Hi everyone,
I am transitioning from male to female, and have been on HRT for 3.5 months now. My face is changing pretty dramatically from month-to-month, as I often discern in pictures I've taken of myself, but I'm not sure how it's changing. My friends and family are telling me the exact same thing, and of course, since we can't really distinguish how it is changing, I'm sometimes tempted to just attribute my changes in appearance to how long my hair is getting.
So, anyway, my question is -- how exactly does one's face typically change throughout HRT?? I often hear that changes in facial appearance owe to fat redistribution, but this isn't really helping me have faith that my face will look good one year from now, for example. How does the fat in the face redistribute exactly?? I'd like to sort of project where I'm going to wind up if that's even possible lol.
Sorry if this is a rudimentary question!! Thanks, everyone!!
Alice
Face gets fuller, rounder, less angular and cheeks fuller. Skin becomes more translucent and softer.
I have the same reactions from people, and it sounds like we've been on HRT for the same time frame.
What I started doing to figure out if it was fat redistribution was to measure chest (Yay!), waist, hips, etc. Conclusion? Yes, young padawan...it is fat redistribution taking effect.
Sit back and enjoy the ride!
BTW, If that profile picture is you, you're going to wind up pretty hot!
I just hit my one year mark and I am not sure if there's any change not attributable to raising the quality of my nutrition and laser hair removal. My face might have become softer but it might also be that back then I was not as good at taking pictures. Anyway here is my comparison video.
Trans Rant - One Year on Hormones: http://youtu.be/8QehBktTEHs
Wish I had cheeks filling up but they didn't. And putting on more weight hasn't worked for me when I "tried" (i.e. went on the occasional junk food binge) since all the extra fat goes one hundred percent to my belly. Hopefully this is still just the beginning for me at age 35 possibly having a slow and/or weak response to hormones.
To be perfectly honest, my face on HRT looks fat. It looks like I've gained 30lbs - chubbier cheeks, etc. Don't get me wrong - I like the look, but I guess it just takes some time getting used to.
But there's definitely a certain feminine fatness about my face now - it's not like I used to look when I was actually a fat guy.
I have seen a lot of changes around my eyes. When i lean in close to the mirror to put on eyeliner I see girls eyes staring back at me now. Something happens around the eye itself to open it up and reshape it, and the whites of my eyes are more white now. You can see the same effect in the still picture that's in Ruth's video above this - her eyes have changed too.
Other than that my face has gotten rounder, softer, and less angular. My cheekbones are beginning to show up as well.
I'm a little over a year on a transitioning level dose of HRT.
I'll just show you what happened with me. I won't leave this up for long, but here ya go (please don't quote pic cause I will remove, but if you do that's ok).
Before HRT on the left. One thing that makes them look different besides just the physical change is my expression, but I don't think I could make that disconnected look of despair I had in the befores if I tried. I think the bottom shows what can happen most clearly, but I think the top shows how my jawline really rounded quite a bit so I included it. It makes me sad to see how much I hated life back then :(.
This is about 5 1/2 years of HRT effects, so yeah, long time!
(Oh click to enlarge a little bit)
BunnyBee, that's just on hrt? No surgery? Hope it's ok I ask.
No, no surgery. HRT only.
Awesome rounding out of your face! Did you have it before 5.5 year mark or just recently?
The angularity softened right away. But then it kept softening more and more. Probably about 3 years in or so I stopped looking like a different person every few months and really haven't changed much since then, other than get older looking :P
And what age did you start hrt? It's just I feel nothing is changing for me and I am trying to get some proportions if things could change for me when so many say they get changes after several months.
I started when I was 32. Please keep in mind that I do have pre-hrt pictures from different angles that do not show an enormous diff. But from some angles you can see the change. It's all very subtle but also somehow drastic.
I do see a difference in your pictures. You sound nice.
Thanks, BunnyBee! I like my voice and don't care that it sounds male. Just want my face to feminize. Here's a poem about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMRkQU-TBvo
Very cool :). Very low voice in that one! You are so skinny. I am jealous, and I wish I had your shoulders too.
I stay skinny and healthy by eating large amounts of fruits and vegetables, and a certain amount of legumes, nuts and seeds. In the cooked food department mainly chickpeas, split peas, mushrooms and onions. I go for large amounts of nutrient rich food, eating 3 kilos a day. One can and should eat large quantities of food every day to meet the nutritional needs of the body. As long as the food is high nutrient density, it works, and works faster if you avoid low nutrient density foods like white bread, white potatoes, white rice, oil, meat and dairy. I still eat low nutrient food once or twice a week.
Keep in mind in the last video I am pressing my tummy muscles really hard, I'm actually after a low nutrient large meal here.
