Quote from: Jennygirl on December 23, 2014, 02:01:28 AM
Well with the disclaimer out of the way...

Hi guys and gals!! (well probably mostly gals on this one ) It's almost another year and with a whole new set of goals and challenges that lie ahead for me. I've been having to postpone my SRS on repeat due to a dicey situation where I live, so that is on the backburner until September or maybe even later due to circumstance. Who knows. All I know is, lately I've been feeling great with my body as is and I am not feeling any pressure in that department to have it done. I know I will someday, but I don't want to rush it.

What I AM super excited about, though, is that I've officially made the decision to move forward with some body feminization of another kind and a lot less talked about. Literally, this desire was my first indication of dysphoria... Why I am waiting until almost the very end to tackle it is kind of unknown to me.. I guess save the best for last? In my head, perhaps. Honestly, I think I have been giving the estrogen time to have its way with my body before doing anything there. And while HRT has indeed helped me in huge ways, I still desire a little bit more in the hip department. I blame it on my history! More on that to follow

I have indeed decided to move forward with a fat transfer to hips and bum, ideally sometime in late winter or early spring this year. If you could live inside of my mind, you would know how incredibly exciting this is. I have dreamed of having a more curvaceous body for practically my whole life! I can hardly believe it's finally time.

There are two main reasons why I am posting it here. #1) I am just so flipping excited I had to tell someone and #2) I know that I am not alone when it comes to struggling with some dysphoria from hips. I want to detail my journey in this process, because honestly I haven't been able to find much on the internet for trans girls. I have found a lot with cis females, but nothing for the trans ladies. This one is for y'all. Well, and for me too

I have been researching several methods and doctors for at least a decade. The research predates my transition and even coming out to myself... I was looking into this stuff even before I really had a grip on being trans Hopefully this is all starting to make a little more sense.

Anyway, on with the research for how to get a bigger hip/bum:

Methods (PLEASE, oh please, read the disclaimer up at the top too, we can't have anyone talking about illegal stuff)
-Exercise
-Implants
-Chocolate
-Fat Transfer

Exercise:
The problem with this one is that I don't like to exercise. I am very much an "applied strength" type of person. I am super busy, and don't really have the time to add a gym regimen. Plus, that's too hard haha

Implants:
The problem with this one in my eyes is that they can come out looking unnatural, and on top of that there are very few options for augmenting the HIP which is my primary area of interest. Also, implants are very rough in that area of the body. The recovery is HARSH. Complications are common, and even the best doctors have difficulties. It's just not an area I'd want to be putting an implant. Honestly I don't really want implants at all, but that is just my decision. They work wonders for some people obviously

Chocolate:
The problem with chocolate (and other calorie adding methods) is that it is not really my desire to be overweight just to have a bigger posterior, because that means the rest of my male pattern fat areas get bigger as well. Being that most of us transition sometime after first puberty, the fat cells have formed where they form. There is no changing that. It is my understanding that our bodies can store things differently within these fat cells (aka HRT fat redistro), but ultimately we will not see a complete reversal in body shape without some kind of more drastic modification. I have witnessed this to be true. I have noticed my measurements change over the two years I've been on hormones, but it has been a more subtle change than I would like.

Fat Transfer:
The clear winner in the debacle, for me at least. Low risk, low complication, fully customized result. The only worry I have with this method is having enough "donor fat" to move to the areas I want. It also has the added benefit of fully reorganizing the fat cells on a body to better match that of a cis female. Once you have an area transferred somewhere else, if you gain weight it goes there and behaves as the old area did. Pretty neat if you ask me!

Okay sorry for the super long winded post. If you're still with me, then awesome. I have gone back and forth between implants and fat transfer for years, mainly due to the fact that normally I am rather thin, with not much extra fat to spare. I have found several doctors who are good with implants, but I was still never sold on them due to the possible complications and rough recovery. It honestly sounds harder than SRS!

When it comes to finding a doctor for Fat Transfer, it is quite different. There are loads of doctors who perform this surgery, but that is both good and bad. Good being that there are lots to choose from, bad being WHO do I choose?? Gah. So many options! Basically it comes down to preference and their artistry of the procedure. It comes down to before and afters, much similar to FFS and SRS. Here are some of the many doctors I have checked out, in no particular order:

Surgeons:
Dr. Cerpas (Tijuana)
Has a good rep for implants and comes highly recommended, very caring. Still, not down with implants

Dr. Campos (Tijuana)u
Has easily one of the best (if not THE best) reputation in Mexico for making patients incredibly happy. Specialty procedure: Brazilian Butt Lift aka Fat Transfer to Butt & Hips. I am incredibly impressed with the before and afters.

