I just got off the phone with D Brady. They quoted me at $35,000 approximately for a jawline shave, rhinoplasty, and cheek feeling implants. That seems extremely high. Is there even any indication that he is worth it? I can't seem to find any before and after pictures of his work.

I also spoke with the receptionist for dr. Speigel just now, and was not given a quote, but I believe he will not be able to see me and the time frame I would like to be seen. We definitely keep him busy lol.

It is looking like my choice is between dr. Lee and Dr Z. How quickly was Dr Z able to see you after your consultation? I am waiting on a call back from his office right now. Also, does anyone else have opinions on Dr Z vs Dr Lee? Thanks again for all of the support and help with this decision. It is definitely not an easy one. This part of the process always makes my head spin.

Quote from: Clefairy on March 19, 2018, 12:12:53 PM
I just got off the phone with D Brady. They quoted me at $35,000 approximately for a jawline shave, rhinoplasty, and cheek feeling implants. That seems extremely high. Is there even any indication that he is worth it? I can't seem to find any before and after pictures of his work.

I also spoke with the receptionist for dr. Speigel just now, and was not given a quote, but I believe he will not be able to see me and the time frame I would like to be seen. We definitely keep him busy lol.

It is looking like my choice is between dr. Lee and Dr Z. How quickly was Dr Z able to see you after your consultation? I am waiting on a call back from his office right now. Also, does anyone else have opinions on Dr Z vs Dr Lee? Thanks again for all of the support and help with this decision. It is definitely not an easy one. This part of the process always makes my head spin.

I don't understand the Dechamps craze. He's supposedly the gold standard but his prices are outrageous and there are few results to look at. The ones I've seen? Nothing amaaazing. But people love him. I'm thinking it's an emperor's new clothes thing...

You should be hearing from Cole shortly. Cole will set up a phone consultation with the doc. I didn't do my in person consultation until the day before my surgery. Things usually move pretty quickly with Z's office and I think scheduling is about 2 months out max.

It's an extremely hard decision and all factors have to be considered VERY carefully. In the end, it's looking at results, weighing what you can afford without sacrificing quality, and making a decision. You can find endless positive AND negative reviews of any surgeon, in the end it's a small part having faith.

I will also say the money is not as much of an object for me right now. I have saved up sufficient funds to finish my surgical transition at this point, and I am concerned primarily about results. The big fear is having what happened with Cardenas happen again, and not being satisfied, but having already expended my funds on revisions, not being able to go in for round 3. Round 3 is not something that I ever want to get to.

I can't seem to find results for braly anywhere. I was very impressed with the stuff when I spoke on the phone with them, and I am very much into the idea of someone doing x-rays before deciding what I do or do not need. If anyone else has had there surgery with braly, please weigh in! I guess the way I ultimately feel is that it truly is a crap shoot at the end of the day. We could go to any surgeon in the world and be happy or unhappy with the results. I feel like every time one of us is going to get surged, we spend so much time talking to other people on chatting and researching, but as long as the doctor is competent, all of that means nothing alongside what happens in those few short hours when they are actually cutting into us. It's kind of hard to think about how much faith we have to put into these surgeons. I love them for what they do.

I'm in nyc I'll ask my endo here on Thursday about Dr. Lee when I see him. He recommended other surgeons to me last time. But if I remember correctly they do all surgeries for trans, which I don't feel comfortable with... when I called them up just for ffs it seemed they thought I want srs then too. I just want the (delicate) focus on my face.

Anyway this process is stressful.. I just know it's necessary for me

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Dr Z can be pretty aggressive

Maybe D Bradly advertises aggressively.   I had lasik eye surgery and had the same problem.  The "gold standard" place wanted $8000 for the procedure, I went to lasikmd, paid $3200 for the same operation.

The expensive place gave me excuses for the cost, the cheaper place, gave me a free consultation and when I researched the surgeon who was doing my eyes.  He was also a university professor who teaches eye surgery at the university of Toronto a major Canadian medical school.  Him being good enough to teach other doctors surgery was good enough for me.

The expensive place was sadly just advertising in my case.

