Here are some basic facts:
- method was penile inversion
- I opted for full-depth rather than a vulvoplasty
- surgery took 3 hours, though recovery took another hour
- I went under general anaesthesia and had to be intubated and put on a ventilator
- I’m currently admitted in the hospital and bed bound, discharge is scheduled for Friday
- so far pain is between 1 and 3 for me, most of the time it’s between a 0 and 1.
Ask me anything!
Congratulations, I hope you have a speedy recovery.
Dang, 3 hours? I was under for 10. No complications were reported for mine I wonder what the differences was.
Inversion is a lot quicker than types that use more extensive grafting
Mine was an inversion and in 2023. Everything came out great though. No complaints.
I was shocked about the time too, I have no idea how the surgeon gets the time that low.
The staff felt similar amazement and talked about how important reducing time under anesthesia is, that risks go up the longer the patient is under and so on. Apparently the surgeon’s top-surgery times are also very low, he works quickly.
Even with the short surgery time, I ended up with numbness in one of my arms from being unconscious and my arm being in the wrong position for too long. The tingling and numbness lasted a day or two before going away, but that was unnerving.
Congratulations !
thank you 😊
Congratulations! I hope you have a swift recovery and feel more at home in your body.
thank you! 💗
Ok, actual question time!
- How long was the waitlist, or the time between your consultation and the scheduled surgery date?
- Which PIV method did you get? I was looking at a specific method in the northeast and am trying to get an orchi ASAP with a request to preserve some tissue for a specific method, and am wondering if this is the same method. This seems like a VERY short time in the OR.
- Did you discuss personal priorities with your doctor? I have in mind the juxtaposition of sensation vs function vs aesthetics.
- Last one: how big was your grin when you woke up and realized everything was the way it should be?
How long was the waitlist, or the time between your consultation and the scheduled surgery date?
That’s a good question - I started HRT in December 2023, and I couldn’t have any surgeries until 1 year later (Dec. 2024). I knew I wanted an orchi, so during my first year of HRT I got a letter from a therapist for surgery, and then called up the hospital and scheduled a consultation, which happened probably sometime in the summer or fall of 2024 (sorry, details are a little fuzzy here).
Then I had the orchi scheduled with them for December and I started laser hair removal on the genital region a couple months before the orchi as I started to think a vaginoplasty would be a good idea.
Electrolysis for hair removal started ASAP after the orchi, so that was early February.
So overall the wait was like 6ish months since if I hadn’t been so dismissive of my bottom dysphoria and taken vaginoplasty more seriously, I might have done hair removal my whole first year of HRT and then had the vaginoplasty ASAP in December 2024 rather than waiting for June 2025.
Either way, I consider this a pretty short timeline, though I really wish I could have had my orchi when I started HRT in 2023, that insurance requirement to wait a year is blatant transphobia.
Which PIV method did you get? I was looking at a specific method in the northeast and am trying to get an orchi ASAP with a request to preserve some tissue for a specific method, and am wondering if this is the same method. This seems like a VERY short time in the OR.
Honestly I have no idea - I tend to think about getting the best surgeon and then getting whatever method they are best at. Since this surgeon is best at PIV that’s what I went with. I wish I had more details about it, because I’ve never heard of a full-depth vaginoplasty being done in 2 - 3 hours, that’s just insane.
Did you discuss personal priorities with your doctor? I have in mind the juxtaposition of sensation vs function vs aesthetics.
In visits before the operation I did ask the PA and nurses about what to expect in terms of sensation, function, etc. I didn’t give a lot of input on aesthetics, but that’s partially because I’ve seen his work before and it matches what I would like.
Last one: how big was your grin when you woke up and realized everything was the way it should be?
Leading up to the surgery was so nervous I was making a mistake and scared that it would look awful and I would immediately feel regret. Once I was in my own room and could look at it more closely, despite being the first day I felt this immense relief - like I had just shed a mountain of burden. I was shocked to find that I was so extremely happy with the results, and that led to some happy sobbing.