Dr. Cardenas (Guadalajara)
Has a great reputation with trans girls, offers a multitude of procedures. Butt and even hip implants, and fat transfer, along with the more well known FFS procedures. Hip implants were of interest to me, but I was somewhat leery after realizing that there would be such a large scar for entry of the implant. Apparently also does amazing fat transfer work

Dr. Markmann (Baltimore)
Has one of the best reps in the US, also probably the most expensive option. Seems to have a lot of research backing the procedure. Great results, but I was not as much a fan of the art. Personal opinion! Fat Transfer specialist.

Dr. Hughes (Los Angeles)
On par with Markmann in terms of great reputations for US surgeons. Has amazing results and incredible patient satisfaction. I have been watching this one for a long time. Fat Transfer specialist.

Dr. Ghavami (Los Angeles)
Seems to be a top contender with Hughes in Los Angeles, a bit pricier but results are great. Fat Transfer specialist.

Dr. Salama (Miami)
Another top contender, not as expensive. Fat Transfer specialist

Where I am at now
I could go on and on here, I think you are getting the picture. There are tons of doctors out there, I have spent way too many hours digging on realself and contacting them for information. After everything, I have basically settled on Kenneth Hughes in LA. He has one of the top reps and happens to be located about 2 miles from where I live. I am scheduling my consultation for early 2015 with hopes of getting somewhere good on the waiting list.

In the meantime, I am intentionally gaining a little weight so there is more to move. There is some controversy among surgeons whether having extra weight is a good or bad thing. The consensus seems to be that extra weight is okay NOT at the expense of general health. I am adding about 10-15 extra lbs and staying just as active as I am normally. I am generally a very healthy person, I don't see gaining 10-15 as being that huge of a risk factor. I'll know more after my consultation, but I've already seen reports of Dr. Hughes saying it's fine if his patients want to gain a little weight before the procedure. So, I am taking advantage of the holiday season I suppose

If anyone has anything to share.. info, pictures, opinions, please post it. Research is an ever evolving process as we all know. I plan on detailing my experience with it here, in hopes that it might help someone else interested in the same thing.

I'll be amazed if you got all the way through that. My fingers hurt

Estrogen has done pretty good job for me.  I definitely notice a big difference in the legs and ass. 

Consult with Dr. Hughes in about 12 hours! Starting to get excited!

Current weight 145 @ 5'8" and very curious to see what kind of numbers he throws out as far as cc's to play around with. I've definitely got a little more cushion now, and it's not just water-weight!

Good luck tomorrow, I think you are going to look amazing after your surgery is done and then your surgeon is going to have a flood of us trans women going to them like how yeson turned into the must have surgery on this forum because of your results

I can't wait to see your before and after Jenny

The consult went well, he didn't seem rushed or try to talk me into more areas than I needed. Very straight up kind of doctor *thumbs up*

I am scheduled for February 19th, the procedure as follows:

Liposuction of
- upper arms
- full back
- flanks
- abdomen
- inner thighs

Estimated fat injection of
- 250-300cc per hip
- 500cc per buttock

Cost: $11,000

I asked him a bunch of questions, my main concern being shoulder to hip ratio. He said that he will try to get the best result possible (duh, ha) but that he is not a "miracle worker". He tends to do a moderate estimate (as far as guessing amounts to be lipo'd/injected) and usually is able to get more. I asked him about gaining some more weight, and he said he typically doesn't recommend it because people tend to revert back to their old weight, and that makes sense to me. I still want to gain a little more though! When I brought up upper arms as an area of my concern, he said that the difference would be barely noticeable- he mentioned that other doctors would probably gladly do it. I told him it was still an area I would like him to do, because I feel like I might as well while I'm in the process of this all and I feel that any little bit will help me there. I want to do it right the first time.

The procedure is done right in their office, which is really nice in my opinion. His office is just around the corner from me. All costs are part of the total, including compression garments, office visits, yadda yadda. Both Dr. Hughes and Adam his coordinator were incredibly nice to me, and Dr. Hughes didn't even bat an eye about my trans status.

I did forget to ask him how many trans patients he has worked on, but at this point I don't really care. I know that he is the right surgeon for me. Super down to earth and realistic with his words. Seemed to have a great demeanor about him, too. Can't wait to do this! Blood work is already being processed and my pre-op is two weeks from today. Actual surgery date is about 6wks. So that means 6 weeks to gain about 10lbs. Should be pretty easy I would hope

Overall I'm feeling great about this, though it hasn't really even hit me yet.

Oof, 1800 calories for lunch today.

I am very determined

Quote from: Jennygirl on January 06, 2015, 05:17:48 PM
Oof, 1800 calories for lunch today.

