Reddit reviews Facial Feminization Surgery: A Guide for the Transgendered Woman

I had FFS relatively early in terms of hormones. Some people say wait 3-4 years for hormones to take their full effect. But I think if you're primarily looking to change bone structure, there's no reason to wait if you know what you want. I had my FFS a few days after my one year hormone anniversary.

It wasn't quite like your situation. I had been full time for about 4 months. I posted a thread about it here if you're curious.

Now, your specific questions. Would I recommend FFS? Absolutely. It personally has really changed my life. Gave me a peace that nothing else has. It not only made passing a ton easier, effortless really, but it made me not hate to look in the mirror anymore.

Now, do I recommend it to someone living as male? Well that's more complicated. I don't think FFS alone, if you still have short male cut hair, still have facial hair, a male voice, etc will be enough to get you gendered female. The problem is not being read as a woman.

The problem is, how on Earth are you going to explain it to your coworkers? You need to be off work for 3-4 weeks. Even after that, your face is still swollen for another 2-5 months. I went back to work after 3 weeks or so, but I definitely looked like I had been through some serious shit. Everyone at work already knew I was trans, so it wasn't a huge deal. But if you're still in the closet, you'll need to find some way to explain things.

You save money for it just like anything. Work your ass off and cut expenses to the bone. Work overtime, get a promotion if you can. Take a second job, whatever. Live with roommates. Cook your own food. Hell, I sold my car and now ride a scooter around.

$10k is probably a bit low for this. If you need forehead reconstruction, you'll probably also need to do a rhinoplasty at the same time to make the curves of your nose match the face. I did full FFS: brow, forehead, nose, chin, and jaw with DiMaggio. The bill was $18k for the surgery, plus another $3k for flight, lodging, and food. Total trip cost of $21k or so. If I had done only the upper face, the total would have been probably about $15-16k.

I suggest you do two things. First, I recommend anyone interested in FFS to join the Yahoo FFS group. They're probably the single best source for FFS resources on the web. Lots of people with a great deal of experience on there. IIRC there are even some people who did FFS prior to social transition.


Second, you might want to read Dr. Ousterhout's book on the subject. He's kindof the grandfather of FFS, and this book is a really a medical standard.

Well the book 'Facial Feminization Surgery' would be a good place to start if you don't know much about it. If you're interested in it, get the kindle version if you can, the physical copies are pretty expensive. It'll help give you an idea of what's possible and what the limitations are, though it came out in 2010 so it might be a little out dated, idk.

RealSelf.com would be another good resource. It'll help give you an idea of the costs of everything and you can read many peoples 1st hand account of what the process is like.

Deschamps-Braly(San Franscisco), Speigel(Boston), and Zukowski(Chicago) are probably the biggest names for it if you wanted to stay in the US. Facial Team(Spain), and Di Maggio(Argentina) also have really good reputations and will likely be cheaper than the top surgeons in the US.

As for results/ experience, message me in a couple months, I'm having FFS next week on the 22nd.

He'd be my go-to had I the money; next would be Ousterhout - he wrote the book.

Spiegel is generally well reviewed, but oft accused of not being very "aggressive" in his surgeries. And he's pricey. His understudy practices in Florida - I've seen one of his patients in person and she looks great. Being new, his prices are more competitive.

I've read enough bad about Z that he's off my list.

At my price point the sweet spot is The Facial Team. It's a pretty big decision, really, especially if you're only going to get one shot at surgery.

Search the boards here and at Susan's for opinion on FFS surgeons. And buy that book so you've some idea what FFS entails, and so you'll have a handle on what questions to ask.

https://www.amazon.com/Facial-Feminization-Surgery-Guide-Transgendered-ebook/dp/B004LB49GK/

Yea if you think you'll be able to get your forehead done I'd just wait it out. I definitely recommend buying his book though:

Facial Feminization Surgery: A Guide for the Transgendered Woman

It's old so it uses some outdated terminology, but afaik the procedures are still accurate.