Okay, I went and had my SRS done a few months ago. I did it stealth, for the reasons I mention in
this topic. It wasn't the perfect experience, and, after much reflection and overcoming a desire not to brag, not to call attention to my 'status' (whatever that is,) to share my story with the community and especially with those who are struggling to choose their SRS surgeons.
I settled on Dr. Chettawut.
I did my homework. I found that the North American surgeons had some few cases of dissatisfaction with the SRS. I also found most Thai surgeons had cases of dissatisfaction. The two who seemed to have the fewest dissatisfaction stories were Dr. Suporn and Dr. Chettawut.
Dr Supporn's reconstruction is quite extensive and quite invasive, and I heard that an extra week of recovery was needed because of it. The results are supposed to be esthetically wonderful. I heard the term "supornista', referring to those who had their SRS's by him, and their insistence that their SRS was the Rolls Royce of SRS's
For that matter, it was hard to do my research, ans each first-hand account painted their surgeon in the most glowing terms, and everybody else was an alcoholic hack (sometimes the writing rose to that level of vitriol.)
I finally settled on Dr. Chettawut because 4 local girls had had their SRS there and I had the chance to question them closely. I felt that I was able to get past the my-doctor-is-the-best factor and uncover a more realistic picture of this particular surgeons results.
After questioning them at length, I felt that I had enough good information, and that Dr. Chettawut was the best overall choice. I booked the surgery and paid the fee.
Two days before surgery, Dr. Chettawut explained a risk of the procedure. He told me and drew diagrams explaining that sometimes the prostate and the rectum grow too close together and the space between becomes tough and overly vascularized. He asked me whether depth was an issue. My answer was that depth was an issue, but I was afraid of getting a fistula. My directions were that he try as hard as possible to to achieve usable depth unless he was reasonably sure he was about to create a fistula.
A day and a half after an 8-1/2 hour procedure that included breast augmentation, I had my happiness that I'd completed the race and had achieved the complete physical transformation I desired destroyed by Dr. Chettawut telling me he had only been able to achieve 2.5 to 3 inches of depth. He said he had encountered the condition he had described in his office, and felt he could not go on.
To say I was bummed is an understatement.
There was another transwoman who had her surgery two days after mine. She had just SRS and was under general anaesthesia for 9-1/2 hours, and had to spend the first night in ICU because of it. She got adequate depth only because of the length of the surgery.
That was a clue I needed. Most North American surgeons rarely spend over 6 hours for a straight SRS, and usually it's only 3 or 4.
I asked Dr. Chettawut about a re-do. Several times. I finally got the message he was done with me. He was sorry it had not worked out, but he was done with me.
I'm booked with Dr. Meltzer for a re-do. I get to get a fake c-section scar (tissue donor site.)
He commented that he sees a lot of vaginal deepening cases from the Thai surgeons, and that it's because they don't learn the proper technique and method of dissecting a neovagina. The ones you hear about that have 6 or 7 inches are the cases that present no challenge. He gets to see the ones that the Thai surgeons couldn't handle
In preparation for telling this story here, I presented it to the support group recently. I wanted to have them ask questions so I'd know what information I needed to include or explain better. One woman signalled she wanted to speak with me privately after the meeting.
She confided that she also had no usable depth from Dr. Chettawut.
I really didn't want to present this information. I don't want pity for my results. You pays your money, and you takes your chances. It's working out that I'm paying about as much as if I'd gone to Dr. Meltzer and had SRS, BA and trache shave all in one go.
I especially don't want to provide fuel to those who may crow about my 'misfortune' and how they were smart/intelligent/charmed enough to choose the right surgeon out of the gate, and thus they must be in some way superior to Karen (Us monkeys do such things...)
I hope you're able to use this information. I really wish it had been there when I was choosing. I wish there was a Consumer Reports rating of SRS surgeons, with little graphics for the different criteria areas, and a "CR Best Buy" logo next to the surgeon who offered the best value for the money...
It's just like the housing market or tech stocks -- the choice only looks stupid after the fact.
May you choose well;
Karen