BunnyBee, you look skinny too. I'm jealous of how feminine you look and you're very beautiful!
Thank you for saying so :). I'm not that skinny or fat. I'm just normal fatness, I would say :)
I've been on HRT for 1.5 years and the changes I've and others have notice have all made my nose look about 2 sizes smaller. My eyes have become more oval shaped.
Quote from: VikingArchangel on December 31, 2014, 09:08:25 AM
I have the same reactions from people, and it sounds like we've been on HRT for the same time frame.
What I started doing to figure out if it was fat redistribution was to measure chest (Yay!), waist, hips, etc. Conclusion? Yes, young padawan...it is fat redistribution taking effect.
Sit back and enjoy the ride!
BTW, If that profile picture is you, you're going to wind up pretty hot!
Hahaha thank you! Yes, that's me -- without makeup... I'm very lucky.
Anyway, what you've said makes perfect sense, as my hip circumference, for example, has dropped from 31 inches to 27 inches. I've seen fat redistribution all around, but it's just so crazy to me that -- even with the minute amount of fat I've gained -- that my face has changed like it has...! And I'll try to sit back and enjoy as much as I can! Lol. I get so caught up in worrying about how I'll look in the future that it's actually pretty difficult to relax!
Quote from: BunnyBee on December 31, 2014, 11:18:47 PM
I'll just show you what happened with me. I won't leave this up for long, but here ya go (please don't quote pic cause I will remove, but if you do that's ok).
Before HRT on the left. One thing that makes them look different besides just the physical change is my expression, but I don't think I could make that disconnected look of despair I had in the befores if I tried. I think the bottom shows what can happen most clearly, but I think the top shows how my jawline really rounded quite a bit so I included it. It makes me sad to see how much I hated life back then :(.
This is about 5 1/2 years of HRT effects, so yeah, long time!
(Oh click to enlarge a little bit)
Sorry -- I didn't get here in time to view the pictures in time! One facial change that my family can put their fingers on is the changes in my jawline, so, even though I missed the pics, it makes sense to me that your jaw would round out after such a long span of taking HRT! And as an aside, I too see pictures of myself pre-transition, and I can't help but get over the look of despair that I myself exuded. For me, however, these pictures aren't from that long ago, as I've been on HRT for about 3.5 months.
Quote from: Eva Marie on December 31, 2014, 08:47:22 PM
I have seen a lot of changes around my eyes. When i lean in close to the mirror to put on eyeliner I see girls eyes staring back at me now. Something happens around the eye itself to open it up and reshape it, and the whites of my eyes are more white now. You can see the same effect in the still picture that's in Ruth's video above this - her eyes have changed too.
Other than that my face has gotten rounder, softer, and less angular. My cheekbones are beginning to show up as well.
I'm a little over a year on a transitioning level dose of HRT.
I've not yet experienced the whitening of my eyes, but that would be great. I hope it happens!! They do, however, look much bigger, and I've also experienced a noticeable increase in the prominence of my cheekbones, which I can't quite figure out since it seems to me that HRT causes you to accumulate fat in the apples of your cheeks.
Lol I'm trying to think of what else has happened to my face after 3.5 months of HRT, but it's still really hard to put my finger on and verbalize. Yet, I've been gendered as female a few times now, so there is clearly
something going on. Wish this topic were as easy to tackle as discerning my body shape changes!!
Also, you look so beautiful in your profile picture! Thanks for your input!
Quote from: Ruth Ruthless on December 31, 2014, 04:42:41 PM
I just hit my one year mark and I am not sure if there's any change not attributable to raising the quality of my nutrition and laser hair removal. My face might have become softer but it might also be that back then I was not as good at taking pictures. Anyway here is my comparison video.
Trans Rant - One Year on Hormones: http://youtu.be/8QehBktTEHs
Wish I had cheeks filling up but they didn't. And putting on more weight hasn't worked for me when I "tried" (i.e. went on the occasional junk food binge) since all the extra fat goes one hundred percent to my belly. Hopefully this is still just the beginning for me at age 35 possibly having a slow and/or weak response to hormones.
In my humble, unprofessional opinion, it seems to me that your face has changed a lot -- even outside of the realm of hair removal. However, as with my own transition, I can't verbalize
how it has changed. Overall, your face is much more feminine to me, though. :)
In regards to cheeks becoming fuller, pre-HRT, I was very muscular (5 ft. 10, 185 lbs.), so I chose to start my transition by blasting all of that muscle away (i.e., eating low protein)... In the process, I lost some pretty significant body fat as well, so my face looked gaunt -- at least for me -- for a little while. So, I decided to just go all out in terms of eating, afterwards, and soon, my face had filled up significantly, especially in the cheek area. Of course, I still have probably 15 more pounds to go in terms of fat gain, but I
do look a lot better! So, maybe putting on weight, and tolerating keeping it on will result in your cheeks filling in more!
