Deschamps-Braly is the successor of Dr O, as I understand it. He probably is good, having learned from the "inventor of FFS". Sadly there are not many before and after pictures around and he does not show any of the website - either no patient is willing to offer photos for publication or he just does not want it, which is something I do not understand - if a surgeon has good results and the patients are willing to agree to have them shown, why not show them? He also has no other contact than a phone number, which makes it really hard for international patients to get in contact, and also apparently he only does consultations in his office in SF, which also makes it hard for internatinal patients who would maybe prefer photo or Skype consultations to travelling to SF for a consultation. But then again, his clients have to be rather well off financially to afford him, so I guess travelling to SF for a talk would not make a dent in their wallet.

Here is my "before" and a couple "afters"... Dr O was at my initial consult with Dr D-B and sat in on my surgeries but has since fully retired...  I live about two hours south of San Francisco so the process was geographically easy for me!...I had read Dr O's book before that first consult and fully recommend it as a good source of info on all the procedures... Dr D-B is a wonderful guy to deal with and I'm sure I will be using his services again in the future!!!

Onward we go!!!

Ashley

Ashley you have had some amazing results.  You must be thrilled beyond belief. 

I am going to have a facelift later this year, mainly to get rid of my saggy jowls.  I can make them look good in a picture, but those random photos drive me crazy.  So I'll be heading to LA in April for some touch up work.

My FFS was done by Dr O back in 2002.  I was never fully satisfied with the jaw line work, but lived with it, as I felt it was an improvement.  Now as I approach 50, I am going to get "tuned up"  so to speak.  With the VFS in February and facelift in April, I should be ready for my big 5-0 party

Thanks for sharing your pictures

Here is one of me and my bestie taken after a roller derby bout in San Diego last month.  I am the tall one

Well, you changed a lot more than the FFS in those pictures - you have totally different hair as well - was that first photo also before HRT was working? But it definitely is an amazing change. I am always impressed most by those surgeries that have a pre OP status that looks so "strong" and where so much change can be done. FFS is the most impressive the more change can be seen because the face really "needed it". Congrats.

Living near SF of course is a plus in that case, but from what I have heard, his pricetag would be beyond the capabilities of many potential patients. Going up near the $100k for a full FFS while others charge half or 1/3 (the ones outside the US) of that

I still wonder, why he does not show a Gallery of sorts. Just as it was said for others that they should get a certification if they are really good and that it doe snot leave a good impression if they do not go through the lengths of getting one, I also think to myself, why would a surgeon doing great results not show some of them, if the patients agree to it? I think of two explanations - one is that he feels he doe snot need it because patients will come anyways, so why bother - better give the impression of being a bit exclusive (and reclusive) and rely on "viral marketing". The other would be something I would not expect of hin of course, as it would mean that there are not enough good results to show. Which I cannot imagine for his case, so I assume its the first of the options, which still bugs me.

Hi Anjaq!

Thanks for the kind words... The " before" pic was taken a few months into HRT to send to VirtualFFS.com for recommendations... I don't know whether I ever saw any change in my face I would completely attribute to HRT other than improved skin quality... After all the changes to my face it is hard to know what beyond that was surgery and what was HRT

I am not sure where you got the 100k number but I paid no where near that... My first procedure was 11.5 hours of FFS ... All the bone work... I paid in the 30k to 40k range

10 months later I did another 11.5 hours of face lift, blephroplasty and other soft tissue work... That procedure was also in the 30k range

I don't know his reason behind not posting patient pics on his site... I gave him permission to use mine to show consulting patients and for medical presentations... He has a fantastic office staff and I am sure he would provide pics to potential patients who request them...

Onward we go brave sisters!!!

Ashley

This is just speculation on my part, but perhaps Dr Deschamps-Braly doesn't post FFS photos on his site because he doesn't want to be known primarily as an FFS surgeon.  Rather, he wants to be known as a plastic surgeon who can do a variety of procedures for cis men and women as well.

And if you look at his website, FFS is just a small portion of the site, not displayed in big print like it is for the websites of Dr Spiegel or Dr Zukowski.  Also, check out Dr D-B's reviews on yelp - you'll see that quite a lot of the reviews were not written by trans, but rather cis patients.

