I've been talking about this a lot with my therapist lately. She seems to think I could get away without, but that my face could probably be made to be very feminine without needing to slap another persons face on all together. Said electrolysis, hairline lowering, and hrt alone could do wonders for me. Yet she said my face could be made to look totally typical for a female, even an attractive female maybe with some surgery. Then she said face and voice are the two strongest gender indicators in her opinion and that my face could look female enough that it alone could help me overcome my hands, male skeleton, and height. My voice is fine. I don't think I need to touch my nose or my lips, but I do feel like my jaw, chin, and forehead should be done. My face isn't heavily masculinizes, even those features, so I'd hope I'd be easy for a good surgeon. I seem to be pretty symmetrical.
She suggested Jeffery Spiegel, saying he was one of the best in the world and that he could be a good choice since I already live in Boston. Did anyone have surgery with Dr. Spiegel or are they familiar with his work? I could be getting ahead of myself, maybe I won't need it and it won't be for about 2 years, but I'm just curious after her saying that. Does it look like I'd need extensive FFS or not? That's a pretty good picture as far as displaying my face shape and features goes. Far too much makeup though. I'm hoping that my face can be my bread and butter to compensate for my thin, but pretty masculine overall skeleton and horrible hands and veins.
A few of us here have used Spiegel, including me. What he does mainly is remove obvious male markers (orbital shave, maybe rhino, maybe chin etc), and then soften what you have. There are several postings on other threads about his work, and you can search for those. He is not generally "aggressive" and tries to enhance what you have as you, not make you look like someone else. You come out as a softer or more feminine you.
Whether you need it or not is subjective and really about how you feel about it. It would be hard to offer thoughts on just one photo either. You'd want full face, full profile on both sides, and angled both sides and no makeup -- which is what the surgeons also use when they are consulting. In addition, it's probably best to wait and let HRT do its work for a year or so. It does change your face and will also change what you feel you want or need. The HRT will affect your whole body, and soften it as well so you'll get a better sense of how important FFS is or is not.
He did a trach shave for me.
If you live in Boston just set up an appointment it won't cost anything.
There is no obligation