Not to say you necessarily need that, or that you haven't tried keeping weight on, but I want to help as much as I can. :) Thanks for your input!
People spoke about how my eyes got bigger. I think that has to do a lot with the bags under my eyes, and they are still big if I don't make a concious effort to release the muscles beneath my eyes, something I learned while posing for the camera so many times to see if there is change. So measuring bias there plus learning to use my face in a way to make it look more feminine.
Plus, a big reason why the skin may appear softer though it hasn't changed is that the lighting on the left has a strong red hue whereas on the right it has a soft yellow hue. The redness accentuates flaws such as the acne I had only on that specific few days. I also had a puffing up of the area above my lips and under my nose due to obsessively plucking out all my beard hairs with a tweezer one by one which again has nothing to do with hormones.
Both laser therapy and nutrition changes I made could have also added softness to my skin that has nothing to do with hormones.
Finally, about getting fat, in my case so far, whenever I let go and eat some junk food, it all goes to the belly. Nothing to the face, and half as much to the butt and breasts as compared to the belly. So it also makes my body proportions less feminine. So trying to put on more weight makes things worse for me.
Mind you, again, I am not restricting calories. I eat lots of food. I just try to make sure it's high nutrient food.
I think there *is* some difference from the hormones, but there are also many other factors which I detailed above so the hormones are just a small part. Hopefully more will change. I saw one person write her nose got smaller. So far people told me that's probably not going to happen for me without surgery, but what she wrote made me wonder if it could happen anyway.
Hi Jasper93~!
My face has totally changed, You would not recognize me at all from 5 years ago.
such a rounder face now, so much softer features. even my deep set eyes seems to not be so deep set ???
My body shape now is similar to yours pre hrt . i'm 178cm 70kg about 5'10 about 155lbs.
I think you are young, so I wouldn't worry too much, lots of changes to come.
I am 28. Changes happen so much slower now then they would have if I started when I was in my earlier 20s
Is it ok for me to add you on facebook?
Quote from: Valerie Rose on January 02, 2015, 03:59:13 AM
Hi Jasper93~!
My face has totally changed, You would not recognize me at all from 5 years ago.
such a rounder face now, so much softer features. even my deep set eyes seems to not be so deep set ???
My body shape now is similar to yours pre hrt . i'm 178cm 70kg about 5'10 about 155lbs.
I think you are young, so I wouldn't worry too much, lots of changed to come.
I am 28. Changes happen so much slower now then they would have if I started when I was in my earlier 20s
Is it ok for me to add you on facebook?
Hi Valerie :)
Thanks for your input; it's all very encouraging! There are aspects of my face that have changed also, that you wouldn't have expected. I think the main one is my jawline; that's the one people point out the most, which makes no sense to me since bone structure obviously doesn't change. And yes, I'm young -- 21 years old. :)
Also, actually, as far as my pre-HRT body shape goes, I was really into bodybuilding, and was muscular to the point that I'd get stopped in public to divulge my workout regimen, so I weighed ~185 lbs. Now, I weigh ~145 lbs., so I too am unrecognizable. Lastly, I feel like I dodged a real bullet having started at 20 years old; I really, really thought it would be better for me to initiate HRT after getting settled into a stable career. Of course, the dysphoria skyrocketed this last year, and caused more problems than I could handle, soo boom...I'm transitioning already lol. Oh, and I encourage you to add me on FB! Just realize that I'm not explicitly out on there yet lol.
Alice
The earlier the better. If I started at age 21 like you instead of 34 a year ago like I did then today I would probably have hair. I began losing it at 18 and began shaving my head at 21. So barring future technology advancements I will have to uncomfortably wear wigs for the rest of my life. A third of men lose their hair by their 30s and two thirds by their 60s. Starting hormones as early as possible was a great decision and more power to you for that!
Quote from: Ruth Ruthless on December 31, 2014, 04:42:41 PM
I just hit my one year mark and I am not sure if there's any change not attributable to raising the quality of my nutrition and laser hair removal. My face might have become softer but it might also be that back then I was not as good at taking pictures. Anyway here is my comparison video.
Trans Rant - One Year on Hormones: http://youtu.be/8QehBktTEHs
Wish I had cheeks filling up but they didn't. And putting on more weight hasn't worked for me when I "tried" (i.e. went on the occasional junk food binge) since all the extra fat goes one hundred percent to my belly. Hopefully this is still just the beginning for me at age 35 possibly having a slow and/or weak response to hormones.