I am very determined

Lucky you! I remember the days I would eat anything and everything (not saying you do though). Chinese buffets, pizza, hamburgers, pasta, etc. Now I eat none of those things. I've mentioned before, I had a visit with a plastic surgeon who does feminizing fat transfer, and he said I was too thin!    I'm also 5'8" and range in between 135-141 lbs. I don't want to gain weight, but I do need help in the hips/thigh region. What to do what to do... 

If there's one thing I learned throughout my experiences with plastic surgeons, it's that not all of them are created equal. It may just be a matter of finding one much the same that I found Dr Hughes. Being thin doesn't stop him. It just means he's going to have to work harder

OOF

148 this morning

The gain is starting to become noticeable. I feel like a sausage

Quote from: Jennygirl on January 09, 2015, 01:47:40 PM
OOF

148 this morning

The gain is starting to become noticeable. I feel like a sausage

Congratulations on your upcoming surgergy!  I'm having fat transfer to my hips and butt also, plus liposuction to more than 3 areas.  My surgery date is February 7; I'm very excited and happy.

Quote from: missymay on January 16, 2015, 04:49:59 PM
Congratulations on your upcoming surgergy!  I'm having fat transfer to my hips and butt also, plus liposuction to more than 3 areas.  My surgery date is February 7; I'm very excited and happy.

Congrats!! You are going to beat me to the butt party

Who is you surgeon? And care to share any details about yourself to do with your upcoming procedure? I am mega curious what your measurements and expectations are. I'm not quite sure what to expect for myself.

I'm having my surgery done by Dr. Cardenas. My goal is to have a rounder fuller buttocks and hips to  give me the curves I want. And I also want to have the highly sought after S-curve where the low back and butt meet. And I'm hoping to get a more curvaceous figure from the liposuction as well.

I have heard great things about Cardenas. I wish you the best!

I just had an email exchange with Dr. Hughes. It took me a few tries to really get my point across, but he finally agreed to put most of the fat in my hips rather than butt (which I am already pretty happy with projection-wise).

He said he can do 500cc per hip and he will put the rest in the butt. He said that is "really stuffing it in there" but he will try to do that for me. For a frame of reference, at the consult he estimated he would do 250-300cc per hip and 500cc for the butt. I'm happy to have those figures flipped around. My main goal is shoulder/hip ratio. Having a bigger butt would just be icing on the cake, not really necessary in my eyes. Plus I think with the projection I already have, making my hips wider will make the butt look considerably larger anyway.

I've been pining over this my while freakin life. Gahhhh so excited!!

This is super great info. Thanks for sharing! 

My pleasure! I think us trans girls need more info/experience reports about this procedure. A lot of trans women seem to have done it, but there is very little info out there unless you know the person personally. That makes it really hard to access the information, not everyone is so forthcoming with it either. I have never really cared much either way about sharing my sub-journeys of transition.. especially here on these forums where support is a given

A little update on my weight gain journey:

Last night there was a little get together here. I counted: there were 5 people that came up to me and mentioned that I looked like I was gaining some weight. I was wearing a tank top that showed a little midriff (aka belly), so it's not a really huge surprise. Still, it is obviously noticeable now. I am just rocking it anyway, it doesn't bug me at all.

I think I will miss this little tummy I've grown for myself. But I know I will be SO much happier sacrificing it to correct the shoulder/hip ratio thing. I just hope my surgeon puts it where I want it. I do trust him completely, I am just very particular about the way I want it to look. I think to balance my shoulders, I am going to need to be a bit wide down there- which I am completely hoping for. Big legs and small upper body has always been my ideal. Small waist and a big booty would just be icing on the cake.

My pre-op appointment is in 10 hours, and I have all my final questions and concerns written out and ready to ask:
• I need to ask him where on the thigh he is going to lipo. I'm not quite sure where exactly I want it to be taken from, but I'm starting to think I'd rather have him lipo the back of the thigh instead of the inner thigh. I would like to keep the thickness of my legs intact
• Concerned the weight I've gained just below my breasts will not be lipo'd out, and I want it gone. I feel like this will add to the projection of the girls.
• Also need to go over that I want my whole back lipo'd, not just the lower back. This would make the result more in line with my ideal of small top and bigger lower half.
• As I mentioned earlier, I see myself as having to be a bit wide in the outer thigh/hip in order to match the shoulders. I'm not afraid at all if this makes me look less slender and more "thick" pear shape (though I know a true "pear shape" is probably wishful thinking considering what I'm working with).
• Need to ask about risks of skin irregularities. If a particular area that I am having lipo'd has a high risk of skin weirdness, I might leave it off of the list...

That pretty much sums it up. Hopefully he will be able to clear all of that up for me! I honestly don't even know if the appointment will be with him or with one of his assistants. Hopefully it's Dr. Hughes!

