got breast augmentation from Kaiser Southern CA yesterday. AMA

13
u/balestradiol
Thu Nov 26 14:37:30 2020 UTC
*
(16 comments)

Will get it out of the way that my chest is a mass of bandages so I have no pictures yet. Eventually I'll have a before/after. But for now, if you want to learn about the process I went through, etc, I can only really answer about that.

Also, the implants are smooth, round 340cc silicone "MemoryGel(tm) moderate classic profile" implants. In case you were wondering.

​

update 1: before and after pictures: https://imgur.com/a/X3fvSp0 at 10 and 20 days. Forgive the watermarking, I am just trying to keep things educational here 🀣

update 2: I'm almost at full recovery point. I've had a few "spitting sutures" on one side, which has complicated the recovery a little bit. Its when your body rejects some of the internal sutures placed during the surgery, and pushes them out the incision. They gave me a big surprise! I almost thought it was an infection, but apparently this just happens sometimes.

The nurses helped me through it and have really been an awesome help. They know exactly what to do and are super nice and explained everything in a way I could understand.

Overall, the recovery has been really easy and not very painful. I gotta hand it to them, they did a really good job with the surgery. I'm quite satisfied.

all 16 comments


2
u/GirlPowerSoon
Thu Nov 26 17:35:21 2020 UTC
(2 children)

Congrats! Was getting approved by Kaiser difficult? What sort of requirements did they have (time on HRT, size before, etc)? Thanks for sharing.

3
OP
Thu Nov 26 21:14:28 2020 UTC
(1 child)

For sure, and thank you!

Getting approved on the psychology/therapist letter was easy. I had already gotten approval for bottom surgery, which only took a couple meetings with 2 therapists, which I was able to get rather quickly. That process took ~3 months from the start (but the entire bottom surgery process takes >2 years), but I didn't go about requesting top surgery until almost a year later.

I think the requirement for being on hormones is about 2 years, but I didn't look into this because I had been on so long.

So at that point I had some pictures taken, and I was initially told I wouldn't qualify, but they wanted me to come in anyway just in case. Apparently the criteria they look for are tanner staging and position of the nipples, rather than any specific size. I didn't qualify for the tanner staging requirement because I had already had advanced (but still quite small) breast development. But they called me in for an exam anyway, and ended up approving me. It was about a month between those initial pictures and this in-person exam.

They asked me if I wanted to get on the cancellation list and I said yes. Literally the next day (Nov 2) they called me about a cancellation for the November 25, and that was when I had surgery! Only 3 weeks from being approved. But obviously COVID-19 had a big effect on scheduling, who knows what it would have been like in more ordinary circumstances.

1
Thu Nov 26 23:15:53 2020 UTC
(0 children)

Awesome! Thanks for the information. 😊

1
u/balestradiol
OP
Mon Dec 14 21:09:16 2020 UTC
(0 children)

just pinging folks who commented - I made some pictures for the 10 and 20 day recovery marks. https://imgur.com/a/X3fvSp0

hoping my experience can help someone else

u/[deleted]
Thu Nov 26 20:17:48 2020 UTC
(3 children)

[deleted]

1
OP
Thu Nov 26 21:32:03 2020 UTC
(2 children)

Overall, it took a couple months to get the requisite therapy appointments to get letters of approval. Because I am trying for bottom surgery, I needed 2, but I think only 1 is needed for BA. And I think I needed to be on HRT for at least 2 years. Once I had the letters, I had a consult where they took pictures and sent to a doctor I was assigned to. We then had a phone call a couple weeks later, and he told me to come into the office for an exam. It seemed like I might not have gotten approved. As I said above though, it did come through in that visit. At that point I was put on the cancellation list and got scheduled for 3 weeks later the following day. So if I tried to boil that down into a timeline

2 months - get letters

1 month - get consult

1 month - second consult

1 month - surgery

I have no idea how much this is luck, as opposed to being representative. YMMV

1
OP
Thu Nov 26 21:32:45 2020 UTC
(1 child)

Also, they mentioned I could get a second opinion if I was denied, but I don't know how long that might have taken, because I didn't end up trying to do that.

0
u/[deleted]
Thu Nov 26 19:56:20 2020 UTC
(8 children)

πŸ‘πŸΎπŸ‘πŸΎπŸ‘πŸΎ

I'm in SoCal too and just got hired with a job that partners with Kaiser.

How have they been to work with? Any resistance with SRS/FFS?

