FFS-Lite

[Dorit]

I began my transition with HRT at 70 years old in November of 2017.   I also began full time living as Dorit.    Over time the effects of HRT and improved makeup skins gave me a fairly good female presentation.   While I could often pass, it was not always the case.   Here is a photo the month before my FFS on September 27, 2018.



I had a number of consultations about FFS, three here in Israel and one in the US on Skype.   Israel does not have a very well developed transgender surgery services, but I decided to do it locally to save cost.   The general consensus was that I needed very little if any bone work, the surgeon in the US did suggest a brow bone reduction.

So I decided to go with the Israel transgender surgeon, and no bone work.  So I call it FFS-Lite.    Also considering my age, and that fact that I had already scheduled GRS in the US for DEcember 14, I needed a procedure that I could recover from easily and quickly.   

So I had a rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, direct brow lift, and forehead lift.
Here is a photo of me in the recovery room after more than four hours of surgery.
Of course I am miserable!



The next day, feeling a bit better, but still basically miserable.



Two day later and able to eat a full breakfast!



A week later I went back to my surgeon to have the nose cast and sutures removed.    I had days before gone off the pain pills, and basically only suffered from discomfort and tightness in my face.



I think one of the hardest part of FFS is being in public looking like I had either been beaten of in a car accident!  I did get one confirming comment from a female passerby that declared that her sister too had a nose job!   So here I am three weeks later.



Six weeks later.



This last photo is two months after surgery.   Initially I was disappointed and expected more dramatic results, but as time went on and my face healed and formed,  I was happy and pleased with the results.



The most important result is that I am never misgendered in public any more!!!   Hebrew is an entirely gender language, so there is never any doubt about how you are perceived.   Also, I am ready for my soon GRS and feel like this trial run with surgery passed well with no complications or drawn out healing. 

I hope I have been a help by posting this, particularly to the older women amongst us that are considering FSS but wary of some of the more invasive procedures.

[JudiBlueEyes]

Dorit you look wonderful, yet the interim photos do look scary!  I understand your initial trepidation about the results but then I suppose we wouldn't want to change so much as to lose our sense of identity. 

[Linde]

Dorit, you look great now!
I think I am lucky, and don't need any face job, which is due to my Klinefelter Syndrome.  People with that syndrome have more female faces and look much younger than their biological age.  At least one bonus for being different!

[Dani]

Dorit,

Your results look very good indeed.

Here in the US, many girls have all FFS procedures done, whether they need it or not, which I do not understand. I have always been an advocate of minimal surgical procedures and your FFS-Lite is a very good example of doing only what you feel needs to be done.

Again, congratulations on your successful FFS-Lite.

[Linde]

Dorit,

Your results look very good indeed.

Here in the US, many girls have all FFS procedures done, whether they need it or not, which I do not understand. I have always been an advocate of minimal surgical procedures and your FFS-Lite is a very good example of doing only what you feel needs to be done.

I am like you!  The less one cuts into normal sterile areas of the body, the less possibilities of any infection or similar problems will come up, and the less scar tissue has to be hidden or treated!

[Dani]

For myself, when I had FFS, I only had about half of the procedures offered. I wanted to look natural. Overly fat lips and exaggerated cheek bones are just not for me.

For all you ladies who have had those procedures, feel free to disagree with me, but I know what is right for me.

[Linde]

For myself, when I had FFS, I only had about half of the procedures offered. I wanted to look natural. Overly fat lips and exaggerated cheek bones are just not for me.

For all you ladies who have had those procedures, feel free to disagree with me, but I know what is right for me.

I don't care about the looks, but as a pre and post surgical infection control & prevention person, I hate every cut made into intact skin.  Each of those cuts can become a new source for infections!

[Dorit]

FOUR MONTH UPDATE

In the last two weeks I have noticed a big change in my face.    I was initially disappointed in the results of my FFS in September, especially feeling that my nose was not very different.  The surgeon said that I had to be patient, that the final results are not visible until four to six months after surgery.   He was right!   My nose is now visibly much thinner and more delicate, plus the scarring from my brow lift is gone.  Hebrew is an entirely gendered language, you immediately know how you are perceived.  I now never get misgendered!

[Linde]

It is understandable that you don't get misgendered, because you look very female to me. 

I think German is another very gendered language (every object has a gender - i. e., tables are masculine, paper is neuter, and a cup is female).  I have yet to go to a German speaking country as a female, to see how I would be addressed there?

[Dorit]

It is understandable that you don't get misgendered, because you look very female to me. 

I think German is another very gendered language (every object has a gender - i. e., tables are masculine, paper is neuter, and a cup is female).  I have yet to go to a German speaking country as a female, to see how I would be addressed there?

In Hebrew even the verbs are gendered.   You cannot say to someone "stop" or "wait" or ask where they are going without speaking in either male of female.

[Linde]

In Hebrew even the verbs are gendered.   You cannot say to someone "stop" or "wait" or ask where they are going without speaking in either male of female.

German does it with some verbs, and with almost all adjectives.  If you want to say this is a pretty child, man or woman, you have to gender the adjective pretty for this (ein schönes Kind, ein schöner Mann, eine schöne Frau).
If an adjective is related to an object, an animal, or a person, the adjective has to be gendered to match the gender of the object, animal or person.
I think there is no rule what gender different objects have (it seems the person who invented German forgot to write the rule down, and he/she is long dead so we can't ask him/her anymore).  I almost believe that German speaking people are born with the proper knowledge what gender an object has.  I have yet to hear anybody making a mistake with it.  Yet my ex, who's mother tongue is American English, but who is a linguist, and was a professor at a universities School of Education, teaching language acquisition methods and German, had always a certain struggle with getting the gender of objects right!

[Dorit]

It is almost five months since FFS and two months since GRS.   My bottom still hurts but my face keeps looking better.  I had a makeover at the local pharm and this is the result.

[Linde]

It is almost five months since FFS and two months since GRS.   My bottom still hurts but my face keeps looking better.  I had a makeover at the local pharm and this is the result.

Hot looking lady in that picture!  I wish I was still a guy, and I would ask you out! 

[malinda]

You look fabulous!