I've gotta be honest, I'm absolutely frustrated with waiting. I've had my letters for top surgery for almost three years now and am no closer to having the money needed. I have been trying, but my funds are so low I spent three months in a homeless shelter and now live with friends in their enclosed porch.

My mother said she could help pay for half of it (up to 4000$) as long as I 'proved' I wanted it bad enough by earning the other half. I'm just stuck right now. I need to change over all my documents before I can get a job - particularly as the new, small town I moved to requires me to be stealth full time. It's just this spot where I can't seem to move forward with money, and can't make money without moving forward.

Are there any top surgeons that do a good job in the 4000$ range? I'd been wanting Garramone, but frankly I'm ready to accept anything short of an axe murderer right now.

I can't even afford the 400$ they want for me to change my green card so I can change all my other documentation down to the state ID. I'd go back to Canada but that process takes another two years. I feel like I might be insane if I need to wait that long on top of the other bull->-bleeped-<- I've had to wait through. I got the court-ordered namechange all done and have NOTHING to show for it because the green card change MUST come first.

I'm getting tired of this uphill battle. I've been really bitter lately.

...thanks for listening, gents.

I don't know of anyone doing it at 4000 but I'd be leery of it if they were to be honest. The hospital fees alone are half that. If your mom is willing to help that much, have you tried asking if she would pay the full amount and you'd then make payments to her or something?

Have you tried that scholarship (the name escapes me) that awards free surgeries to a few trans people a year? Your story sounds like it would qualify.

My surgery was around $4,500. The doctor did not care at all that I was trans. He had never worked on a trans person before but did quite a few gynecomastia surgeries for bio-men and was completely cool with it.  I was smaller chested, so I was comfortable going that route. I called many plastic surgeons around my area and within a 4 hour-ish driving range. A lot of people immediately said no. Just because someone is not specifically focused on trans surgeries does not mean they won't give you a great result. If you are that desperate, call around. Word of advice though, be prepared for some people to be weirded out by your request or not understand what you are wanting. Obviously, skip them and move on to the next person. My doctor was probably like the 15th person I called. I am very satisfied with my result.

Quote from: JesseO on October 22, 2013, 07:21:01 PM
My surgery was around $4,500. The doctor did not care at all that I was trans. He had never worked on a trans person before but did quite a few gynecomastia surgeries for bio-men and was completely cool with it.  I was smaller chested, so I was comfortable going that route. I called many plastic surgeons around my area and within a 4 hour-ish driving range. A lot of people immediately said no. Just because someone is not specifically focused on trans surgeries does not mean they won't give you a great result. If you are that desperate, call around. Word of advice though, be prepared for some people to be weirded out by your request or not understand what you are wanting. Obviously, skip them and move on to the next person. My doctor was probably like the 15th person I called. I am very satisfied with my result.

Yeah but not sure which procedure this guy needs. If you were really small chested I think it would be somewhat easy to go this route. Might work in a not to big city with low cost of living generally. If you are anything larger than a B chest. Yeah it's roughly the same surgery, but might not really cost that much less (or less at all).
But calling around like this clearly pays off.

--Jay

Consider becoming a dog groomer. If you work at petsmart you stand to make between 250 and 700$ a week (varies depending on the time of year) independent businesses make similar money BUT don't guarantee you get paid by the hour if there's no one coming in (for example very rainy weeks and sometimes certain months in january/february).

They make you start as a bather then go to training so it could be a year before you're getting commission, but you should be able to save the 4k in a single year.

I went to Dr Navine Singh in Washington DC area for my top surgery. His price is well within your range last I checked and he does an EXCELLENT job. I went from a B 1/2/C depending on brand to flat flat chest with NO scars under my pecs- he did it primarily via lipo. I have pics to show.