Preview image:

https://i.imgur.com/kh0Bs6K.png

Imgur album, comments within on immediately post-op, 6 weeks, etc.:

https://imgur.com/gallery/BvBymGW

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Hi, all! Today is the 9 month mark for me following my facial feminization surgery procedure with Dr. Rolfes in Wayzata, Minnesota and so I thought I'd share my experience with my healing process and my results. I've collected some images in the imgur album above with me at a few different points with some comments in between pointing out some of my thoughts at the time and looking back.

Choosing a surgeon

I initially wasn't certain as to whether I'd want to follow through with FFS, as choosing a surgeon seemed intimidating and I had managed to get on finasteride as a T-blocker out of high school and HRT proper in my second year at college, but in the end I had decided that T did enough to my face that I'd have to fix it regardless of whether I grew my hair out.

Choosing a doctor wasn't a simple process, but the wiki definitely helped and I eventually went with Dr. Rolfes as he trained under Dr. Spiegel and offered his surgery at a significantly lower cost (around $22k, which my parents were able to help me with, god bless). He's also a state away from me, so I would be able to return home quicker to keep costs down- I definitely think he's a great option financially if you happen to be in the midwest. I hadn't seen too many results of his, but I think that that's probably always a trade-off if you're going with a newer surgeon.

Consultation

I met with Dr. Rolfes in December of 2019 after arranging a consultation with him in late November. We drove up to MN the day of with my family and got to meet him as well as some of the people working in the office who would later be there for the procedure itself.

Dr. Rolfes had a pretty casual, laid-back manner that I liked a lot- I get kind of anxious surrounding all of the medical stuff involved and so I appreciated him making jokes to break the tension. He was direct with me about what he thought I needed after I told him about my own thoughts, and we mostly aligned on that- brow ridge/forehead, nose, chin, jaw, adam's apple.

I appreciated that he really didn't try to sell me anything, the way I've heard surgeons do sometimes; the only thing he added to my shopping list was a hairline advancement, given that the process of doing a type III (I believe that's what the more radical, breaking and resetting of the forehead is called here??) brow ridge reduction causes the hairline to recede slightly. I agreed to this and I'm glad I did since I had a rather large forehead at the 3 month mark!

He didn't say anything about lip procedures, which I was ok with- I have pretty thin lips but not enough that I want to try a lip lift, which I've heard can be done wrong pretty easily. Granted, I haven't seen this happen, but that's the only "standard" FFS thing that scared me off with the potential for something going wrong.

We scheduled a date about a month out, incredibly, that still fell during my winter break! I don't know how scheduling looks now with COVID, but I was more happy I picked a newer surgeon and am even moreso now- I definitely think that anywhere else I might've scheduled something during the beginning of the pandemic, and I'm glad I could get it done quickly, as my dysphoria over everything wrong with my face grew as time went on after the consultation.

Surgery day

I showed up at the clinic at the scheduled time (it was reeeally early) on my surgery day after arriving in the hotel the night before, with no more appointments between the consultation and the date of surgery. I talked briefly with Dr. Rolfes before the procedure, and I asked him to be careful around my jaw area as to avoid the obvious-jaw-work look. He agreed, and again, his ability to be relaxed about everything really helped calm me down from the pre-op anxiety! They wheeled me into the OR at the clinic and put me under anesthesia, the whole thing.

I woke up around the middle of the day (my mom was surprised to get the "we're done" call so early) and was ready to leave the clinic in the early evening, and so I went back to the hotel.

A lot of people describe being unhappy or uncomfortable with their results immediately afterwards, but this absolutely was not the case for me, fortunately! Seeing my awful brow ridge gone was one of the most amazing things I've experienced and I felt good about my face as soon as I saw it.

Unfortunately, I had a complication almost immediately- I couldn't use the restroom at all afterwards despite needing to, which is apparently a side-effect of the anesthesia, and so I went to the ER at the nearest hospital where I was catheterized, which was the most painful thing I had experienced (at that point- genital electrolysis is worse, y'all)!

However, during that time, the nurses used she/her pronouns without asking, which while recovering from surgery in a hoodie and sweatpants counts as a win for me! One even continued doing so while being catheterized with all of my stuff out, soo... ally points for her, I guess!

Afterwards I was able to go back to the hotel and I did eventually get to sleep.

Recovery- the first few days

The morning of, I woke up in incredible pain- again- from the catheter not working properly. We went directly to Dr. Rolfes's clinic, where I had the first post-op appointment anyway and they pulled it out, as well as the stitches in my forehead. I had to cover them in a cream they provided at the clinic, as well as petroleum jelly, which was fairly uncomfortable and I had to do for a couple of weeks.

I stayed at the hotel for another day or two, eating only Soylent products for food, since the swelling on my face was so bad. I iced it when I could, but the swelling definitely covered my eyes by the end of the first day after the operation before starting to go down.

Other than the first day, the couple of days following weren't too bad, except for the nose cast, which was itchy! I was put on prescription painkillers for the first week (I vaguely remember??), but after getting a fever and being sick for a day or two, I switched to just tylenol and ibuprofen over the rest of the time.

Mostly I just stayed in, slept, and watched Hulu. Not terribly exciting!

We traveled back to MN to get my nose cast off, though it fell off that morning while we were driving there! After that, Dr. Rolfes gave me scar gel and instructed me to start it at 1 month after the procedure date. I used it irregularly, to be honest, and the scar has healed ok, though, so take that for what you will. Maybe it heals it faster?

Recovery- more long-term

After going back to school, I was immediately read as male by a classmate (this would've been maybe 2-3 weeks after surgery), but I think the swelling and my short hair contributed! My voice completely tanking was also a problem- pitch-wise, it was androgynous pre-surgery and is back to that point now (though I pass regularly on the phone and in person), but in that month or so my voice was deep again. It's not something I expected, so it's something to watch out for!

I was able to eat solid foods again also at the week-and-a-half/2 weeks point, with some aching that went away pretty quickly.

The swelling does definitely take some time to go down. I looked like I was 15 for a good month from the puffiness, and this contributed to me not passing, I think, in the first couple of months. I dressed pretty androgynously and had shorter hair, which grew slower after surgery for a while, so that I wouldn't be read as trans and failing to present well, but even then the last time I was read as male by a stranger (and know about it) was probably in March.

Since quarantine, no one has given me the male spelling of my name at Starbucks, at least!

Conclusion

I really, really liked my experience with Dr. Rolfes! He's a great guy and his attitude and input during the consultation and surgery process was amazing. I'd definitely recommend him, especially if you're close to MN, as I'm happier with my results than I thought I could be!

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer any about my experience, as I'm sure I forgot something in the post!