Hi Everyone,
I've not posted here before, so if something about this thread doesn't fit in here, please let me know, and I will do my best to fix it!
Anyway, I'm MtF, and I'm trying to prepare for making contact with a surgeon for SRS. I've been on hormones for 15 months, my name was legally changed approximately half a year ago, and as difficult as it was to deal with my current lower anatomy even a few years ago, it's become a serious burden over the last few months, and it's only getting worse.
After researching most of the surgeons that I have been able to find, I've kind of narrowed my list down to Bowers, McGinn, Harold Reed, or Brassard. My impressions so far are below, but I was hoping that others here might be willing to point out other things that I should consider.
- Bowers:
- Single Stage
- Visual Results seem to be good overall
- She claims that her procedure utilizes somewhat more mucosa than others.
- She has been through it herself, so she would hopefully have a more personal understanding of what matters the most.
- Her waiting list is at least 14 months long.
- McGinn:
- Not necessarily two stages, but it could possibly be.
- Visual results seem to be good, not too different from Bowers.
- Stated functional results are good.
- Again, it is someone that has gone through the procedure themselves.
- Reed:
- Single stage, I think.
- Visual results were extremely good (at least the ones shown on his website).
- He claims some degree of natural lubricity (I'm not really sure how...).
- He is somewhat less expensive.
- I've heard concerns about his procedures having a significantly higher rate of complications (i.e., fistulas).
- Brassard:
- He wasn't originally on my list, but a lot of people, especially here, seem to think that he is one of the best, which has pushed me to consider him as well.
- He's out of the country for me (but Canada's not that far).
Reed had been at the top of my list at one point due to his visual and supposed functional results, but after hearing about various problems, it's made me worried. I've had trouble finding much objective substantiation of these problems, though. I really liked Bowers' description of her method and the reasoning for it, but if it's not actually materially better, I might be interested in going to someone with a shorter wait. McGinn appears to me to be very similar to Bowers in many regards. I have no idea what to think about Brassard yet; some people seem to love him, and others seem to absolutely hate him, and I can't really tell whom to believe... He's in Canada, which would probably eliminate the possibility of insurance paying for any of this, but I can live with that if I have to; it's not that I want to throw away money or anything, I had just already set aside enough to pay for surgical costs, and this is something where I care much more about quality than what I have to spend. After all, I'm going to be experiencing the results for the rest of my life! Any money invested in making it as good as possible will pay off many times over. If anyone has anything to add that might help me to choose one, or at least narrow down my list, I would love to hear it!
As a side note, when I first began researching surgery, I was really interested in a procedure that used a portion of the colon or other mucosal membranes. It seems like none of the most reputable surgeons do anything other than penile inversion (or derivative) procedure. Am I missing something? I know that recovery would be more difficult, but it seems like the long-term benefits would be well worth it...
After selecting a surgeon, what is the best way to make initial contact? TBH, I'm not super great on the phone, but do they tend to interpret a phone call as being more sincere and committed inquiry and prefer that to/treat you better than communicating via email? Once you have made plans, how do you deal with the months of waiting? When I think about being scheduled for several months in the future, it feels like you would just be really stressed about it the entire time...
Anyway, if anyone feels like sharing their insights, I would love to hear!
There are many girls around who have used the doctors you have listed.
Not sure of Reed but the other 3 do basically the same single stage techniques.
Each surgeon has there own trade mark adds or subtracts.
I am a Brassard girl and have been blessed with no major issues, class of 2013
Have to remember it is a major surgery and mine or others results, healing and end results will be our own.
Aftercare is the key to success and time needs to be put in.
Pick based on your personal feeling at time of consultations. Walk away if you feel uncomfortable.
Quote from: NotAvailable on January 26, 2015, 11:35:21 PM
Anyway, if anyone feels like sharing their insights, I would love to hear![/list]
I have heard people who know, tell me that nearly all the north american surgeons basically use the same techniques. I believe they avoid touching the colon if they can, because that's a much more difficult operation that has a higher rate of complications.
I was considering McGinn, but the process of getting on her schedule was onerous. She wouldn't schedule me until I physically went to Pennsylvanian and had an in-person consult. Dr. Kathy Rumer, who ended up doing my surgery was willing to give me a surgery date without my physically having to see her.