Your eyes did the same thing as mine! they look less deep set than pre-hrt~ and softer skin. I would like to show you comparison pics but I have no idea about hosting things online. So I can email or Facebook pics to you Ruth if you wanna see my face changes.
Thanks and sure, my mail is ruthless.peleg@gmail.com and my facebook is https://www.facebook.com/peleg.ruth or my page https://www.facebook.com/ruthless.band.
I think my facial changes haven't been all that perceptible. My cheeks have filled out a little and that seems to be about it. WHich is weird, because we I was on HRT during my first transition I ended up with a really round face having been close to skeletal two years earlier. Was it an age thing or a diet thing or an HRT thing, maybe all three, I dunno. I guess you just can't predict how or what hormones are going to do.
OK messaged you Ruth. My facebook is https://www.facebook.com/skyblue.angel86
If you add me and I don't recognize you, I will ask for a password. The password is "I love to smile everyday". So I know you are from this site. Safety first ;)
BTW Grace, I love your new profile pic!
Quote from: Jasper93 on January 01, 2015, 11:15:57 PMSo, maybe putting on weight, and tolerating keeping it on will result in your cheeks filling in more!
Ruth, I think this is an important point. Putting on weight always looks bad at first and seems to go to the wrong places, and then your body (or mine, at least) seems to adjust to it mentally and physically. Don't rush to lose weight because you think it's going to the wrong place - take the time to get used to it. A little tummy fat might be the price you have to pay for some facial feminization.
I'd set a goal of adding 10 to 20 lbs and
keeping it on for a year. Don't add it rapidly by guzzling junk food; most of us can add weight very easily and gradually by just upping the calories and not sticking so rigidly to whatever healthy diet we live on. While a healthy diet is important, I'm not entirely sure that it's worth sacrificing mental well-being over. There is a balance where we're happy with what we eat and how we look. I can't look skinny and feminine; I need some plumpness to cover up my man-bones.
Also, have you discussed your lack of facial feminization with your endocrinologist?
That said, I can see changes in your face, even looking past the hair removal. :)
Quote from: Brenda E on January 02, 2015, 08:13:50 AM
Ruth, I think this is an important point. Putting on weight always looks bad at first and seems to go to the wrong places, and then your body (or mine, at least) seems to adjust to it mentally and physically. Don't rush to lose weight because you think it's going to the wrong place - take the time to get used to it. A little tummy fat might be the price you have to pay for some facial feminization.
I'd set a goal of adding 10 to 20 lbs and keeping it on for a year. Don't add it rapidly by guzzling junk food; most of us can add weight very easily and gradually by just upping the calories and not sticking so rigidly to whatever healthy diet we live on. While a healthy diet is important, I'm not entirely sure that it's worth sacrificing mental well-being over. There is a balance where we're happy with what we eat and how we look. I can't look skinny and feminine; I need some plumpness to cover up my man-bones.
Also, have you discussed your lack of facial feminization with your endocrinologist?
That said, I can see changes in your face, even looking past the hair removal. :)
I have discussed the changes in my face with the endocrinologist, and there is also the issue that despite trying to change dosage and delivery methods, my hormone levels keep going back towards male levels.
Regarding the weight, I researched this and putting on more fat won't change fat distribution. i.e. if my body will "want" to put fat on my face, it will do it as long as I have enough overall fat and judging from how my belly easily puffs up, I do.
Regarding well being, I'd love to feel less dysphoria, but when I had more weight at the beginning of HRT I felt more miserable because I looked more like a man with a beer belly than a woman.
Calories from my personal experience have much less effect on whether I gain weight than the nutritional quality of the food. I can eat 1500 calories or 3000 calories a day, and the result will be the same as long as the nutritional quality of the food is high. It's when I eat junk food only that my body stops burning calories and my belly, and so far just my belly, puffs up - even during the duration of several months. And eating healthy gives me more energy to go running, which in turn increases my well being, so I am less dependant on relieving my dysphoria for my overall well being, not to mention the fact that at least having some nice waist curves also is nice for both my dysphoria and self confidence.
If I would find anywhere a scientific source that says that fat presence in the body changes fat distribution, I would try it perhaps more. But from what I see so far via google, fat cells die and are reborn at a steady pace of 10 percent of fat cells per year, and the redistribution can be achieved by the body "choosing" to place new fat cells in new places rather than the old ones, and hopefully I'm not too old and my genes are not too incompatible for that to happen... but I don't see how fattening myself up, which from my experience only works when I eat junk and has little to do with calories when eating high nutritional quality food, is worth losing the well being I get from feeling energetic, athletic and having nice waist curves, at least.
Plus, someone in my family has severe dementia, and I don't want to one day end up losing who I am to that, so I am commited to eating as well as I can to prevent that from happening.