transgender/surgery/MtF/lower

About

"Bottom" surgery for male-to-female (MtF) transition can refer to vaginoplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy, and/or labiaplasty. (Yes, there needs to be more explanation of these...) Vaginoplasty, with or without labiaplasty, is often referred to as SRS (sex reassignment surgery), GRS (genital reconstruction surgery / gender reassignment surgery), or GCS (gender confirmation surgery) -- although some of these terms may also be used to refer to other types of gender-transition surgery as well.

General Information

• How Gender Confirmation Surgery Actually Works: includes CGI animation video
• SRSmentor - not sure how useful this site is
• Vaginoplasty: Male to Female Sex Reassignment Surgery by Lynn Conway

Surgeons

• Christine McGinn, DO (Papillon Center, New Hope, PA)
• Kathy Rumer - Ardmore, PA
  • does GCS and other surgeries for both MtF and FtM patients
• Keelee MacPhee, MD (Durham, NC): "requires that her transgender patients be referred by a licensed healthcare and/or mental health professional", which seems pretty close to Informed Consent though this says she follows WPATH
  • vaginoplasty
  • Office is listed in Raleigh, but apparently does the surgeries at Duke
  • Facebook
• Loren Schechter [1] - Morton Grove, IL
• Marci Bowers (Wikipedia) - San Mateo, CA (started in Trinidad, CO)
  • 2011 AMA About My Post-Op GCS Experience With Dr. Bowers! (Posted in 2012, apparently one year after the surgery)
• Sherman Leis (web site) - Bala Cynwyd, PA
• Toby Meltzer (Wikipedia) - Scottsdale, AZ
  • 2009-2010 Chloe's SRS blog
  • 2005 T'was The Night Before Surgery
• Unknown:
  • 2001 katesrs.html (seems to be in the UK somewhere)

retired

• Eugene Schrang (tsroadmap, Facebook) - Neenah, WI
• Stanley Biber (Wikipedia) (d.2006) - Trinidad, CO; mentor to Marci Bowers

directories

• Transgender Care Listings: Surgeons (Genital/Bottom)

Regrets

Much is made about post-surgical regret, but as far as I can tell this happens only for one of the following reasons:

• The patient is coerced into surgery as a condition for receiving other services or supplies necessary for transitioning (e.g. hormones)
• The patient has mistaken ideas about the benefits or risks of surgery, and is allowed to proceed without first being fully informed (this is why the "informed" part of informed consent is crucial)
• The surgery goes badly (seems to be very rare),
• The surgery results in reduced genital sensation, which sometimes leads to regret.

links

• A WARNING FOR THOSE CONSIDERING MtF SRS by Lynn Conway: transitioning for the wrong reasons: discusses Renée Richards, Dani Bunten Berry, Sandra MacDougall, Samantha Kane
• There was also a ~2010 post by a transwoman whose surgery, though genuinely wanted and for the right reasons, had gone poorly (her lower intestine was nicked by a surgical retractor) and she was stuck wearing a colostomy bag, and without a properly-shaped neovagina. I had the link in a tab somewhere but can't find it at the moment. --Woozle (talk) 15:37, 5 September 2016 (EDT)

notes

• Walt Heyer and Jerry Leach reportedly both lied to their therapists in order to get surgery recommendations, and apparently came to regret the decision. This falls under the category of "for the wrong reasons".

Questions to Ask

(Where possible, get answers from web site first; perhaps confirm with surgeon.)

• Do you have a fixed price for the procedure? If not, can you estimate the likely cost?
• How long is your wait-list, at present, for a surgery appointment?
• How soon could I get an appointment for an initial consultation?
• When did you first start doing vaginoplasty?
• Approximately how many vaginoplasties have you performed?
• Have any of your vaginoplasty patients reported unexpected issues?
• Do you prefer to do vaginoplasty in a single operation, or labia and clitoral hood separately?
• Can you put me in touch with transwomen whose surgeries you performed (or point me at what they've written about their experiences)?