Quote from: monamtb on January 27, 2015, 08:26:25 AM
I guess no serious surgeon will book you a surgery date without a personal consultation neither in the US nor in Thailand
Agreed, but for Dr. Rumer, at least, the consultation was over the phone.
McGinn insisted I travel to her location so she could meet me in person before she would consider reserving a surgery date.
I used Brassard, and I could try to find and repost my detailed review of his results if you like. I will say that his waiting list right now is about 5-6 months, and also (because he works with a partner) he takes only about 2-2.5 hours to do the operation, which lessens the risks of anesthesia etc.
From what I've heard, Reed's aftercare is basically nonexistent and his results are sometimes... not anatomically accurate. But again, that's secondhand; all I know for sure is Brassard.
The colon procedure is much, much more invasive (by definition, since it involves removing some of the colon!) which, coupled with significant improvements in penile inversion results, seems to have caused it to fall out of favor.
Thank you all for your responses! I always anticipated having to actually visit the surgeon for a consultation in advance, and I was really surprised to find out that that's not always the case... Otoh, I'm not crazy about taking four plane trips for consultations along with more time off of work (and I'm scared to death of having to go through airport security, tbh). Would it be reasonable to try to narrow it down to one surgeon through phone/email, and then if you didn't like them after the consult, reconsider one of the other choices, or is it really better to visit all of them in-person?
Also, how do you get a real grasp on a surgeon's results? Some people will say that one is fantastic and there results are wonderful, and then one or two other people will say that they did a terrible job, and I don't know what to believe. I mean I haven't found photos for Brassard, but the other three show generally good results from what I can tell, but obviously a surgeon is not going to publish photographs of procedures that were not successful. It's kind of been an emotional ride, really; I will research something and feel like I have a good grip on it and that I would be happy with this surgeon's results and then I read someone's comments about being butchered or it looking awful and it's like, "oh, I guess I have to start over again trying to figure things out...", and it's making me kind of sad on top of constantly remembering that I can't ever be 100% truly right anyway...
Also Jenna Marie, I would be interested in reading about your experience, but I don't want to trouble you too much by asking you to look for it.
Quote from: NotAvailable on January 27, 2015, 11:24:39 PM
Thank you all for your responses! I always anticipated having to actually visit the surgeon for a consultation in advance, and I was really surprised to find out that that's not always the case... Otoh, I'm not crazy about taking four plane trips for consultations along with more time off of work (and I'm scared to death of having to go through airport security, tbh)....
If you have the proper ID then don't worry about TSA. I'm still male on my ID and the TSA agent wished me, "Have a nice flight miss" They are trained to treat transgender and cross dresser's with respect. They are looking for terrorists, not us.
Anyway I'll probably be looking to book in a year or so myself.
-Alana
Quote from: Alana_Jane on January 28, 2015, 12:19:35 AM
If you have the proper ID then don't worry about TSA. I'm still male on my ID and the TSA agent wished me, "Have a nice flight miss"
Oh, wow; I wouldn't have expected them to be at all respectful. That's really nice to hear! My driver's license is marked 'F', and my new passport should be here soon too.
In general, all the surgeons will have a handful of very unhappy customers - it's the nature of the job. (Heck, I think people get almost that mad over, say, cell phone companies. ;) ) So it's about the ratio; if a given surgeon has mostly positive reviews, and all the top ones seem to, they're probably as safe a bet as you're going to get. Some of it comes down to personal preference : the Thai surgeons guarantee more depth, Brassard offers a very "tidy" look, etc.
I actually had several friends who went to various surgeons and were willing to share photos, and I liked the look of Brassard's best. You can also look for Anne Lawrence's site; she's a kind of unpleasant woman herself, but she's gotten a set of photos together, albeit from a few years ago now, that can give you a general idea of results that didn't come directly from the surgeons themselves. (Incidentally, some of Reed's own photos of his work show a poorly placed, un-hooded clitoris, which is what turned me off of him. It looks like his best results are very good, but...)
Reposted :
In fact, I had essentially full sensation - clitoral, labial, and internal vaginal - from the moment I woke up from surgery. This was a downside during the initial days, as you can imagine, although the pain wasn't all that bad.
