Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I just had first stage MLD done with Crane.

I know there is not as much info on here about MLD than there is regarding RFF or ALT so if anyone has any questions regarding MLD with Crane feel free to ask and I'll try to answer!

Big hug! Congratulations, and you're an awesome possum for being open to questions from everyone.

Hugs, Devlyn

Quote from: randomdude5 on April 10, 2017, 07:43:05 PM
I just had first stage MLD done with Crane.

I know there is not as much info on here about MLD than there is regarding RFF or ALT so if anyone has any questions regarding MLD with Crane feel free to ask and I'll try to answer!

How do you feel about the size of the neophallus?  Do you scar badly and what are you expectations for the healing of your donor site?  I know we are all built different and I am definitely going to have phallo done, I just keep researching the chances of urethra complications of the different methods (RF, ALT, and MLD).  Congratulations and thanks for sharing man!

Congrats!

randomdude5, congrads, i haven't read much on the results of the MLD procedure so do keep updated on how everything goes for you.  How old are you?

Quote from: dre_moe on April 10, 2017, 09:26:47 PM
How do you feel about the size of the neophallus?  Do you scar badly and what are you expectations for the healing of your donor site?  I know we are all built different and I am definitely going to have phallo done, I just keep researching the chances of urethra complications of the different methods (RF, ALT, and MLD).  Congratulations and thanks for sharing man!

I asked for 6 inches and Crane told me they cut 6 inches but I would probably end up a bit longer afterwards. I scar pretty average, and wanted a donor site that was closed in one incision and Crane still wanted to use a skin graft to close the back.  I asked him to close as  much as he could in 1 incision  which is what he did. He told me they can add  a surgery at the end to make the scar smaller after putting in tissue expanders.

The definite biggest downside of MLD is more stages imo. Don't yet know what the sensation will be like.

Quote from: mm on April 11, 2017, 11:03:45 AM
randomdude5, congrads, i haven't read much on the results of the MLD procedure so do keep updated on how everything goes for you.  How old are you?

I am 22.

Quote from: FTMax on April 11, 2017, 07:05:44 AM
Congrats!

Thanks man! Grats on your surgery too.

Quote from: randomdude5 on April 12, 2017, 12:20:43 PM
Thanks man! Grats on your surgery too.

Any follow up on your progress?  How are you coming along Randomdude5?


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Oh, been a while hasn't it. Lol.

Well, I have had 2 stages done now, having a third at the end of this school semester and a fourth and hopefully final stage in the summer-ish. I think this is normally done in 3 stages, but I am having, I guess tissue expanders, put in my side so that they can, during the final surgery, stitch up my back in one incision and get rid of the huge scar.

The main reason I went for MLD is due to the scarring, so that's pretty important to me. Had I gone with the forearm I don't think I could've gone out in a t shirt ever again, lol.

They did reroute the urethra during the first stage though and I've had one fistula that leaks since then but its only about an inch away from the proper urethra anyways so it's not too bad. That will be getting fixed during my upcoming third stage hopefully!
I would have most probably had more sensation with the forearm though, but that wasn't as big a deal for me. It's only been 6 months since the first surgery and then I had a second one so I reckon I still have some time to see how much sensation I will actually have.

Quote from: randomdude5 on October 08, 2017, 12:58:54 PM
Oh, been a while hasn't it. Lol.

Well, I have had 2 stages done now, having a third at the end of this school semester and a fourth and hopefully final stage in the summer-ish. I think this is normally done in 3 stages, but I am having, I guess tissue expanders, put in my side so that they can, during the final surgery, stitch up my back in one incision and get rid of the huge scar.

The main reason I went for MLD is due to the scarring, so that's pretty important to me. Had I gone with the forearm I don't think I could've gone out in a t shirt ever again, lol.

They did reroute the urethra during the first stage though and I've had one fistula that leaks since then but its only about an inch away from the proper urethra anyways so it's not too bad. That will be getting fixed during my upcoming third stage hopefully!
I would have most probably had more sensation with the forearm though, but that wasn't as big a deal for me. It's only been 6 months since the first surgery and then I had a second one so I reckon I still have some time to see how much sensation I will actually have.