I’ve had intrusive thoughts about cutting off my penis since I was a teenager, and my scrotum has always seemed extremely gross to me - I just coped by not taking those feelings seriously, and so in a real way I didn’t understand my own bottom dysphoria or how severe it was. Right now at least I just feel so much relief and happiness - and I can’t explain why, it just is that way despite not expecting it to be like this at all.
Either way, I consider this a pretty short timeline, though I really wish I could have had my orchi when I started HRT in 2023, that insurance requirement to wait a year is blatant transphobia.
That is a short timeline! I’m happy that you were able to move this fast!
In visits before the operation I did ask the PA and nurses about what to expect in terms of sensation, function, etc.
This has always been a thing that worries me. I’m mostly concerned with functionality, though obviously we would all like like have all 3 be perfect. I’m glad you were able to find the procedure you were hoping for!
I was shocked to find that I was so extremely happy with the results, and that led to some happy sobbing.
Joy really is the end goal, isn’t it?
This surgeon seems pretty decent on all three measures, aesthetic seems ideal as well as function and sensitivity.
Here are some photos of the surgeon’s work:
NSFW
3 month post-op:
different person, 1 year post-op (this one is shallow-depth / vulvoplasty):
same vulvoplasty person but 6 months post-op:
a different person 4 days post-op:
and yeah, joy is the end-goal I guess, for me it’s more like harm reduction driving things than joy, but I’m happily surprised when the joy comes anyway, lol
I have a hard time connecting with my feelings around dysphoria, I’ve coped really well and part of the way I cope is by dismissing and ignoring my feelings around gender.
Congrats! I hope someday I’ll be able to do the same. The idea of sex kinda sucks when it feels like your brain is looking for parts you don’t have.
yes, I didn’t think my bottom dysphoria was that bad, I would have described it as moderate - but after the surgery and looking down, I felt such a huge sense of relief I broke down crying - I clearly had big feelings I was dismissing the severity of.
T~T
Tbh, I’m starting to look into it myself, though I still have +6mo before insurance will cover it. However, considering how long I’ve heard the waiting period can be, maybe now is the best time to start thinking about it and looking for surgeons.
yes, wait times can be very long and this is a surgery that requires a lot of planning. 6 months isn’t even enough time to get your hair removal finished, generally I see recommendations to have 1 whole year of electrolysis and at least 3 full cycles of hair clearance. That alone is a huge amount of work and time - I had 1 hour electrolysis appointments once a week. When you add in the typical insurance requirements to have been on hormones under the supervision of a doctor for a year and the requirement to get two independent letters from psychologists, you are looking at a lot of appointments with endocrinologists, psychologists, and eventually with the surgery team. It’s a lot - so start now if you think you might even possibly want it.
When I socially transitioned I practically promised myself I wouldn’t get a vaginoplasty, I only wanted an orchi … and that position was fully reversed after 6 months of estrogen. I wish I had taken the possibility of a vaginoplasty more seriously, and that I had started hair removal for that much earlier.
Why is the hair removal so important? Is it for removing hair that will be on the internal parts?
The scrotum and phallus skin is removed and used as a skin graft and it becomes the lining of the neovagina. You don’t want hair in your neovagina. Besides the obvious discomfort with that, there have been cases where hair in the neovagina leads to infections.
Usually surgeons now will cauterize the follicles they find on the skin graft, but that only addresses the hairs growing in that cycle - you need to have removed the hairs over many cycles so new ones don’t come in after the surgery. That’s why it’s best to have cleared all the hair with electrolysis across several cycles - ideally over an entire year (even longer than that would be better because the following year you can kill any that were missed the first year).
yaay congrats! :^ i remember when i woke up i was so sad because i thought it was just a dream and i started to cry T_T
i got mine at the end of june 2020 and had an amazing view of the empire state building lit up for pride and i thought it was appropriate coming back from surgery and seeing that :3
Congrats! I def need to get one for myself soon. Are you comfortable sharing the name of the surgeon/practice?
