time of healing when looking at the pictures.

I am actually serious about the above.  There is a wealth of information here and everyone has their favorites.  Find the surgeon's work you like best and then get their background.

Good luck.

P.S. I echo the posts of chipper and Jay.

[Alexthecat]

Removing the breast tissue entirely may limit your choices. They usually only do that for cancer. Most surgeons leave a bit of tissue so you don't end up with a concave chest. You will probably end up having to call/email surgeons and see if they will do so for you.

[aleon515]

The sticky thread above has several guys results, as well.
There are a few non-US surgeons (one in Australia and one in the UK), but they usually say.

--Jay

[makipu]

Thank you for the information. So it does make the chest hallow... That's exactly what I've been wondering but I wasn't even able to find any pictures of ciswomen who had theirs removed entirely.  I called one surgeon named Dr Christine McGinn and the receptionist said that they do it but I still need to have a consultation in order to ask her about it which is booked. I will also check out Transbucket too.

[aleon515]

I'm not sure why you'd want to have all chest tissue removed. DI is kind of in the wrong place for chesticles to grow back. i also think that it would lead to less natural looking chest. (If you had cancer then that's something to really bring up with the surgeon.)

Dr McGinn has nice results, imo. I've heard she's very critical and if you have a high BMI she can get testy (former Navy or something).

--Jay

Thank you for the information. So it does make the chest hallow... That's exactly what I've been wondering but I wasn't even able to find any pictures of ciswomen who had theirs removed entirely.  I called one surgeon named Dr Christine McGinn and the receptionist said that they do it but I still need to have a consultation in order to ask her about it which is booked. I will also check out Transbucket too.

[Bimmer Guy]

Thank you for the information. So it does make the chest hallow... That's exactly what I've been wondering but I wasn't even able to find any pictures of ciswomen who had theirs removed entirely.  I called one surgeon named Dr Christine McGinn and the receptionist said that they do it but I still need to have a consultation in order to ask her about it which is booked. I will also check out Transbucket too.

If I understand things correctly, if you want a full on mastectomy, you will not have a male looking chest, but rather it will look the same as a woman's chest after mastectomy.  I am curious to understand why you would prefer this?

[makipu]

Even though it sounds unusual  I always wanted my chest to be as flat as it can get (like how it was before puberty- not that I can even remember how it looked like) so that's why I wanted to remove everything that had to do with breasts. Also, I am not interested in having pecs-(even if not muscular, I don't want anything too much sticking out)
I just  miss that flatness so much.

But I wouldn't want it if it actually makes the chest concave.  It's just that I have not seen the women who had theirs removed due to disease.  I am still not 100% sure about this.

[aleon515]

The big difference, my understanding is that in a mastectomy which women receive for breast cancer, they will remove the lymph nodes and even part of the chest wall. My recommendation for a flat chest is not to work out so you don't have pecs, rather than going for a "female" looking procedure. IMO, it's actually hard (for some of us) to develop pecs, and I have worked out to get some, as I wanted them. I feel that some guys have worked out and that's when you do get a more developed (and actually more male looking) chest. Stay away from push ups and I'm not sure what they call it with weights (the fly or something where you spread your arms out and bring them towards you). A DI procedure won't give you pecs unless you have them.

This is my chest something like 8 months post op with Dr Garramone and I have worked out to get a little bit of pecs. But it's not too much. I worked hard for those teensy tiny baby pecs.


--Jay

[makipu]

I was checking the post mastectomy pictures of women and I found the results somewhat confusing because the scars seem different from each other and there are no nipples. Is this a requirement to remove them? 
I am also generally curious to know why a person would want to keep any of the tissue while removing breasts if there is going to be a risk anyways?  Or is the risk lessened due to the amount left in?

[aleon515]

The goal is not to make the person look good. That's because almost all women would get reconstruction which would involve augmentation and so on. That gives me the idea they don't really know how to make someone look good without doing this. I doubt they know how to reattach nipples, and I doubt its an option because cancer would attack the nipples. I know a few trans guys who have had cancer and have quite a challenge finding a surgeon to work with them.

I'm really confused why you would want a surgeon inexperienced with working with trans guys. The reason trans guys have pecs is they work out. Don't work out and you won't have them or don't work your pecs. Pecs are hard to develop anyway.

--Jay

I was checking the post mastectomy pictures of women and I found the results somewhat confusing because the scars seem different from each other and there are no nipples. Is this a requirement to remove them? 
I am also generally curious to know why a person would want to keep any of the tissue while removing breasts if there is going to be a risk anyways?  Or is the risk lessened due to the amount left in?

[makipu]

Sorry, that's not what I meant at all. I meant it like if I am going to still have the risk anyway, why not remove the breast tissue entirely while I am having surgery is more like what I was curious about.

But apart from that, I was also thinking of removing it entirely because I literally wanted to be flat without any protruding appearance if I were to look myself from a profile view. 

[aleon515]

Unless you are high risk for breast cancer (have the BRACA gene say), I think your risk, after top surgery would be similar to a cis male, IOW quite low. If you have the BRACA gene, then you should consult with a cancer specialist, because you do have a risk. I know one trans guy who has had top surgery who gets mammograms due to family hx, but he just had regular top surgery. He has always tested negative for cancer however. (Guys who have the gene, may still not be able to get top surgery under the insurance. It's not considered the "go to" treatment.)

If you want to have a very flat appearance, I'm sure a lot of guys have that. I think to get pecs one has to work out very hard, so you are likely to be quite flat. I think you would tell your surgeon what you'd want. I have seen someone who was actually concave. Not sure that he actually wanted that, but its what happened anyway. I believe the surgery leaves a bit of tissue there so you aren't completely concave.

--Jay

Sorry, that's not what I meant at all. I meant it like if I am going to still have the risk anyway, why not remove the breast tissue entirely while I am having surgery is more like what I was curious about.

But apart from that, I was also thinking of removing it entirely because I literally wanted to be flat without any protruding appearance if I were to look myself from a profile view.