Hey man congrats. Can I ask what size you are, length and girth? And did you have to use any tissue from another site?

randomdude5, congrads must feel great to be this far along. Can
you say just how much sensation you do have.

Congrats on surgery!
I've heard before that MLD can cause the chest to be lopsided or uneven and affect previous top surgery results. Have you experienced anything like this?

Thanks everyone!

Quote from: CMD042414 on October 08, 2017, 02:33:26 PM
Hey man congrats. Can I ask what size you are, length and girth? And did you have to use any tissue from another site?

Length at this point is right about 6 inches still, maybe a tiny bit under. Girth is harder to say because they have the extra skin graft on the under side right now that will serve as the urethra for the next stage, so girth might go down after that, but as of now it is also about 6 inches. (He has offered me liposuction of the phallus as well. Something to consider, I am pretty thin and still came out with something quite girthy. A bit more than I was expecting tbh lol.)

For that graft I just mentioned they did use tissue from another site. They took some from around the pelvic area near the hip joint. That they close in 1 incision though, it is not a huge scar like where they take the flap for the phallus from.

Quote from: mm on October 09, 2017, 07:26:48 AM
randomdude5, congrads must feel great to be this far along. Can
you say just how much sensation you do have.

The sensation is a bit weird to describe. Tactile on the shaft near the base, and for about the first half (closest to me) of the shaft if I apply pressure, (Squeezing or something, lol) I can feel it, but light touch not really other than the shaft area close to the base. I can orgasm fine as well, just sayin'!

Quote from: CursedFireDean on October 09, 2017, 05:18:12 PM
Congrats on surgery!
I've heard before that MLD can cause the chest to be lopsided or uneven and affect previous top surgery results. Have you experienced anything like this?

It has not affected my top surgery results, the only thing is there is some indentation I guess? where they took the actual graft on my side and back, but yeah it hasn't affected the look of my chest. Crane likes to use a split thickness graft to cover the MLD site too, and then do the tissue expander thing to get rid of the scar later, so that might be why it doesn't affect the skin of the chest much.

Going for 3rd stage in a few days so hopefully will have another update on this soon!

Quote from: randomdude5 on January 03, 2018, 02:01:56 AM
Going for 3rd stage in a few days so hopefully will have another update on this soon!

Looking forward to your updates, Randomdude!




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My 3rd stage was yesterday morning it has then been about 24 hours.

This was the surgery I was looking forward to the most, as it was finalising the look of the penis including making the glans, doing a bit of liposuction of the phallus and extending the urethra to the tip!

I haven't seen the results yet but Dr. Crane seemed super happy and pleased with how it turned out and the person helping me recover also thought it was pretty good. Will be more updates on this as it heals, and possibly pictures in private messaging if someone is curious as to how it looks, but I might mention to Crane if he wanted some pics on his site cause as of now there are no MLD pictures.

The skin expanders are by far the most painful part of this. I am half gone as I type this so excuse any typos.

Quote from: randomdude5 on January 06, 2018, 12:33:52 PM
My 3rd stage was yesterday morning it has then been about 24 hours.

This was the surgery I was looking forward to the most, as it was finalising the look of the penis including making the glans, doing a bit of liposuction of the phallus and extending the urethra to the tip!

I haven't seen the results yet but Dr. Crane seemed super happy and pleased with how it turned out and the person helping me recover also thought it was pretty good. Will be more updates on this as it heals, and possibly pictures in private messaging if someone is curious as to how it looks, but I might mention to Crane if he wanted some pics on his site cause as of now there are no MLD pictures.

The skin expanders are by far the most painful part of this. I am half gone as I type this so excuse any typos.

This is awesome randomdude—Congratulations on Stage 3.  I am going in for MLD with Dr Miro in Belgrade next Tuesday 1/16 is my Stage 1 sx.  I am scared and thrilled at the same time.  I am glad to hear that Crane does MLD, as on the FB forums I just haven't heard that much about it, and not many US surgeons do MLD.  Would love to stay in touch with you as I hear that Crane is doing some great work on glansplasty etc—and the aesthetics are important to me as well, and who knows, maybe be Stage 3 I'll stay stateside.  Let's keep in touch!


