Susan's Place Transgender Resources

What is in store for us through bottom surgery due to medical advancements in upcoming decades?

How realistic can science go? I really want bottom surgery, but the results now don't cut it for me. Sure, they look great, but it's missing important factors for me. I know you could get medical tattooing, but I want my own veins and stuff on the penis. Also, the thought of using a pump for erections is disheartening. Don't get me wrong, if someone came up to me and asked if I wanted to get a phalloplasty for free now, I sure as hell would say yes--it's just that a lot of the things I desire I can't achieve with a phalloplasty.

Does anyone think that with this whole 3D printing thing we can actually print our own dicks? Man, that'd be pretty cool. Only time could tell...

The best thing would be the ability to produce sperm, and to be able to impregnate a woman. I don't think that's possible at all, but man that would be awesome if it was a possibility.

The surgeries have come a long way, but Dr.s aren't God and there are some things that just can't be done. You will have your own vein in your penis, but to have an erection, you need erectile tissue, and that isn't possible at this point. Too bad they can't transplant the whole package.

A couple of years ago, I got in touch with a surgeon who does the most up to date work and asked if it was possible to close the entire vagina. He said that they could make the opening smaller, but removal of the vagina would be extremely risky. The nerves in that area might be damaged, causing incontinence, leaking and infection. I figured if they couldn't remove the whole thing, why bother going through another surgery and still have an opening.

Some people just have the clitoral release, which does allow for an erection of the clitoris, but its a micropenis and good luck even coming close to intercourse with it.

It sounds harsh, but there are things that we F to Ms are going to have to accept. Its hard, I'll admit that, but the phalloplasty is so much better than nothing. I've been in locker rooms since and haven't had a problem. No guys are going to be checking out your equipment. Its a question of accepting the limitations or not having the surgery. Its also a question of what is safe and what is not. Urinary hookups leak sometimes which means more surgery, and I don't know of an insurance that will cover it, even after you have legally become a male.

Do your homework and find the best you can afford. If there comes a time when improvements are possible, you can go back and get revisions.

Sam1234

Just wanted to say that it has a come along way but it'll never have the same functionality as a cis guys which makes me feel extremely dysphoric and makes me not 100% want to have phalloplasty. I've heard of 3D printer and believe it will be possible, scientists believe we can print out organs like kidneys if needed so I don't see why not a penis. And I don't see why sperm isn't possible,  maybe in my lifetime if I live to 80. Now we can do miraclous things like implant wombs (I heard that a transwoman had it done recently and gave birth to a healthy baby) and using the dna of a 3rd parent to cure mitochondria, though it's still in its infancy.

I think the most disappointing part is that a great majority of us begin transitioning in the prime years of our lives in terms of being able to undergo extensive surgeries and recover well, meaning that as technology and medicine improve, we become less ideal candidates for it just due to the circumstance of age.

Personally I think we'll get to a point in my lifetime where bottom surgery would be everything I would want it to be. But I don't think we'll get there by the time I'd want to get there.

Not having followed anything trans for a while, are most Dr.s still doing radial arm flaps for phalloplasties? I know one Dr. is taking both full thickness skin and some muscle from the side of the body. I've seen the results online and they look pretty good. Much more realistic than the radial arm flaps they were doing when I was done.

Its too bad they can't grow erectile tissue in the lab from your own cells and then transplant that into the phallus. Maybe some day.

Sam1234

Quote from: sam1234 on February 08, 2015, 06:29:42 PM
Not having followed anything trans for a while, are most Dr.s still doing radial arm flaps for phalloplasties? I know one Dr. is taking both full thickness skin and some muscle from the side of the body. I've seen the results online and they look pretty good. Much more realistic than the radial arm flaps they were doing when I was done.

Its too bad they can't grow erectile tissue in the lab from your own cells and then transplant that into the phallus. Maybe some day.

Sam1234

Hi, Sam.  A lot of people still get RFF.  It is still a very respected approach to phalloplasty.  It is acknowledged as being the surgery that gives the best sensitivity results.  The issue for a lot of guys is the arm scarring, which is why they choose one of the other options.  All types look about the same when it comes to realism nowadays.

