What do you think I need?

[MeowMeansMeow]

Hi all, I am a fairly new user here. I posted a thread over on the MtF forum about my fears of passing as female. Alexia very kindly offered to do a virtual feminization of my face, see what you think! Also, I'd be curious to hear what you all think I would need in terms of surgery to make myself look more passable as a woman. I am not interested in movie star looks, I just want to be a more feminine version of me, so people don't instantly think "guy" when they look at me. I've only just started on this process, so I haven't done any hormones or even started to try growing out my hair yet - but that will come. Any advice much appreciated...

Thanks!

Meow


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[Megan]

Lip lift, cheek implants, and maybe hair transplant

But I think you already look very feminine.

[Flan]

my 2 cents

wig of some sort (...) chin implant, mallar (cheek bone) implant, (the implants are for facial definition) and something for the undereyes

if you want to waste money, "pin" the ears back, nose is iffy since the image doesn't provide enough detail about projection, width, ect...

brows are ok but need to be colored, shaped a little (the second image is overkill)

[MeowMeansMeow]

Thanks! Ok, to give some better idea of the shape of the face, here is a (very unflattering, but accurate) side profile...

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[juliekins]

Do you have a budget from which to work? This way you can break things down into must have, would like to have, and frosting on the cake.

From what I can see, you will need to:
1. Remove facial hair with electro and/or laser
2. Decide if you can live with wigs (which get hot) or hair transplants. Transplants would be done 12 months after any facial work involving a line across the scalp.
3. Brow bossing work and scalp advance.
4. Cheek implants
5. Rhinoplasty with lip shortening
6. Chin implant with possible lipo in the neck area with trach shave.
7. Possible lower bleph (eye work). You might try using a topical hydrocortisone cream first, though. It eliminates puffiness and may be enough.

These are all possibilities depending upon your budget and needs. Remember that you would rather recover once, then to split things up and have two recoveries!

You might want to also get on the FFS Yahoo groups site. Good luck, I think you will do great!

[MeowMeansMeow]

Another of me more direct frontal...

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[Flan]

nose and brow ridge are both borderline, if push came to shove I would recommend a nose job over brow bossing

[MeowMeansMeow]

Thanks, all! Does anybody have any ballpark ranges that people usually pay to have this sort of work done? Take the complete list posted above by Juliekins, say, what's the rough ballpark? Say, to the nearest 10 or 20 thousand dollars. Are we talking $40k? $100k? $20k?

I've seen that Dr Suporn in Thailand seems to be well regarded. Do you gals think it's worthwhile going somewhere like that to get this work done? Seems like it might be cheaper than in the US, and no less high quality of care as far as I can tell.

[juliekins]

From what I can see, you will need to:
1. Remove facial hair with electro and/or laser
2. Decide if you can live with wigs (which get hot) or hair transplants. Transplants would be done 12 months after any facial work involving a line across the scalp.
3. Brow bossing work and scalp advance.
4. Cheek implants
5. Rhinoplasty with lip shortening
6. Chin implant with possible lipo in the neck area with trach shave.
7. Possible lower bleph (eye work). You might try using a topical hydrocortisone cream first, though. It eliminates puffiness and may be enough.

1. Electro will be around $10,000 USD for 100-120 hours of work.
2. You would need about 8000 implants, which in the US would cost about $20,000 or so. You can go to Mexico for less. Your quality may vary, however.
3. Brow bossing and scalp advance about $5-7000.
4. Cheek implants about $3-4000.
5. Rhino about $7500 and the lip shortening about $1500.
6. Uncertain about the chin implant, trach and neck lipo. Maybe $6-8000?
7. Lower eyes about $2000.

You will have to add the cost of the facility, anesthesia and recovery. This could be another $8000.

You can go overseas, but if you have issues that you want looked at post-op, it's a long plane ride! My surgeon was in LA, and I still haven't gotten back there for him to have taken a look. I'm happy, but if he was closer, I would have gone back already.

[placeholdername]

8000 implants?  What does that mean?

And for electro, are you talking facial hair only, or everything involved as needed for SRS as well?

[MeowMeansMeow]

So you're talking something on the order of $50-100k. Ok, time to get working!

[juliekins]

What I meant by 8000 implants, was the area of hair loss in the front and up top. Each hair is implanted, and taken from a graft at the back of the head where the hair is still plentiful.

Costs in the states run about $2.75-$4.00 per hair. I'm sure she could negotiate based upon the amount of work she chooses to do. I've heard of specials in Mexico running about $1.75 -$2 per hair, though I can't yet vouch for the quality. I know of a good hair transplant doc here in the Chicago area, and can only speak to this person's work.

HRT with an anti androgen drug like Spiro or Avodart, will stop further hair loss damage, but won't put too much hair back. That's where the transplants come in. She could also try Rogaine to see how effective this will be for her.

[Flan]

So you're talking something on the order of $50-100k. Ok, time to get working!

nah (heh)
alot of it is stuff you can get one thing/payment at a time (hair stuff)
and the stuff needing general anesthesia, can be bundled to save when it comes to recovery (since it takes a certain amount of time per operation) and cost

I would guess 30k USD worth, the big cost stuff is when bone has to be removed (because of risk of infection)

[MeowMeansMeow]

Is Rogaine the best thing for combatting thinning hair (given that I haven't started hormones yet)? Or are there other treatments that anybody can recommend?

The other one I have heard of is Propecia - can you use both at the same time?

Thanks!

Meow

[juliekins]

Your doc could put you on Avodart, which is in the finesteride/duesteride family of drugs. They are prescribed for men to combat prostate problems, but lower doses combat hair loss. For us, it works great to halt the effects of DHT and hair loss.