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Gratz on getting your first stage very soon! And yes, Crane does MLD, but I am certain he does RFF and ALT way more often as he kind of tried to talk me out of MLD during my consult. In the end though, I'm glad I stuck with MLD.

It has been a few days now, and I've gotten a better look at the results while changing bandages and such. I must say I am very pleased with how it's coming along. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think this is better than whatever I was expecting!

Still hooked up to a catheter until Tuesday, so can't really know right now if the fistula I've had has been repaired this time. (They tried to fix it during stage 2 and t re-opened.) The Drs. don't seem too concerned when it comes to that or new fistulas for that matter, so hopefully Tuesday I find out that everything i working perfectly well!


I'd love to keep contact as well SaerJoe.

Congratulations man! Thanks for posting so much of your journey. MLD is definitely the route I plan on taking because of scarring as well. Hope you have a speedy recovery and once things start to heal up a bit more, I'd like to be one of the folks that PMs you about photos. Thanks again and congrats


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How was your recovering from having the skin removed from your back? How long were you out of work? Did you need assistance at home? How much did it hurt?

Quote from: randomdude5 on January 06, 2018, 12:33:52 PM
My 3rd stage was yesterday morning it has then been about 24 hours.

This was the surgery I was looking forward to the most, as it was finalising the look of the penis including making the glans, doing a bit of liposuction of the phallus and extending the urethra to the tip!

I haven't seen the results yet but Dr. Crane seemed super happy and pleased with how it turned out and the person helping me recover also thought it was pretty good. Will be more updates on this as it heals, and possibly pictures in private messaging if someone is curious as to how it looks, but I might mention to Crane if he wanted some pics on his site cause as of now there are no MLD pictures.

The skin expanders are by far the most painful part of this. I am half gone as I type this so excuse any typos.

Thanks for responding—i am just seeing this.  I am on day 5 post-op from Stage 1 MLD w Miro (phallo, UL, vnectomy, scroto, hysto) and was on my feet 3x yesterday and twice thus far today marching around the room.  My God is it wonderful to be vertical!!  I am not big on laying around and wow—was this a tough-go.  But here we are, looking at the other side.   Let's both pray (and I'm not religious) for full and healthful recoveries.

I am encouraged to hear your positive experience with Crane, as I've been following some FB groups, one in which a fairly serious issue with a Crane patient (post stage 1) resulted in loss of the phallus and near loss of life.  The malpractice suits piling up of late on him are a concern to me.  I am certain that he is prioritizing his existing clients like yourself (who know how difficult this recovery is and how to get there)—-and that is smart!   While I have concerns about this, I do recognize his talent and wouldn't rule him out for later stages as time goes on.  I'm going to give the body a good time to heal on this before I even dive back in to what the next stage will be.  I do have some good options though, with Bluebond-Langner 5 hrs from me in NYC.  We'll see.

Thanks so much for reaching back, and —-best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to you.  While the care here has been outstanding (despite the few English speakers; pack google translator) and I've another week or so (depending on need) to go beginning tomorrow at a nearby apartment, I cannot tell you how ready I am to be back stateside in my own home for the lion's share of the recovery.  If you wish, we could keep up more directly by email—just give a holler.

All the best!      With healing powers from Belgrade, Serbia!(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180121/de8623ed28698c24c9e0a61c212db58a.jpg)



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Quote from: RedSoxMichael on January 20, 2018, 11:14:58 AM
How was your recovering from having the skin removed from your back? How long were you out of work? Did you need assistance at home? How much did it hurt?