Part of the severity of the scarring depends on the way they graft the area they took the full thickness flap from.
When I am in close proximity to people while wearing a short sleeved shirt, I get a lot of either quick or prolonged glances at my arm. I've had a couple people ask me what happened. I just tell them I squirted lighter fluid on a fire in my twenties and burned my arm. I've told Dr.s that if they didn't need to know where the scar came from, and it was accepted.

The funny thing is, if you think about it, fire climbing back up lighter fluid would burn the hand and wouldn't make such an even scar on the arm.

You get used to the looks after a while, and though you might notice them, it stops making you self conscious.

Sam1234

There are pros and cons for whatever site they use for a source material to make are new phallo from.  The RFF has a lot of pros, the biggest cons is that it shows the most with normal clothes.  I am still considering what I would like to use, even thou I am a few years away from surgery.

If you are a few years from surgery, its entirely possible that the surgery will be even better than it is now. Even if it hasn't, the relief of looking like the gender you identify with, you should be fine.

sam1234

Quote from: sam1234 on February 07, 2015, 07:00:17 PM
The surgeries have come a long way, but Dr.s aren't God and there are some things that just can't be done. You will have your own vein in your penis, but to have an erection, you need erectile tissue, and that isn't possible at this point. Too bad they can't transplant the whole package.

A couple of years ago, I got in touch with a surgeon who does the most up to date work and asked if it was possible to close the entire vagina. He said that they could make the opening smaller, but removal of the vagina would be extremely risky. The nerves in that area might be damaged, causing incontinence, leaking and infection. I figured if they couldn't remove the whole thing, why bother going through another surgery and still have an opening.

Some people just have the clitoral release, which does allow for an erection of the clitoris, but its a micropenis and good luck even coming close to intercourse with it.

It sounds harsh, but there are things that we F to Ms are going to have to accept. Its hard, I'll admit that, but the phalloplasty is so much better than nothing. I've been in locker rooms since and haven't had a problem. No guys are going to be checking out your equipment. Its a question of accepting the limitations or not having the surgery. Its also a question of what is safe and what is not. Urinary hookups leak sometimes which means more surgery, and I don't know of an insurance that will cover it, even after you have legally become a male.

Do your homework and find the best you can afford. If there comes a time when improvements are possible, you can go back and get revisions.

Sam1234

so no one can tell you've had it done in the locker room?

Quote from: maiLMan on January 29, 2015, 09:41:13 PM

Does anyone think that with this whole 3D printing thing we can actually print our own dicks? Man, that'd be pretty cool. Only time could tell...

What I was wondering is with the lab grown penises study- it does say it needs a donor penis. However, why can't they print penises out of clitoral cells? They have erectile and erotic tissue.

Quote from: zetabyte99 on October 22, 2015, 12:45:19 AM
What I was wondering is with the lab grown penises study- it does say it needs a donor penis. However, why can't they print penises out of clitoral cells? They have erectile and erotic tissue.

Cells are programmed to grow into only what they are programmed to grow into. They cannot morph into something else. The lab grown penis would come from a cis male donor's cells. The issue is our bodies may reject the penis because it is foreign and created from someone else's cells.

I'm sure with gene manipulation and stem cells we can do something

http://jezebel.com/scientists-have-successfully-grown-a-human-penis-in-th-1642849035

TL;DR: Scientists have grown a human penis in a lab setting. They have previously done successful transplants on rabbits. They hope to do a partial transplant on a human within the next few years and full transplants beyond that.

Could that be the future of phalloplasty? Maybe.

Quote from: haeden on November 27, 2015, 12:00:40 PM
I'm sure with gene manipulation and stem cells we can do something

Agreed. I'm not eligible for SRS yet but even when I am, I'm going to hold out hope for as long as I can to see what they do with stem cells. I know in Thailand they're using some sort of adipose tissue stem cells to create testicles. I've been looking online through Google (not the best source), PubMed, and ebscohost through my library to search the latest research with stem cells. Call me selfish but I honestly can't imagine not having a fully functioning sex life, one that I can both give and receive. To me it's just so hard knowing how similar biological male anatomy is to biological female but somewhere in utero our bodies/cells/whatever didn't get the memo "he's a dude!" So now despite how similar the anatomy may be we're still just that far away and have that twinge of dysphoria.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk