Wishing for top surgery

I decided to make myself post about this. I can't let myself stay away from here too long again xD

Been talking to my SO about my trans issues and how (like most of us) I wish i could just press a magic button and poof into a male like in a video game or something.

*sigh* but, alas, things are never that easy.

Anyway, we spoke about surgeries and how... as much as I would like to get one, I'm terrified of the permanence aspect. Worried about doing something that I might regret.. even if it's something I want. The result of this conversation left me not too interested with bottom surgery... but very seriously considering top.

It was the first time I was so confident and exited about the prospect of surgery. Having a male chest would boost my self confidence and happiness in this body more so than T or anything else ever would. I even intend to mention this to my therapist on my next visit (which is huge considering that i have not even mentioned any gender dysphoria to her as of yet)

After this, I started to browse the internet to research top surgery and such... And have found I'm greatly disappointed and back to being apprehensive about the idea of surgery at all. The pictures I've seen are full of scars and less than pleasing, and even discouraging or a bit repulsive. I'm more fond of the peri/keyhole idea, because the results I've seen are much, much better, but being a Large-B/Small-C I'm not sure if it would be an option for me. (isn't that type of surgery just for As?)

-sigh- If I could find a surgeon who had amazing results very often, and who I could be confident wouldn't completely ruin my chest and could give me an aesthetically and sensationally pleasing result, I'd be more than willing to launch into that head-first. But after looking through every single surgeon under the FTM top surgery search results on transbucket.com, I'm beginning to wonder if that kindof person even exists.

I'm wondering what my mates on CD.com have experienced as far as top surgery... are the results as filled with obvious scarring and other deformities as I have seen? What knowledge do you have on this subject... and how can I find a way to get the chest I truly deserve?

Thomas M. Shrader

Like always, I know exactly what you're talking about and how you feel. Unfortunately, since I'm in the same boat, I don't know how to help.

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Originally Posted by Thomas

But after looking through every single surgeon under the FTM top surgery search results on transbucket.com, I'm beginning to wonder if that kind of person even exists.

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There was your mistake right there, transbucket is NOT a good representation of chest surgeons that are out there...

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I'm wondering what my mates on CD.com have experienced as far as top surgery... are the results as filled with obvious scarring and other deformities as I have seen? What knowledge do you have on this subject... and how can I find a way to get the chest I truly deserve?

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As you are stateside there are few good surgeons over there, heres a few links :)

http://www.brownsteinmd.com/results.html
http://www.tmeltzer.com/procedures/ftm.shtml#chest (no pictures on his site but i have seen his work)
http://www.drgarramone.com/procedures-transgender2.html
http://www.plasticsurgery4u.com/tran...op_surgery.htm
http://drstanleytaub.com/gallery-f2m.html
http://www.madisoncosmeticsurgery.co...on.html#f-to-m
there are others but i cant seem to find right now, youtube is a good place to see where other boys have had their surgeries done too

http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Transgen...ersonal_Pages/ some personal pages here im not sure how many have pictures or if they are in the US

what we need to remember is scars do die down :), i know that from personal experience :)

Keep in mind that peri can be done in stages, your surgeon will just need to be willing to do it that way, and understand how. I'm having my chest done that way, and I'm really satisfied so far, even though I still need one more surgery. I have no scars across my chest, and pleating that goes away over time (it was almost completely gone before my second surgery), and it's looking like the shape will be perfect after my final surgery... let's just hope I didn't jinx myself by saying so. aha

It can be frustrating and even depressing at times doing it this way (I think Felix is doing the same thing, so check out his threads for more info), but I think it's really worth it.

i think transbucket is not a good place because none have scars as faded as mine i think what happens is people take pictures just after there op but it takes over a year to see results as swelling can take upto a year and scars take years to fade.

i am year and 3 months and my scars are whte lines only.
but of course some get unlucky and there body does not take scrs well that is a risk

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Originally Posted by Adam

but it takes over a year to see results as swelling can take upto a year and scars take years to fade.

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Woah really? :eek:

Although I do believe, from what I've seen, that most if not all scars usually heal from that sort of surgery, it's always been the nipple grafting that bothers me. It's not scarring, but it still leaves an obnoxious and tell-tale sign around the areolae.

Well I haven't had FtM top surgery, but I have had a pretty big reduction, so I can tell you about scarring at least.

Keyhole surgery does sound cool, but my chest was way too big for that. It was so big that I only had one type of surgery available to me. They cut underneath the breast (still hate that word) and then they cut from the center of that line up to the nipple, take the nipple off, remove tissue and skin and put it all back together. They also made my areolas smaller before replacing the nipples.

This happened when I was eighteen and I have good skin, so the scarring has been really good. Still evident, but not obvious, if that makes sense. My chest does not scream 'SURGERY!' but you can still see that it has happened. But the scars have healed really well and were good enough to keep my happy in under a year. They're pale, they match my skin. The ones that go from base to nipple are completely invisible, you really have to look for those. There is a tiny bit of scarring around my right nipple that is still pink, but it's not too bad. That nipple can't feel anymore either. But I was warned of these things going in and it's SO worth it.

Like Ze said, the scarring around the areolas is a dead give away of surgery, but I've never had an issue with the way my scars look.

I think...if you're a B/C you could maybe get the surgery option that was a notch down from mine (but the FtM equivilant, obviously). They just cut under the base of the breasts (sorry, I just want to be clear about which part of the chest) but they don't cut up and they don't take the nipples off. Although, for an FtM surgery they probably would need to take them off and resize them.

So anyway, three years later, my scars are very pale and I'm happy with them.

Oh yeah! And, if you go on T, perhaps you'll grow some chest hair to obscure the scars as well. :D