It would be hard to actually compare to having skin used from the thigh or forearm since I haven't experienced both of course! But, I must admit it was pretty painful after the first surgery because since it is from the back, it was hard to find a way to sit without pain since I couldn't lean back on stuff without it hurting, and everytime you move to walk or anything you're moving your torso, whereas I'd imagine for the other 2 (moreso the arm) you can move around without moving those parts so much. I do recall my back being the most painful part of the first surgery. Even though they did the scrotoplasty and vaginectomy and my crotch area was sore, my back was definitely worse.

I am in university so I wasn't working, but I took the semester off since I definitely had to spend 1 month in Texas where the surgeon is. It took several weeks for me to be able to walk without slouching over because of my back. They didn't want me lifting stuff for a good 2 months or so, and while I may have been able to go back to school after the first month or 5 weeks, I definitely wouldn't have felt like it and it was nice to have the semester off. Any kind of physical job, you'd want more time off than just the 1 month. For an office job it would be easier to go back sooner, but probably at least 6 weeks of time off I'd guesstimate.

I had someone helping me at home, (surgeon wanted someone to stay with me for 1 month after we got back home, in case something happened, etc.) but I could pretty much manage on my own.

Quote from: SaerJoe on January 21, 2018, 05:42:58 AM


Thanks for responding—i am just seeing this.  I am on day 5 post-op from Stage 1 MLD w Miro (phallo, UL, vnectomy, scroto, hysto) and was on my feet 3x yesterday and twice thus far today marching around the room.  My God is it wonderful to be vertical!!  I am not big on laying around and wow—was this a tough-go.  But here we are, looking at the other side.   Let's both pray (and I'm not religious) for full and healthful recoveries.

I am encouraged to hear your positive experience with Crane, as I've been following some FB groups, one in which a fairly serious issue with a Crane patient (post stage 1) resulted in loss of the phallus and near loss of life.  The malpractice suits piling up of late on him are a concern to me.  I am certain that he is prioritizing his existing clients like yourself (who know how difficult this recovery is and how to get there)—-and that is smart!   While I have concerns about this, I do recognize his talent and wouldn't rule him out for later stages as time goes on.  I'm going to give the body a good time to heal on this before I even dive back in to what the next stage will be.  I do have some good options though, with Bluebond-Langner 5 hrs from me in NYC.  We'll see.

Thanks so much for reaching back, and —-best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to you.  While the care here has been outstanding (despite the few English speakers; pack google translator) and I've another week or so (depending on need) to go beginning tomorrow at a nearby apartment, I cannot tell you how ready I am to be back stateside in my own home for the lion's share of the recovery.  If you wish, we could keep up more directly by email—just give a holler.

Grats on your surgery! Glad to hear your recovery seems to be going well!

I also have heard some not so good cases happening to patients of Crane, but honestly I've had such a good experience. When I had questions I was able to text him and he'd reply promptly. I ended up in the ER because of catheter problems, (Everytime I get a catheter I end up in ER apparently, I just have bad luck with catheters!) and I texted him from the ER cause the ER doctor didn't know what they were doing. He wasn't on call and didn't answer my texts right away as he did not have his phone with him, but one of the doctors on his team was a huge help and even phoned the ER to tell them what to do. Doctor Crane phoned me the next day to make sure everything was okay.

He definitely seems to care about his patients, and I literally have nothing negative to say about him.

I hope your recovery continues to go well and hopefully you don't have any complications! I just got home a few hours ago after being away for the surgery for several weeks and am glad to finally be back. All this is exhausting but very much worth it!

I thank you for keeping me updated as well, and if you rather e-mail, I'm all for it, just let me know if that's the case!

Best of luck to you! (and sorry for the longggg post. Thanks for the picture by the way! Looks nice and sunny!)

Quote from: randomdude5 on January 21, 2018, 11:49:02 PM
It would be hard to actually compare to having skin used from the thigh or forearm since I haven't experienced both of course! But, I must admit it was pretty painful after the first surgery because since it is from the back, it was hard to find a way to sit without pain since I couldn't lean back on stuff without it hurting, and everytime you move to walk or anything you're moving your torso, whereas I'd imagine for the other 2 (moreso the arm) you can move around without moving those parts so much. I do recall my back being the most painful part of the first surgery. Even though they did the scrotoplasty and vaginectomy and my crotch area was sore, my back was definitely worse.

