Hello beauties <3 <3
I need all the info I can get and my last hope is you girls! I need to be done with SRS (mtf) in about a year from now, because of my university (i need to get my degree with my female name) and I am on a serious hunt for the best surgeon I can get in Europe. I know some of you recommend Dr. Schaff from Munich and i do have a consultation with him, but since it costs 20.000 , could you also give me your opinion on other European surgeons? I am having also a consultation with  Dr. Djinovic in Serbia. He is also expensive, 17.000, but he is famed as the successor of Sava Perovic. A friend of a friend went there ad recommends him, however she did mention that 1)she was not happy about the 8 day "hospitalization" in his tiny clinic in Serbia and 2) since she is lesbian and does not dilate she could not give a full review. When it comes to Dr. Stan Monstrey, his team in the university hospital seems totally ready for everything and they make you feel completely safe. My consultation there is also coming up really soon, but I have yet to find any review or picture about his result/technique, which makes me feel skeptical. He is really famous though, especially in ftm surgeries. Finally, Dr.Bellringer seems to be the most controversial here. He seemed easy to talk with and Ive already heared a friend of a friend who had surgery with him in 2011 saying good things. However a lot of girls here report blood loss, fistulas and ignorance, while a smaller percentage is ok with him. Trying to find the best value for money and overall appearance and sensation seems like one of the hardest things Ive ever done and you are the only people i the world who can truly help. Please give me your and your friends info. It would be the best thing that can happen right now! Much love :*

Hi love,

I cannot give you any detailed info about the surgeons you mention (I am UK based but have selected Brassard) but a couple of things you mention made me wonder ...

1) My name change predated my GRS by 3 years ... in that time I have had my old university degrees reissued in my new name as well as having done some university study under my new name.  GRS was not required for this.  Might the situation be the same where you live?

2) Have you taken into account the time it takes to have genital hair removal performed before GRS?  I understand that Bellringer requires this and I also understand that it can take a long time ...

Sam x

Quote from: JourneyingSam on September 10, 2014, 04:06:42 AM
Hi love,

I cannot give you any detailed info about the surgeons you mention (I am UK based but have selected Brassard) but a couple of things you mention made me wonder ...

1) My name change predated my GRS by 3 years ... in that time I have had my old university degrees reissued in my new name as well as having done some university study under my new name.  GRS was not required for this.  Might the situation be the same where you live?

2) Have you taken into account the time it takes to have genital hair removal performed before GRS?  I understand that Bellringer requires this and I also understand that it can take a long time ...

Sam x

Hey sweetheart! Thank you for your reply. I know that i could legally change my name in the UK, but sadly Greece does not have any law considering this issue which i find inhumane. In fact there is not even a law after surgery, but it can be done since once a court allowed that and since other post op trans people refer to that court decision, hold a trial with lawyers and everything and get their papers changed after months. (((
I did consider Bellringer at first and I even asked a Greek girl who i knew did it there back in 2011, but not everyone seems happy with him. She was, but people here write about a lot of internal bleeding occurrences and stuff which scares me. I would start permanent epilation as soon as i would get a date and i think that 6 months would be enough for this. However a lot of surgeons do not even ask about this such as the Serbian one, the Belgian and the German i think.
Godd luck with your surgery, I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart <3 Wish me the same and fingers crossed :*

Quote from: Raregirlinternational on September 10, 2014, 04:29:55 PM
I did consider Bellringer at first and I even asked a Greek girl who i knew did it there back in 2011, but not everyone seems happy with him. She was, but people here write about a lot of internal bleeding occurrences and stuff which scares me.

Yeah I had alot of problems with my recovery after my surgery with him however I will say now I've mostly recovered the end result is quite good. Sensitivity/Function/Asthetic

Quote from: Raregirlinternational on September 10, 2014, 04:29:55 PM
Hey sweetheart! Thank you for your reply. I know that i could legally change my name in the UK, but sadly Greece does not have any law considering this issue which i find inhumane. In fact there is not even a law after surgery, but it can be done since once a court allowed that and since other post op trans people refer to that court decision, hold a trial with lawyers and everything and get their papers changed after months. (((

The European Court of Human Rights will agree with you. The UK Government fell foul of them for the same reason which is why the laws in UK now exist, I'm no legal eagle but there's lots of info available online about it 

Quote from: Raregirlinternational on September 10, 2014, 04:29:55 PM
I did consider Bellringer at first and I even asked a Greek girl who i knew did it there back in 2011, but not everyone seems happy with him. She was, but people here write about a lot of internal bleeding occurrences and stuff which scares me. I would start permanent epilation as soon as i would get a date and i think that 6 months would be enough for this. However a lot of surgeons do not even ask about this such as the Serbian one, the Belgian and the German i think.
Godd luck with your surgery, I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart <3 Wish me the same and fingers crossed :*

I had a consultation with Mr Bellringer in February last year, He wouldn't do mine due to my weight but from my impression was he certainly knows his stuff. Something to bear in mind about him is he no longer does operations for NHS as he quit in April this year due I'm told to his unhappiness with the way things were organised at Charring Cross. He does still perform SRS in a private hospital in South London however and his results may be different now. I don't know if he is better or worse than anybody else or if he was ever a bad surgeon. If I were still living in UK now that I'm the weight he set me to do the op I would go with him but Bangkok is now closer and significantly cheaper so I'm happy to go there

Genital hair removal is a lengthy process dependent on how much hair you have. I had laser down there as both my previous surgeons required it. You'll only be able to do laser every 6-8 weeks depending on how fast your hair grows meaning at most 6-8 sessions in 12 months, I needed 12 and still have a few hairs left which the laser couldn't get due to the colour of them so that is something to consider as well. I think also the advice from Surgeons is no laser 2 months before surgery but that may vary also. Electro is a more frequent option but will still take you some time again dependent on hair numbers and how long in between each session you have to leave for the swelling to go down as well as how much you can take pain wise each session.

Hope that helps you. If you want any further info feel free to ask

Hugs and Good Luck

Sorcha

Quote from: pebbles on September 12, 2014, 04:42:54 PM
Yeah I had alot of problems with my recovery after my surgery with him however I will say now I've mostly recovered the end result is quite good. Sensitivity/Function/Asthetic

Hey beautiful! Ive sadly heard really bad things about the appearance he gives and a lot of girls claim they do not look "natural" at all. In fact some say they are totally clockable? Would you say thats not the case in your result? If yes thats wonderful , so happy for you <3 <3

Quote from: SorchaC on September 12, 2014, 08:43:59 PM

Genital hair removal is a lengthy process dependent on how much hair you have. I had laser down there as both my previous surgeons required it. You'll only be able to do laser every 6-8 weeks depending on how fast your hair grows meaning at most 6-8 sessions in 12 months, I needed 12 and still have a few hairs left which the laser couldn't get due to the colour of them so that is something to consider as well. I think also the advice from Surgeons is no laser 2 months before surgery but that may vary also. Electro is a more frequent option but will still take you some time again dependent on hair numbers and how long in between each session you have to leave for the swelling to go down as well as how much you can take pain wise each session.

Hope that helps you. If you want any further info feel free to ask

Hugs and Good Luck

Sorcha

Hello Sorcha! Thank you for your help! I find it very weird that most surgeons except bellringer do not request hair removal. They claim they do it in the actual surgery somehow... Would you have any idea why?

Quote from: Raregirlinternational on September 13, 2014, 05:39:31 PM
Hello Sorcha! Thank you for your help! I find it very weird that most surgeons except bellringer do not request hair removal. They claim they do it in the actual surgery somehow... Would you have any idea why?

Hi Raregirlinternational  Mr Bellringer and I believe Mr Thomas in UK both ask for it and Mr Terry did too when I saw him in 2009, I've asked why the Thais are happy to do the follicle removal during the op and they're not? I was told by both Mr Terry and Mr Bellringer that removing the follicles weakens the skin and increases the chances or prolapse. That risk increases with age  and being overweight apparently so they are really reluctant. Also the UK standards for the op set out hair removal pre op as a treatment and NHS will even fund that as a core treatment for UK folks but they won't fund facial hair removal unless you're really lucky.

Hope that helps

Hugs

Sorcha

Quote from: Raregirlinternational on September 13, 2014, 05:36:00 PM
Hey beautiful! Ive sadly heard really bad things about the appearance he gives and a lot of girls claim they do not look "natural" at all. In fact some say they are totally clockable? Would you say thats not the case in your result? If yes thats wonderful , so happy for you <3 <3

Yeah I mean I've only seen a few vaginas "in the flesh" as it were, Overall I'd say my labia Minora are smaller than average and my labia majora are slightly larger than average, but well within the normal range, I never really cared that much genitals look gross as a rule anyway as long as they work fine it's not a problem for me.

only clue aesthetically is scarring, which is slightly more noticeable below my vagina in my case due to the infection I had.

I had surgery with Mr Bellringer in 2011 and I have to say I'm happy with the results. I wasn't asked to do genital hair removal, in fact I asked about it and he told me I didn't need it. I had a major bleed immediately post op while still in hospital, but healed quickly and only had a small bit of granulation tissue at three months. I found him to be courteous and definitely new what he was talking about. Asthetically my vulva looks like a vulva and I'm happy with it.

Given that he stopped doing NHS surgeries, I wonder if there were constraints being put on him by charing cross that lead to wildly differing out comes between private and NHS patients.