Any averages on how long to remove genital hair before my GCS
Turned this comment into a much larger post with more details on the topic here
https://www.reddit.com/r/Transgender_Surgeries/comments/imbxts/hair_removal_information_for_mtf_srs/
Wow, thank you so this info
I did what I could with 8 months and was happy with what I was able to get done. I think I got in 6 sessions of laser followed by like 3 hours of electrolysis spaced apart in a few sessions. The most important area to fully clear is the shaft of the penis. Then the scrotum, this however is the only skin that can be surgically scraped, still, the surgeon can’t get it all so do your best getting rid of it. You can also shoot for an inch around the base of the penis and the perineum, but this would be less necessary.
I'm wondering why western srs surgeons seem so adverse to scraping the hair? The Thai doctors just scrape all the hairs either way, but many of the penile inversion doctors in the US need electrolysis for hair removal and wont do more than maybe killing some follicles from the inside during surgery
How I think it works, is that you can only scrape the skin you remove. They can scrape the scrotum, which they remove and use as skin graft for the vagina and labia
I'm not sure I understand; they completely remove the scrotum and then put it back-? I always thought everything stayed attached, just put back together differently!
Huh thats really interesting to me
They remove the scrotum and use it elsewhere, like inside the vagina
Yeah!! I didn't realize it was completely removed in the thai technique, I assumed it was still attached (like how in piv nothing is really "removed")
But now I understand why more depth is so achiveable
OK. I am a hair removal nihilist. I can’t help it. My nihilism comes from several sources. The first thing is that there is no such thing as permanent hair removal. My patients who have had very diligent hair removal over a very long time… regrow hair. Always. Check back with them in a year and they have hair again. Having said that hair removal probably decreases the number and thickness of hairs, so I’m not saying it’s useless, I’m just saying there’s a certain point it doesn’t do anything extra.
I also feel very strongly about removing hair in the area that’s going to be the FTM urethra, because if you are in the 1-2% who has a lot of hair here after phalloplasty, you can be in trouble. For MTF patients, I only counsel hair removal at the base of the Phallus preop, because this area becomes the vaginal canal. But I wonder if this just puts off the inevitable —which is a probably little bit of hair growth in the vaginal canal after time...
My patients who have had very diligent hair removal over a very long time… regrow hair.
Is that laser or electrolysis? Because that would be expected of laser.
I’ve collected some info on genital hair removal here
https://www.reddit.com/r/TransWiki/wiki/hair-removal#wiki_genital_hair_removal
Thank you for your point of view. I disagree with the premise of you argument. You even contradict yourself. If you have fewer hairs then there is permanent hair removal. Is it 100%? It could be with enough time. I've had electrolysis on my face. I don't shave anymore on my face. That is pretty permanent. Do I have a few hairs show up, yes sometimes, just like most CIS women. Nothing is perfect, but there are a lot of transwomen who have had this hair removal and GCS without a lot of problems.
You are right my post was a mess. And congratulations on your success! What I’m trying to relate is that “no more hair, ever” is a less common result than we would all want, it seems, especially if you wait a long time like 1 - 2 years after last hair removal. Everyone’s mileage may vary....
I’ll do my best to clarify my previous messy post:
- By all means do whatever hair removal one wants before surgery, or just cause you want to! And my comments, I should have clarified, relate to pre op hair removal before genital gender confirmation surgery.
- Please realize that there is a reality of hair removal in that it is too often not permanent despite claims to the contrary (just google “permanent hair removal” lol to see the claims). Expect that in order to control future disappointment.......?
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As a surgeon my hair removal advice is during the preop period to REALLY work on hair removal in two cases: A. The base of the phallus before feminizing genitoplasty (vaginoplasty) in the hopes to decrease the number and size of hairs in the vagina later. B. The future urethra before phalloplasty. But having said that it’s the minority of patients that get in trouble from this regrowth. Most vaginoplasty patients have some hair in the vagina they may never see or notice. Most phalloplasty patients have hair in their urethra that never causes problems (maybe 1-2% get problems and get this: most/all of these had hair removal). This is the source of my “nihilism”.
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Hair removal pre op should be started ASAP to allow subsequent waves of hair growth, as stated previously in this sub.
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Ultimately because hair so often grows back even after thorough removal efforts, being super anxious about hair removal, or even cancelling surgeries after >1 year of hair removal effort probably is not useful.
These difficulties are what make me a bit of a “Hair removal nihilist”.
Whew! Hope this helps.
TLDR: hair too often grows back after even thorough hair removal, but usually doesn’t harm a final surgical result much. Conversely, even thorough hair removal efforts can grow back, causing complications but only rarely. So...the final result of doing great hair removal, or doing indifferent hair removal seem a bit similar to me. It has made me a gGCS hair removal “nihilist”.
I started with laser and did probably 10 sessions and it just wasn't enough. I ended up traveling to Dallas for electrolysis at E3000. I have done two clearings on my genital area and did one clearing on my face. I have had pretty good results but have had hair regrowth.....which is to be expected I guess. My electrolysis tech recommended that I keep up the clearings every two months minimal. Based on the information provided by u/2d4d_data , it looks like I should be going once a month. Does this sound correct based on the information previously listed?
Started my genital hair removal last Monday. It wasn't to bad. I didn't cry but I gritted my teeth a lot. It was less pain than I thought but I think I have a high tolerance. I have another appt tomorrow for a hour. Only 6 months to go.
I started laser hair removal....where exactly do most people have their genital hair removed, like the entire area? Do you leave any hair there in that region? I might like a cute little patch. Thank you 😊
The hospital gave me a diagram of where to have hair removed. You do keep some of the hair above to hide the scars somewhat when things heal. It is about an inch around the base of the shaft. The shaft and testicles and about 2.5 inch from base to anus. Hope that helps some.
Yes ... thank you😊. . Have a nice weekend!!!
I'm 5 hours in with the hair removal. I'm going every couple of weeks to get the regrowth. This hair removal is so different from the face. The face has more and seems like it grows faster. My electrolysist says I'm not that hairy but want does that really mean. 🥴 can't believe this can go on for 8 more months. I know I may not be going as often but wow.
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