Yes, I am easily orgasmic. It took a bit of effort to relearn my body, but my first orgasm was 3 weeks post-op in a dream, so clearly the nerves all worked fine and it was my brain getting in the way!
Not sure about prostate sensation. I didn't ever experiment with prostate stimulation pre-op, so I wouldn't necessarily recognize it post-op. I do have an area of highly erogenous sensation in roughly the equivalent spot to the "G-spot," which I have been told is likely the prostate.
I am fully sensate inside my vagina. Again, not orgasmic from vaginal stimulation alone, but it's NICE.
Never any numbness, either.
In fact, the pain was less and ended faster than I'd expected. It was still probably 3-4 months before I wasn't a *little* sore after a long day, but less than a month before I was almost 100% pain-free.
Yes, I have labia majora which are aesthetically correct and properly located. Mine are pretty puffy, but I also had tremendous, ridiculous swelling right after (even the nurses were shocked), so I'm not convinced it's all gone away YET.
Ditto the labia minora. They're fairly small, but that's not atypical.
Yes, I have both a fully (extremely!) sensitive clitoris and hood. Incidentally, both the clitoral hood and labia minora have the inner portion lined with leftover urethra, which is mucosal tissue that is light pink and moist just as in cis women, a detail I appreciate.
Yes, my urethra is correctly positioned and functional. It's just barely distinguishable from the vaginal opening (ie, directly above), which matches what I see in my wife and on anatomical diagrams. There were some issues with spraying early on because of the severe swelling, but everything works fine now.
My vaginal opening is also correctly placed and looks normal.
I did not do hair removal, and have had no hair regrowth except in areas where I would expect it (pubis, outside of the labia majora).
5.5" of depth as far as I can determine. I'm content with that. I started with 5.5" and have kept it.
No serious complications aside from one stitch that pulled out early but healed cleanly. I did have a reccurring soreness and a need to massage/stretch the scar tissue around 3 months post-op, which I've been told is normal for any surgery (not just GRS).
I did have a devil of a time with the catheter, though. Again, bladder spasms are harmless and common, but that was AWFUL. I was so glad to see that go.
He offers free revisions for the first year but I was happy. It's quirky/not identical to other vulva I've seen, but hey, that's normal!
As a final note, I also do self-lubricate somewhat, and can "squirt" at orgasm on occasion. (But I have a female partner; my experience with penetrative sex does not involve men, if that matters.) All in all, I'm very satisfied.
[As a final note, I wrote this about 18 months post-op, and I'm more like 2.5 years now. Swelling has diminished considerably and I think it's fully gone, so I now finally look normal from the front and standing, and I'm more easily able to lubricate - I've even had the opportunity to verify that penetration stimulates extra lubrication, exactly as it works for my wife. Otherwise not much has changed. I've maintained the same depth, and now have to dilate only once a week/10 days for 15 minutes at a time. Oh, and at some point - I forget the exact dates - I went to see a gynecologist for insurance purposes who did not know, and after an internal exam mistakenly listed me as a cis woman who'd had a hysterectomy!]
Quote from: Jenna Marie on January 27, 2015, 10:59:00 AM
From what I've heard, Reed's aftercare is basically nonexistent and his results are sometimes... not anatomically accurate. But again, that's secondhand; all I know for sure is Brassard.
I've been with reed and I would say he's ok but the lower surgery cost is offset by the cost of being in Miami longer. Aftercare is fine but more hands-off. You're expected to know a certain amount of self care and have somebody with you to help, especially in the first couple days post op.
As far as results, I'm going to get a revision. This isn't knocking him as he recommends revisions (free) for most patients as was needed for somebody I know who went to mcginn but if you're expecting perfect out of box results, well it isn't happening. My gyno thinks the results are pretty ok for all it's worth.
Quote from: mrs izzy on January 27, 2015, 02:15:43 AM
Not sure of Reed but the other 3 do basically the same single stage techniques.
Yes it's the standard more or less one stage with scrotal graft.
Quote from: NotAvailable on January 26, 2015, 11:35:21 PM
Anyway, if anyone feels like sharing their insights, I would love to hear!
It's a trust thing based on perceived outcome and how much aftercare you may require. Sometimes complications happen, maybe they don't.