Clefairy,

Please Please don't rush into getting a revision so fast. I have a lot of sympathy for your situation and totally understand why you would be so desperate for getting another FFS surgery.

I had my ffs with Deschamps 2 yrs ago and while it was good, it wasn't extraordinary. Based on the your pics and your expectation to be fully clock proof( even in sweaty/messy situations like yoga or hot summer hiking), in my opinion neither Deschamps, Spiegel or Lee could get you there. They can make improvements but not get u fully where u want to be. They cannot make most trans faces fully passable because of 1)limitations posed by male skulls, 2) Their inability to do certain procedures 3) Lack of advanced FFS techniques to fully feminize a male skull into a female one.

In you specific case, you do have a beautiful face. However the major trans identifier that I see is the length of ur midface and the nose which creates a elongated space between the eyes and lips. Shaving the jaw too much might accentuate this problem further. And cheek implants might only camouflage this problem without truly solving the main problem. Thus creating a strange look of feminine on top of masculine base structure.

My suggestion is:

1)Take time in understanding what facial features are causing the trans identification as opposed to rushing to a surgeons without proper grasp of the actual problem urself. I covered ur lower and middle face with one hand and ur upper face by itself looked female. But vice versa, it looked androgynous.
2) Maybe lower ur expectations a bit. Its very very hard to fully feminize most trans faces where on one can clock even in absolute raw state. In your case, i think it has potential to look really good, but not with traditional ffs.

I did 2 yrs of analyzing on what i needed for phase 2 despite wanting to fix things right away and having funds to go to any surgeons however times i wanted. Why? Because I observed most people still look off after ffs and overdoing ffs creates a strange ...weird look most times. I was in your position 6 months post op my ffs where I almost booked phase 2 with Dr Lee but luckily changed my mind last minute. I now finally feel ready and plan to pursue phase 2 in September with a surgeon that can truly feminize the lower & mid face bone structure to full potential not just basic jaw shaving or cheek augmentation.

Finally, unless u already had lower body feminization surgeries, the shoulder to hip ratio might be a problem as well.

Quote from: humblegirl on March 27, 2018, 05:51:56 AM
Clefairy,

Please Please don't rush into getting a revision so fast. I have a lot of sympathy for your situation and totally understand why you would be so desperate for getting another FFS surgery.

I had my ffs with Deschamps 2 yrs ago and while it was good, it wasn't extraordinary. Based on the your pics and your expectation to be fully clock proof( even in sweaty/messy situations like yoga or hot summer hiking), in my opinion neither Deschamps, Spiegel or Lee could get you there. They can make improvements but not get u fully where u want to be. They cannot make most trans faces fully passable because of 1)limitations posed by male skulls, 2) Their inability to do certain procedures 3) Lack of advanced FFS techniques to fully feminize a male skull into a female one.

In you specific case, you do have a beautiful face. However the major trans identifier that I see is the length of ur midface and the nose which creates a elongated space between the eyes and lips. Shaving the jaw too much might accentuate this problem further. And cheek implants might only camouflage this problem without truly solving the main problem. Thus creating a strange look of feminine on top of masculine base structure.

My suggestion is:

1)Take time in understanding what facial features are causing the trans identification as opposed to rushing to a surgeons without proper grasp of the actual problem urself. I covered ur lower and middle face with one hand and ur upper face by itself looked female. But vice versa, it looked androgynous.
2) Maybe lower ur expectations a bit. Its very very hard to fully feminize most trans faces where on one can clock even in absolute raw state. In your case, i think it has potential to look really good, but not with traditional ffs.

I did 2 yrs of analyzing on what i needed for phase 2 despite wanting to fix things right away and having funds to go to any surgeons however times i wanted. Why? Because I observed most people still look off after ffs and overdoing ffs creates a strange ...weird look most times. I was in your position 6 months post op my ffs where I almost booked phase 2 with Dr Lee but luckily changed my mind last minute. I now finally feel ready and plan to pursue phase 2 in September with a surgeon that can truly feminize the lower & mid face bone structure to full potential not just basic jaw shaving or cheek augmentation.

