Recovering in the hospital after having PPT vaginoplasty with Dr. Wittenberg

35
u/CruelAscent
Wed Sep 2 23:41:21 2020 UTC
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(16 comments)

I had PPT vaginoplasty with Dr. Wittenberg this week. While I haven’t had much pain yet, I have been feeling pretty nauseous since I was moved to my room. Even though there are bolsters covering my new 🌮, I am so incredibly excited. It is a truly euphoric feeling whenever I walk and I can’t feel a penis anymore. I am open to any questions if you all want to ask anything.

Also, I am still considering (though leaning not) sharing picture from post surgery.

Edit: I think I cleared up all of the typos I made in the comments last night because of my meds. Please let me know if anything needs clarification!

all 16 comments


9
u/Forgetwhatitoldyou
Thu Sep 3 00:48:55 2020 UTC
(1 child)

No questions, but I have PPT with her in May, and would be interested in following your experiences.

7
OP
Thu Sep 3 00:58:10 2020 UTC
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(0 children)

I will definitely try to keep up on my experiences, especially since there aren’t many resources for people who want to get PPT. If I stop making posts/ slow down, you (and anyone else) can DM, and I give you my accounts and take any questions you might have.

Edit: Fixing the many typos I made because of meds last night lol.

3
u/[deleted]
Thu Sep 3 04:03:56 2020 UTC
(2 children)

How much was it total? I keep getting different prices. Like 30k to 120k

2
OP
Thu Sep 3 10:05:28 2020 UTC
(0 children)

The procedure was covered by insurance, so I’m not sure yet how much it costs without the insurance.

1
Tue Dec 8 05:50:33 2020 UTC
(0 children)

I asked this during my consult and was told that without insurance, penile inversion is $50k for provider + facility while PPV is $60k for provider + something like $200-$240k facility mainly due to the laproscopic robot. PPV operations that don't use a robot can be much cheaper but Wittenberg always uses the robot.

Either way, if you have the right insurance they will pay for the PI or PPV cost and you will pay whatever your max yearly out of pocket is - usually around $7k. Dr. Wittenberg's recommended insurance is Blue Shield PPO.

2
u/notyourdonut
Thu Sep 3 00:34:36 2020 UTC
(5 children)

1016?

5
OP
Thu Sep 3 00:53:07 2020 UTC
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(4 children)

Editing this comment out to prevent being doxxed. Feel free to DM me at any time though, u/notyourdonut !

6
Thu Sep 3 01:17:36 2020 UTC
(2 children)

It's the fat corner room, hope you could at least see the bridge.

If you see Karen or Apple, tell them Christy misses them and was so glad they were my nurses. They'll either remember my robe, or me constantly wanting my foley emptied.

Good luck

2
OP
Thu Sep 3 10:09:38 2020 UTC
(0 children)

I definitely will! If I run into them, I will DM you to let you know that I said hi to them for you.

Also, my sleepy brain decided to delete the last comment. This one says essentially the same thing!

u/[deleted]
Thu Sep 3 00:58:47 2020 UTC
(9 children)

[deleted]

8
OP
Thu Sep 3 01:35:16 2020 UTC
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(8 children)

There are several reasons I chose PPT over PI. Here at the mains ones:

First, laser hair removal isn’t available where I live. The nearest city to me that does hair removal for surgery is about an hour and a half away.

Second, I want my vagina to self-lubricate. PPT imo is the safest procedure that produces consistent lubrication.

Edit: Third, I wanted to be at the cutting edge of GCS procedures. Especially given the possibility (though not near confirmed) of not having to douche for as long as PI folks do and possibly being able to dilate less over time. Plus, I trust Dr. W’s experience in all that it takes to make PPT happen. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions, too!

Thu Sep 3 01:44:21 2020 UTC
(5 children)

[deleted]

3
Thu Sep 3 02:46:34 2020 UTC
(2 children)

May I ask what’s the difference between PPT and PI ?

3
OP
Thu Sep 3 10:12:35 2020 UTC
(1 child)

PPT uses part of the peritoneum as a skin graft for the vaginal canal while PI uses a skin graft from the penis. There’s a decent amount of info about this in the wiki, too, if you want to look into the pros and cons!

2
Thu Sep 3 10:59:05 2020 UTC
(0 children)

Thanks :)

3
Thu Sep 3 09:40:32 2020 UTC
(1 child)

Having PPT requires Dr. W's staff to reserve a robot at the hospital (UC Davis?) and is a nontrivial undertaking because it's expensive and in high demand. They may need to change your surgery date if you change to PPT, and they will definitely need to get a new pre-authorization from your insurance company. I'd contact them ASAP if you're looking to switch.

1
Fri Sep 4 19:33:21 2020 UTC
(1 child)

Im planning on going to wittenberg as well for ppt! I just found out my insurance will cover her. I'm working on getting a psych letter with no luck. But, I didn't realize that you didn't need laser hair removal before surgery with ppt. That's awesome!

1
Tue Dec 8 06:06:52 2020 UTC
(0 children)

You do need hair removal: 1 inch around base of shaft and a 2.5 inch wide strip from base of scrotum to anus. With PI they want the same 2.5" strip removed from scrotum, but with PPT no scrotum hair removal is necessary.

However, with full PPT, no external skin containing hair follicles is used inside the vaginal canal so they did admit that hair removal was not critical and that my surgery date (early March) wouldn't be delayed due to incomplete hair removal. They didn't tell me why hair removal was necessary at all but I'm guessing they want hair removed so it's less likely to get hair stuck in a suture. When I had FFS, I had a couple hairs on my scalp that caused weird wounds along the suture line that took awhile to resolve.

Also, Dr. Wittenberg said laser hair removal is fine for PPV but I assume not for PI. Laser removal is waaaay less painful and much faster than electrolysis, but it only affects darker hairs on lighter skin. I've done a lot of both. Even if you start with laser you still have to clean up small and light hairs with electrolysis.