I am in university so I wasn't working, but I took the semester off since I definitely had to spend 1 month in Texas where the surgeon is. It took several weeks for me to be able to walk without slouching over because of my back. They didn't want me lifting stuff for a good 2 months or so, and while I may have been able to go back to school after the first month or 5 weeks, I definitely wouldn't have felt like it and it was nice to have the semester off. Any kind of physical job, you'd want more time off than just the 1 month. For an office job it would be easier to go back sooner, but probably at least 6 weeks of time off I'd guesstimate.

I had someone helping me at home, (surgeon wanted someone to stay with me for 1 month after we got back home, in case something happened, etc.) but I could pretty much manage on my own.

Grats on your surgery! Glad to hear your recovery seems to be going well!

I also have heard some not so good cases happening to patients of Crane, but honestly I've had such a good experience. When I had questions I was able to text him and he'd reply promptly. I ended up in the ER because of catheter problems, (Everytime I get a catheter I end up in ER apparently, I just have bad luck with catheters!) and I texted him from the ER cause the ER doctor didn't know what they were doing. He wasn't on call and didn't answer my texts right away as he did not have his phone with him, but one of the doctors on his team was a huge help and even phoned the ER to tell them what to do. Doctor Crane phoned me the next day to make sure everything was okay.

He definitely seems to care about his patients, and I literally have nothing negative to say about him.

I hope your recovery continues to go well and hopefully you don't have any complications! I just got home a few hours ago after being away for the surgery for several weeks and am glad to finally be back. All this is exhausting but very much worth it!

I thank you for keeping me updated as well, and if you rather e-mail, I'm all for it, just let me know if that's the case!

Best of luck to you! (and sorry for the longggg post. Thanks for the picture by the way! Looks nice and sunny!)

Yes, indeed—-the first week here was gray and gloomy, but we've had much sun this second week.

I find it very interesting your experience with the back donor site.  For me, the incision area (a Y-shape, with the Y under the armpit) does not bother me at all.  I mean, not at all, other than the tightness of the stitches.  I requested the minimum size phallus yet compatible with potential implants, so without a measuring device I'd say I'm 5.5-6", and and about 5" in girth, so incision area did not require a graft.  The main discomfort I have is in that they had to release 2 stitches from the base of the phallus just 3 hours post-op, because of slow return blood flow, and now it is healing essentially open, just above a very sensitive exposed clitoris.  So packing gauze in there while the whole thing heals until they decide a course of action Monday has been a pain.  Literally.  Impossible to sit at even 100 degrees.

I am really glad to hear of your experience with Crane; I've come to believe that this healing and experience is what we make it.  How educated we are going in, and especially the understanding that if we choose UL, that we'd better get our heads around life on a catheter for what could be months.  I'm not convinced that many guys really think that part through.  I myself debated on the whole UL thing, and seriously—-if it doesn't settle down positively within 90 days after getting home 2/3–I may abandon the whole mess.  Pre-op, I'd never had a single UTI nor bladder problem, ever.  I've no patience nor designs on a life of strictures, catheters and pain just to avoid sitting to pee.  It just seems nuts to me!

So—please keep me updated on your progress.  Heal well!!!!!!!  And let's stay in touch.  My email address is sj@htva.net.


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This will receive another update soon as I am going for my 4TH!!! surgery in about a month and a half!

Still open to answering any questions about this procedure!!!

@Randomdude5 ?? how are you doing?? 

Oh wow I forgot about this site.

Haha. I got an implant finally and it has been several years now since the initial surgery. I am super pleased and glad I picked this over forearm. Dr. Crane told me not to expect any feeling in the phallus afterwards but i do have some and I have still been getting more feeling back over time so I am not sure how that will be in the end.

With skin expanders they stretched the skin on my back and got rid of the skin graft scar so that is super nice to not have the super noticeable scar.

Had an issue with the first implant and had to get it replaced a month ago. Things have been pretty great. 0 regrets. Glad I opted for MLD.