Oh yeah. I think I ate close to 3500 calories today, and it wasn't even that hard. Stomach is definitely getting stretched out. I'm totally going to be ready for an eating competition at the end of this!

i hope all goes well, i also have a little bit of a belly but i just call it my farm, since its just for farming fat lol

i have the same concerns that you have, most fat transfers to hip area usually still look weird since most of them show and increase in buttock prominence and have a very slender thigh, i worry about finding a surgeon that will inject fat into my thighs also and taper the fat so that it doesn't look like a pillow butt with stick legs

i can't wait to see your results jenny, good luck

That's a really good point. I am going to bring it up today at the consult for sure

Though with this weight gain at 2yrs HRT, I have the slightest bit of a saddlebag which blends nicely into outer upper thigh. I do think if he injected most of it just above that would be very effective, but some to the outer thigh couldn't hurt.

I looked back at my first email to Dr. Hughes, almost 14 months ago. When he saw my pictures, he said he could inject to the outer thigh as well as the hip, in the amount of 300cc. My goal is to get him to do that same thing but with 500.

Judging from the other reviews I have read on realself, I think he will be able to find a lot more than he said at our original consult. I am hoping for 500cc in each hip and up to 700cc in each side of the butt. One pound of fat equals just under 500cc, with probably a fraction of that going to the areas I'll be having lipo'd. Let's say it's 25%. So with 5 extra pounds of fat, maybe I'll get another 1200cc taken out- making an extra 600 available for injection. This is just pure speculation and wishful thinking.

I was wondering the other day about doing the procedure twice and only transfer half the fat each time for the purposes of the fat having time to vascularize better with the first transfer.

I remember researching a surgeon that was doing fat transfer on a smaller scale with better results since he had a different way to extract the fat that wasn't traditional lipo and that he could fine tune the fat injectios

I actually asked Dr. Hughes about exactly that at the initial consultation, he said multiple stages wouldn't make a difference. He has kinda touted himself as a "get it right the first time" doc with a good history and few revisions necessary- and stellar patient satisfaction. I found other methodologies in my own research of different surgeons, with some even mentioning the stem cell enriched method. It was tempting to go that route, but I wanted an aggressive surgeon the most- Dr. Hughes seems to be best in the business as far as his determination to "get all the fat out". My kinda doc.

As far as my pre op earlier today, unfortunately I only had a few minutes with him and wasn't able to go over all of my questions/concerns. He assured me we would have about an hour right before the surgery, though. That seems right to me. Most of the time I spent in the scheduling office with Adam signing papers.

I did ask Dr. Hughes about augmentation along the outer thigh. He told me he would need another 2L of fat in order to build it up enough to make a noticeable difference- which is simply not possible given what I have to work with. He said that injecting higher up on the hip is not only more effective per cc, it also looks better. I see what he is getting at, it makes sense to me.

Also I added under chin lipo to the bill, which brought the total up to $12,500.

I asked Adam what he thought the absorption rate of Dr. Hughes' patients is, he said usually 75%-85% of the fat stays. Dr. Hughes told me confidently 50%, but Adam said that figure is just a quote from the board of plastic surgeons. Online research will tell you it's really the skill and technique of the surgeon that matters most, I believe doing 3x fat transfers every day gives Hughes a big advantage over most other doctors, and probably why his patient satisfaction is so incredibly high.

I told Adam how I had been steadily gaining weight and he said "NICE. I like your style". He encouraged me to keep enjoying myself and not worry about gaining even more if I felt like it. Lol.. Don't mind if I do!

4 weeks to go!

Jenny you're a marvel, always blazing new trails.  I haven't looked into fat transfer in years.  I thought it basically didn't work.   I'm stunned with the actual success people are having. Thank you so much for starting this thread.

Good luck with the transfer,
Paige

It's my pleasure to share this here, Paige! Thanks for your message

A short update:

My weight is stabilizing at around 148 no matter how much I consume, but I think some of it has gone from visceral fat (under muscle & very unhealthy) to subcutaneous (the soft kind above muscle that can be lipo'd). So that is good. I no longer look like I have a potbelly, it's spreading all over now.

I've been getting comments from friends about it every day like "Whoa! Check out your belly!". Even my face is starting to look a little softer/rounder. Most notably my butt, hips, and lovehandles seem to be taking the brunt of it besides the tummy area. So far so good. I know for sure this is buying me more material to work with.

I have just under 4 weeks to go, and I don't think I'm going to reach my goal of 155 at this rate unless my body gets the picture fast that I just want it to store everything. I feel like I am doing all that I can within reason. Still it is working though- this is the most I've ever weighed, and that is a feat in itself being that I have never been able to gain weight.

Just before my surgery I am doing the annual party in the desert with friends, I have many belly shirts planned to wear. It's going to be hilarious, and then poof. Goodbye belly and hello, butt.