Finally, unless u already had lower body feminization surgeries, the shoulder to hip ratio might be a problem as well.

I agree. I see women with that cat face look, usually because of cheek implants and too many other surgeries?
Good luck, I think it's true. Length of face/skull is an issue for mtf usually.
What's the surgery you're getting for phase 2?

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Hello humblegirl, welcome to Susan's.  As this was your first post I'll add navigation links and guidelines that are requirements for Susan's Place. 

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Also we have an Introductions Forum, would be awesome if you introduce yourself. 

As for FFS, I believe we should each set our own comfort level based on our individual situations and long term goals.  I hesitate to get too far into measurements and ratios as average ranges based on gender are also impacted by race and age.  There are cis-gender women with different skull sizes and shapes, and body proportions.  I know cis-gender women who have been occasionally misgendered and although that didn't delight them they didn't rush to a surgeon.  And I have read interviews with fashion models who were outcast as ugly in school because of unique characteristics in their facial features that were later discovered to be an asset. 

I'd always recommend Dr Deschamps-Braly, but I'm biased since he was my surgeon =)

I think there is a danger of trying to look 'perfect' vs looking female.  I would love to look like a perfectly gorgeous model too.. but for now I'm settling for 'female'   Perhaps this is the fine line that's not easy to see? I personally think you're absolutely stunning as well.. I don't look bad but I'm jealous lol. You are beautiful ((Hugs))

Quote from: Clefairy on March 19, 2018, 10:54:19 AM
And to whoever asked what SM is, it is a website where women, cis or trans, can make a lot of money modelling.  Feel free to send me a message about it.

can you give the information to the SM website? I cannot send a private message yet on this site because I am new and it is saying I am not allowed to send private messages.

I kind of think that humble girl nailed the issue.  Some cis females try to never be caught without makeup.  With us the percentage is much higher.  You are nearing the point where more surgery may only make you look more trans as in the fake dollish look.  You are very pretty now-i would be hesitant to go further with surgery.

So I have been to Dr. Spiegel and Dr. Lee and Dr. Z for various things.

Sadly no one surgeon is great at all things. So I would decide what you want to correct and go to that surgeon for that specific thing and BE VERY cleat what your expectations are. Never leave it up to the surgeons interpretation.

Dr. Z is more aggressive and less expensive, but I have found some of his work to be non symmetrical, where as Dr. S is overpriced and honestly I don't feel doing his best work anymore. I saw him in 2011-2012. Dr. Lee's results vary, so as I stated be clear about your expectations and if the Dr. is disagreeing or seems unsure then most likely they don't have the skill set to give you what you want or are not confident.

Best of luck, and in the meantime remember to live and enjoy life!

Quote from: Pixiehollows on April 17, 2018, 10:38:46 PM
can you give the information to the SM website? I cannot send a private message yet on this site because I am new and it is saying I am not allowed to send private messages.

still waiting for a reply?

I went to Dr. Cardenas.  I know people are impressed, I look more feminine, I've had guys call me beautiful...no issues misgendering, and about 50% of the time I can actually delude myself thinking I am pretty.  I have a semi good figure after all.   I just can't shake the camera moment where I'm like "I'm so ugly".  I hate it.  And there's no way my spouse will let me go for ffs revision.   At a loss what to do, and for me its dpressing.

I'm not one to get trapped in the constant cosmetic alterations, but when my spouse says things like "bob hope nose" or such... it just incredibly depressing & induces tears in me.  She also calls me sexy but .. 30 atta girls and one oh s* spoils it all.

I do think you're beautiful from the pictures you show, totally female.  #jealous.

Quote from: Pixiehollows on May 06, 2018, 08:38:31 PM
still waiting for a reply?

  Hi  Pixiehollows,

I'm Laurie, I see that you are new here. So please let me say, Welcome To Susan's Place! Come on in and take a good look around.  Perhaps I can even get you to hop on over to the Introductions Thread and  create a post to tell us a little bit more about yourself so we can get to know you a little better and greet you properly. I'll add some links and information below that can help you get more out of our site. Please take time to become familiar with them especially the RED one as we are always getting questions that are answered there.
 
Laurie
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