FFS??

[Lily.Arwen]

Hi all, just wondering, if I posted a pic of my face, would you able to tell me whether you think I would need FFS?

Of course, I recognise this is not going to be professional advice
Lily

[anjaq]

I think a lot can tell you their opinion. As you said , it is not ptruely professional, but often makes sense, esp if several people agree. Be aware though that posting a picture here means everyone can see it, its a public forum. Also you will not be able to post pictures directly in the forum unless you have been a member for a while - so you would probably have to use imgur or something like that and copy the link here

[Lily.Arwen]

Yeah, I shall have to think carefully about that. Thanks.

[AnonyMs]

There is actually a professional service for something like this. Virtual FFS. There was a post about it before

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php?topic=110589.0

[anjaq]

Yes. Alex does make a complete assessment and also will make photo simulations on request. Her prices for this are ok. But of course it makes sense to also ask others who are into the topic about their opinions - also of course surgeons will make an assessment for you - you can often send them photos for free, some have free consultations, some charge a fee for it.

[Lily.Arwen]

Prices are only reasonable if one has the money for it, which I do not. Right now I have enough money to cover living costs and almost nothing more.

[anjaq]

Do you have an insurance that would cover FFS? If not, the thought of it is kind of mute anyways if you do not have the finances to even pay for consultations. - Sadly in most countries and most situations it is still like this - being trans is seen as a choice and not as something one suffers from without being able to do something against it - and thus they believe we have to pay for all the medical procedures ourselves. They regard it as optional, which translates to having to be rich to afford it.
Maybe you can find some way to have it covered by an insurance? I know some here managed to do that - I believe they would also pay for consultations then. But if not, your only choice will sadly be to try without FFS first and see if it works anyways and maybe save the thought of FFS for a later day. I did not have surgeries that required me to pay for them myself for over 16 years as I could not afford any of it, I tried never to think about it, as it was pointless to think about something I could not do anyways - which does not mean I forgot about it, so now that I have a reasonable income, I can think of saving up for it - almost 2 decades later...

[Lily.Arwen]

Well I think I will manage in the future. It is just I am in a new country and am still job hunting

[anjaq]

I did not want to discourage you. But I learned it for myself during the many times I was not able to do something because of tight finances, that it is just driving one nuts to think about something one cannot do at this point anyways - So one has to find a way to go without it for a while and then come back to the topic once the opportunity is there. And along the way you ma find that it is not needed. The only different situation would be - and maybe this is the case, I do not know - if you postpone transitioning until you are sure you can pass and ponder if you need FFS for that to happen. In that case, that information is important to make a decision to transition or to postpone it until finances and with it FFS are possible. I never had that option as I just could not delay transitioning, but I know some are tough cookies and can hold it back for a little while longer in order to get finances right.