I don't have any way to pay myself for FFS. There is a sex change commitee here in Israel and once they authorize FFS for me I will be referred to whatever doctors the commitee works with here in Israel. Is it a foolish risk to do so? Should I find a way to save money to pay for the best surgeon (which probably isn't possible for me) or give up? I told my mother today that I want to do FFS since the hormones aren't working and she told me even celebrities with the best surgeons sometimes end up with screwed up faces that can't be fixed and I won't even have access to the best surgeons. Is she right that FFS is a huge risk or do doctors generally know what they are doing and mistakes are rare and usually fixable?

If they will refer you to craniofacial surgeon, with experience in both aesthetical and reconstructive surgery, you've got nothing to worry about. He/she doesn't have to be a famous FFS name, to be a good surgeon. On the other hand, just an average plastic/cosmetic surgeon is another story. The biggest risk is you won't be happy with the results. Not only they don't have a clue on how to do a proper "type3" forehead reconstruction and orbital remodeling, even agressive jaw/chin work could be a problem. It hurts my brain that some trans women who pay for FFS with their hard earned money, choose to have their FFS with cosmetic-plastic surgeons like dr. Mayer or dr. Zukowski.. And they aren't any cheaper because of their lack of skills and knowledge. Quite the contrary, they even try to use their lack of skills as a marketing tool, such as "endoscopic shaving approach is better because it's better because we can do the same result"(<-Thats a lie)... While one of them basically doesn't have one single side profile photo on his page... and the other one who have a side profile of every presented patient, doesn't have one single good forehead result... Back to my point, wait to see what type of surgeons they work with, and hope for the proper surgeon.   

And about tracheal shave, do I have anything to worry about or is it a relatively simple procedure that has low risk? I am a singer and my voice is important to me, and was told by the sex change commitee that since I'm not doing voice surgery that the risk is low. Have there been cases of patients getting their throats cut and dying in these procedures?

Quote from: Ruth Ruthless on February 05, 2015, 09:01:09 AM
And about tracheal shave, do I have anything to worry about or is it a relatively simple procedure that has low risk? I am a singer and my voice is important to me, and was told by the sex change commitee that since I'm not doing voice surgery that the risk is low. Have there been cases of patients getting their throats cut and dying in these procedures?

A tracheal shave is a fairly straightforward procedure, with minimal complications.

I agree with kelly_aus, tracheal shave is a simple risk-free procedure if done by someone who knows how far to go. Every ENT or experienced FFS surgeon will be able to do it right. Average cosmetic surgeons will refuse to do it.
As far as singing and voice goes... It could be very different from person to person. I'm 1 month after tracheal shave, and I still don't have my normal speaking voice completely back to where it was. Singing voice will probably take a few more months, before I will be able to sing as I did before tracheal shave. But I'm not worried about that, as I paused my music career until the unknown. But I was extremly worried one week or 10 days after surgery as my speaking voice was still really really terrible. It started to really improve around 2 weeks. Some only need a few days, some need months to recover, so you can't really know.
To my knowledge noone ever died during FFS because of surgeons mistake or anything like that.

I read in tsroadmap from Google search about a woman who had a wide singing range much like I do and the doctors reassured no voice change and the tests after the surgery say everything looks okay but after 11 months she still didn't get her upper range and falsetto voice back leading me to believe that doctors have no idea about what is needed to keep a singing voice intact, only a speaking voice.

Surgery is surgery plain and simple. None of us are guaranteed results we desire and things do go wrong. Even with the best surgeons things happen. I personally know 5 real life friends who are thrilled with theirs and 1 who was not, but her desired results were a stretch. 

So expecting to retain my full singing voice after ts is a stretch?

Anytime there is surgery on the tracheal area, larynx, etc. there is a risk. They are altering tissue, bone structure, cartilage and other things.

Quote from: Ruth Ruthless on February 05, 2015, 11:20:08 AM
So expecting to retain my full singing voice after ts is a stretch?

Don't expect your full singing voice to be back in one week. It could take a month or two, or more. But unless someone incapable of doing tracheal shave destroys your vocal cords, by removing cartilage where it shouldn't be removed, you will be fine, and your voice will only need that much more practice to return to where it was. As it would be the same if you would have a really bad cold for 2 months, and you would need a few weeks to get back in shape.