3
OP
Thu Nov 26 21:28:34 2020 UTC
(7 children)

I mentioned some details about the process in this thread . But overall, they've been okay. I've been approved for bottom surgery (SRS) but I'm still waiting to finish hair removal (its been more than a year).

My sense overall with Kaiser is that they try to fit everyone into a box, and take personal preference second to their "standardized" practice. However, that practice runs relatively smoothly, even thought its requirements are strict. It's quite nice that everyone is referred in-house and you don't usually have to worry about insurance, they do all that behind the scenes. I think it has ups and downs. At times I've felt talked town to by doctors and gatekeepers, but the system has worked out in the end for me. But I'm also a very standard transsexual, I imagine its much more challenging for non-binary folks.

No experience with FFS

2
Thu Nov 26 21:47:19 2020 UTC
(5 children)

Haha, it seems like our conversations are overlapping!

You mentioned pictures of your chest before your BA. Do they require (or try to make you feel obligated) pictures for bottom?

I'm sorry about how they've treated you, that's aggravating. And also a little worrying given that we're trusting them with something so intimate and personal. I don't want someone with such an obvious bias or prejudice working on me.

Do you mind if I ask why it's taken so long for your hair removal?

Also, if you need support while in LA don't hesitate to reach out!

1
OP
Thu Nov 26 21:55:45 2020 UTC
(4 children)

Electrolysis just takes a really long time. Like over a hundred hours over 2 years. Its pretty painful, so doing longer than 2-3 hours at a time is really challenging. They require basically 100% of hair to be removed from the surgical area.

They never took pictures of my genitals. They did an initial exam down there and that took like 1 minute. I don't know what exactly they were checking for, but whatever it is, they approved me.

Haha, thanks for the offer! :)

2
Thu Nov 26 22:10:19 2020 UTC
(3 children)

I don't want to wait 2 years! [throws tranny-tantrum]

I have a high pain tolerance (I have to consciously stop myself from moaning while getting tattooed) so I should be lucky in that regard. Although, as I write this I'm curious as to what HRT has done to my pain tolerance.

No pictures required. Wonderful. I hope that doesn't change closer to operation date. Crisis averted.

No worries hon, guess it's odd since we are complete strangers.. but I mean, if you need that Ben & Jerry's during recovery, I got you.

2
OP
Thu Nov 26 22:52:20 2020 UTC
(2 children)

mileage varies. Depends on how much hair you have, your pain tolerance, etc. I have some tips for shortening it.

  1. 2 weeks before your first appointment, have the area waxed. Helps get rid of dormant hairs that can't be killed. You might want to wax regularly (every few months) if you aren't getting full clearings. This is because only hairs that are currently growing can be killed.
  2. You want to get a "full clearing" (i.e. all the hair is gone) as quickly as possible. This means that all the growing hairs have been destroyed, and you're just waiting for the next round of dormant hairs to enter a growing phase. So in other words, like as many hours as you can handle. Then wait a few weeks and repeat. Rather than one or two hours a week, this will probably speed it up considerably. Total number of hours in electrolysis is probably the same, but this shortens the overall timeline.
  3. Drink lots of water the day before. Take a painkiller and cover the area with lidocaine cream, or EMLA if you can get a prescription, and then cover the cream with plastic wrap so it doesnt soak into your clothes
  4. Check the paper with the requirements for hair removal that they give you and tell your electrologist to stick to it and not waste time removing hairs they don't need to remove. saves time and pain.
  5. If given the choice, you want "blend electrolysis" instead of pure heat "thermolysis" or pure electricity "galvanic" - this tends to be most effective IME. they like thermolysis because its quick, but the hairs grow back more easily than with blend, which has the highest kill rate.
2
OP
Thu Nov 26 22:55:17 2020 UTC
(1 child)

oh and tell them to crank up the setting as high as you can handle without burning your skin. also increases the kill rate. unpleasant but effective

1
Thu Nov 26 23:18:25 2020 UTC
(0 children)

Thank you! Post saved πŸ‘πŸΎ

1
OP
Thu Nov 26 21:41:16 2020 UTC
(0 children)

I want to add that even the BA clinic was a one-size-fits-all deal. They didn't ask for much input on what the implant size would be. I had to assert that I wanted smaller breasts. They did deliver on that, but they never committed to it before the surgery. And they only gave me the lower end of a range they set prior. I felt a little steamrolled, but I'm really quite pleased with the outcome. I just wish it was handled a little better.

1
u/JeyCodeine
Mon Aug 1 16:22:28 2022 UTC
(0 children)

you look amazing!!! My breast Aug with Kaiser is in 7 days and this gave me some relief and comfort πŸ’—