I think the "close to $100k" was from someone who basically wanted everthing in the book - I guess a more regular number then is $50k to $60k for the regular procedures, which still is quite a bit more than everyone else charges, except maybe Suporn who is said to be pretty high priced as well. What did you all get done to warrant 11 hours of surgery - twice!?!? I usually assume that FFS takes 6-8 hours depending on the amount of work to be done, rarely it takes two sessions of 6-8 hours if a lot of procedures are done. Why did it take so long and what did you get done, if I may ask?

Though admittedly for the minor changes I would expect from a FFS, I think it is still out of my price range, but I am curious. If I am for some reason in the area I may get a consultation just to get an impression - but it is about 12 hours and $1000 away by plane from here...

Quote from: Mirya on December 28, 2016, 03:01:26 PM
This is just speculation on my part, but perhaps Dr Deschamps-Braly doesn't post FFS photos on his site because he doesn't want to be known primarily as an FFS surgeon.  Rather, he wants to be known as a plastic surgeon who can do a variety of procedures for cis men and women as well.

And if you look at his website, FFS is just a small portion of the site, not displayed in big print like it is for the websites of Dr Spiegel or Dr Zukowski.  Also, check out Dr D-B's reviews on yelp - you'll see that quite a lot of the reviews were not written by trans, but rather cis patients.

You're probably right on this observation! He does a lot of work at children's hospital on kids also!

Anjaq... I did a Yelp you can find on Dr D-B that lists all the procedures that were done... It is under the name Ashley C. ... As I recall ... The first procedure was scalp advance, brow lift, type III forehead recontouring, rhinoplasty, lip lift, chin re-shaping, chin advanced forward, jaw re-tapering and masseter muscle ... The second procedure was upper and lower SMAS facelift, neck tightening ( he removed about 5 inches of skin)...upper and lower blephroplasty, fat grafting. Removal of some salivary glands to improve jawline, peri oral dermal abrasion and probably a couple other things I am forgetting!

Onward brave sisters!!!

Ashley

Ok, that is quite a bit of procedures in that first surgery but not that much more than I usually hear people getting. Basically jaw, chin, nose and forehead, which includes hairline. Hmm - I guess he just needs more time or maybe your case was more difficult.
I am interested now in that "masseter muscle reduction". I have not heard it from other surgeons and I do not know much about it, but from googling that muscle it seems like this could be an interesting procedure which is not common in FFS and thus falls into that "out of the box" category I was mentioning in another thread. Can you tell more about it?

By the way, why did you choose him over others - did you know many others who have been there and loved their results? After all he is more expensive, so I would ask myself if paying that much more money (twice compared to surgeons in Europe or three times as much as surgeons in Argentina and still quite a bit more than other US surgeons) is worth it. Was it mainly because he is close to where you live and you had the money for it anyways or was there something else that drew you to him? I believe in California there is also that Dr Lee who is also quite famous - did you consider him but decide against him?

HI Anjaq...

I chose him for a few reasons... Amongst them were the association with Dr O... I had read Dr O's book and felt good about his approach... I had a friend who had gone to Doctors D-B and O and had a good experience and the geographic proximity appealed to me as well... Having your doctor close for extended follow up, if needed holds value to me... I had a friend go to Spiegel in Boston and was disappointed that the results of his work were more ... subtle. I wanted a big change like the work of Dr O or Zukowski provided... I have friends who used Dr Z and what they paid was in the same range as what I paid... Truthfully... I didn't care what the cost was... I sold my home to have the money to make my life what I needed it to be...

The masseter muscle reduction narrowed my face at the back by stripping away much of the muscle... Those muscles were pretty bulky from a lot of years of gum chewing at work!!!


Onward we go!!!

Ashley

Quote from: tgirlamc on December 27, 2016, 09:41:27 PM
I would also recommend checking out Dr Deschamps-Braly in San Francisco... I did a Yelp on him under Ashley C that lists what I had done with him...  All the best on your quest!!!

Onward we go!!!

Ashley

I second this