FFS consults for the future?

[staciM]

Hi everyone, I'm currently progressing through therapy on the road to starting HRT.  My hope is that I can transition stealthy for a period of time, have FFS performed and then live full time.  I've read from other girls experiences that this is a possibility.

HRT and living authentically is very important to me but the world that we live in can be quite difficult and I feel that FFS will be an important element to my overall happiness and quality of life as a woman. 

In this early stage, pre-HRT with a FFS surgery likely 18-24 months away, is there an opportunity to get a proper consultation done to see what "potential" I have for coming out of FFS with something to work with?

I've seen some wonderful before/after work but I would be devastated if after a few years on HRT I was told that FFS wouldn't be possible for some reason or another or what I have to work with is somehow limiting.

I'm not horribly disfigured or anything, but I can imagine that brow work and rhino will be required (at min) and possibly others.

I'm in western Canada if that helps.

Thanks
Staci

[EmilyMK03]

I'm not horribly disfigured or anything

Ok, but are you fat?

That's a serious question.  In order to do a proper evaluation, the surgeon needs to be able to fully see your face and bone structure.  It's difficult to do that if you're overweight, because extra fat goes to your face (mostly your lower face and neck).  Also, being overweight may complicate the surgery itself.  And it will most certainly make post-op recovery more difficult, sometimes significantly so.

So if you're overweight, the best thing you can do to "prepare" for FFS that is 18-24 months away is to get to a healthy BMI and get in the habit of exercising regularly (minimum 3 times a week).

After that, consider getting a virtual FFS transformation from http://www.virtualffs.co.uk/
They do really good work there, and are intimately familiar with FFS techniques.

[staciM]

Thanks for the info....fortunately, i am not overweight.  I'm in good shape but currently am holding some extra muscle that I have been losing consistently over the past few months through diet and proper exercise.

[staciM]

Can anyone else offer any advice? 

Can a photoshopped picture be helpful enough?  Is getting a "proper" consult from a surgeon at this stage even viable?  Would a surgeon during an initial consult analyze bone structure to ensure that certain procedures are even possible compared to a graphic artist being more liberal...or even unrealistic?  Someone with some experience of the general process would be extremely helpful. 

Thanks again
Staci

[EmilyMK03]

It sounds to me like you want some kind of guarantee, even before you begin HRT, that you'll look passable or even beautiful.  Sorry, but there are no guarantees in transition.

I've been on HRT for not quite a year and already had FFS, so I didn't really wait for HRT to feminize my face.  So if you want to do your FFS consultations now, feel free to do it.  But it's probably a waste of time and money to do the consults now, if you're not planning to do the surgeries for another 2 years as you say.  You'd probably just have to go back and do the consults again.  However, if you have an abundance of resources to do so, and if it'll make you feel better, then sure... go ahead and do the consultations now.  There's nothing stopping you from contacting surgeons and setting up appointments with them - the surgeons and the laboratories will be glad to take your money. 

[staciM]

Thanks again Emily, I'm not sure it's fare to say that I'm looking for a guarantee on whether i would pass or be beautiful, perhaps just a guarantee that I have something to work with....if that makes sense.  Are there instances where girls have been told that certain procedures just wouldn't be possible based on the their bone structure?

[EmilyMK03]

perhaps just a guarantee that I have something to work with....if that makes sense.

No, it doesn't make sense.    How much research into FFS have you already done anyway?  You are asking for answers to extremely vague questions... "something to work with"?  "potential"?  Those words are so ambiguous that they're essentially meaningless.

Are there instances where girls have been told that certain procedures just wouldn't be possible based on the their bone structure?

And which "bone structure" are you referring to?  The brow bone?  If that's what you mean, then yes, some people may not be good candidates for the shave technique depending on the thickness of the bone over the frontal sinus.  But those people can always get a Type III forehead reconstruction as the preferred solution instead.

I strongly urge you to visit http://www.virtualffs.co.uk/ and even if you don't get the virtual FFS done, you can at least read about the various techniques used to feminize each part of the face.  It's important to be familiar with what exactly is involved in FFS.