As far as contacting, imho it's a matter of priorities in terms of how much you want to hedge on any surgeon in the form of a paid consultation given there's only so much he or she can say about surgery with you over phone or email.
Parse the list down to two and go with the one that feels best and run with it. After surgery there's no sense asking why not somebody else because it won't be possible to.
Quote from: Flan on January 28, 2015, 11:29:13 PM
I've been with reed and I would say he's ok but the lower surgery cost is offset by the cost of being in Miami longer. Aftercare is fine but more hands-off. You're expected to know a certain amount of self care and have somebody with you to help, especially in the first couple days post op.
That's good to know - I'm not counting on being able to have someone there with me (well, I have family in SF, so maybe there I guess), and that will probably affect my decision to some degree.
Quote from: Flan on January 28, 2015, 11:29:13 PM
Parse the list down to two and go with the one that feels best and run with it. After surgery there's no sense asking why not somebody else because it won't be possible to.
This makes sense. I usually fret a lot when I'm preparing to make a decision, but it's almost never a problem after I have committed to it and can't change it.
Also, I love your username! Flan is my absolute favorite.
Just an opinion here, but I've read many accounts of many of the most popular surgeons. All have satisfied customers. All have dissatisfied customers. Some more of one than another surgeon might have.
Having said that, the impression that I get (and this is purely my own personal impression, other people may feel otherwise) about Dr. Reed in Miami is inconsistency. I thought about that a long time as I considered surgeons, cost, etc., which ultimately led to scratching him off my list. Again, that is my own personal assessment and does not invalidate anyone else's assessment of Dr. Reed.
The important thing for each of us is to be able to trust our surgeon with a life changing procedure and yet to also be able to afford to do it. I've heard nothing but superlatives about that guy in San Diego (though not very many people talk about him) but at $32,500 for SRS he darned well better be super. :P
Finding that intersection of trust, confidence, and price is critical for each of us. And since we each have slightly different priorities, there's never any one "right" decision for everyone, just the decision that's right for you.
All the surgeons have merits about their procedure and aftercare.
For me, it was a slam dunk to go to Brassard as it was only an hour drive plus he had done my tracheal five years ago, so I was comfie with him IMO, the best part of the experience, and the one I'll say left me with the best impression, was the recovery centre.
I've learned that most will say their surgeon was the best, I just don't know how to grade all of them together when there are such differences such as cost, travel, aftercare, type of procedure etc.
Jenna:
Everything you wrote about Brassard, I'll echo every point.
I didn't have so much problem with catheter other than hating it, but my god....the stent!!
Felt like a broom handle
Quote from: LizMarie on February 14, 2015, 10:11:46 AM
The important thing for each of us is to be able to trust our surgeon with a life changing procedure and yet to also be able to afford to do it. I've heard nothing but superlatives about that guy in San Diego (though not very many people talk about him) but at $32,500 for SRS he darned well better be super. :P
Hello LizMarie,
Could you please give me the name of the surgeon in San Diego? Thank you
Out of that list, Brassard seems to be the best choice, on balance. My opinion. He's perfected his technique, his wait list is relatively short at 4-5 months, his aftercare facility is apparently excellent, and the US dollar is strong vs the Canadian dollar, making him the cheapest. As someone else mentioned on the boards, he's accredited in Michigan so you might be able get your insurance to pay for him.
For Bowers, she's good if you are willing to wait 3 years. It's 2 + years for the waitlist and that's after you've waited 6 months for a consultation and 4-6 for insurance verifcation. She's pretty popular. In my consultation, she said she was a "victim of her own success." However, I don't think her technique is different enough to warrant the wait time. That's why I chose a different surgeon.
I'm going to Satterwhite in 2 weeks. He does the surgery in San Francisco and has a wait time of 4-6 months after 5 months for a consultation/ 1 month insurance verifcation. The best results on the Brownstein crane website are his. He was trained initially by Reed in Miami, then trained with Dr. Crane. He's been in the operating room with Bowers and has traded notes/techniques with Brassard and Mcginn. I was going to post my experience in a thread I created but no one seemed to care or respond to it so I won't waste my time.
More or less, all those surgeons are good choice. Best of luck!
-Ruby