Congrats!!
Questions:
- how long it has been since you made your mind for the op?
- does the public healthcare/private insurance cover the surgery and post op care?
- how do you plan to celebrate this awesome life milestone with your friends?
lots of love, girl :)
how long it has been since you made your mind for the op?
I was pretty sure I wouldn’t want a vaginoplasty when I socially transitioned in August 2023, but I knew I wanted an orchi.
It was probably around 6 months on estrogen when I realized I needed a vaginoplasty as well, so that was around a year before the surgery - maybe June 2024 (I started HRT in Dec. 2023).
does the public healthcare/private insurance cover the surgery and post op care?
I have insurance through my employer. The total cost of the surgery is $135,000 and insurance is paying for all but $1,400 of it which I have to pay.
how do you plan to celebrate this awesome life milestone with your friends?
I guess I haven’t thought of this at all, tbh - I’ll be moving in a few weeks to another state, so I won’t have time to celebrate (let alone recover!) so my life is just too busy for fun stuff 😅 Also, not sure most of my friends really grok the whole trans thing, so even if I had the time for it, I’m not sure what I would do to celebrate with them.
It’s a good idea, though - I’ll have to ponder this some more ❤️
Congratulations Dandelion, so happy for you 😊
thank youuuu 🥰
Hows it feel to not having a thing touching your inner thigh, constantly? Although i guess theres probably something there from the hospital 😅
post orchi not having testes was a huge benefit for that - but the empty scrotum would still slap the thighs and make me feel nauseated and upset whenever that happened.
I am on bed rest so I’m not allowed to walk or get out of bed until Friday, so I have no idea yet how walking feels - I am very much looking forward, though - that was one of the biggest sources of genital dysphoria and I can’t wait for it to be gone. I remember post-orchi saying “every step brings joy” because walking used to cause dysphoria and suddenly I could walk differently and feel so much better.
Wait until you lie on your tummy in bed for the first time!
Not OP, but i can say 2 years post op it feels weird to think I used to have something there lol
I’m super happy for you! Get some rest and I wish you a speedy recovery!
thank you 🥰
Congrats! 💜
Did you say anything silly when you were waking up from surgery?
Did you say anything silly when you were waking up from surgery?
Surgical tech of roughly a decade, here: This almost never happens. Of the thousands of patients I’ve seen wake from anesthesia, exactly 3 of them so far woke up saying funny/weird shit. Two of them were WAY over the top hilariously thankful; and one was completely convinced that we were bullshitting him when we told him his surgery was over and that he was just waking up. He had zero recollection of being unconscious at all: from his perspective, we rolled him into the OR, had him shuffle from his gurney to the OR bed, then immediately shoved him back onto the gurney while saying ‘it’s all done!’. He was a little more receptive to it once he saw the sutures, lol.
The vast majority of people either want to stay asleep, or they wake up kicking and punching.
aw, thank you! And not as far as I know or remember - I’m pretty sober and alert when I wake up from anaesthesia - I also usually have no headaches or confusion like can be common for others, and that was true this time too.
no questions just a hells yeah
Woah, awesome <3 I’m so happy for you!
3 hours seems really quick. And discharge in less than a week? Did you find the speediest surgeon ever, or is my information out of date?
I’m failing to think of a question, so… how are you passing the time until you are up and about again?
The information I had generally was that a vaginoplasty takes between 4 - 6 hours here, and in the past could take 8+ hours to complete.
Apparently this is a really good surgeon and hospital, I was shocked they got it done in 3 hours. I’m not sure how typical that is, but I heard from one of the staff that they had make major advancements in the past few years that enabled a much faster surgery. I would love to have more details, but I don’t yet unfortunately.
I’m not sure re passing time - I brought movies, audiobooks, and my laptop so I can mess around on Lemmy like right now 😉
So we’ll see, but right now it’s also really easy to just close my eyes and spend time drifting and coming in and out of sleep.
