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Hi I’m ftm and it seems like sometimes it’s more vertical and sometimes more horizontal depending on how I’m positioned.
There’s some info on dilation here
https://www.reddit.com/r/TransSurgeriesWiki/wiki/srs/introduction#wiki_dilation
There are videos of performing dilation, but I can’t recall where.
I just saw the pictures that you posted, it's odd, it's like your surgeon didn't make the incisions in the perineum to fit the vaginal canal properly. Never saw something like this before. Who was your surgeon? You should contact him/her
I'm not at liberty to tell you their name but I will say she is in Madison, WI.
Dr Katherine Gast. Damn I really hate UW and their rag tag team of butchers
Are you a part of the "got screwed over by Dr. Gast" crew too? I got quite a hell of a job done on me, maybe we need a support group.
So thoughts on going through with her? I’ve been pushing for an in person appointment and I’m concerned that I don’t have enough material.
Honestly? If you have a choice of another surgeon, I'd go to said other surgeon.
Gast or no insurance coverage… it’s possible I can fight them but I doubt they will cover ting.
Yeah I get that... To be fair, I've seen Gast do good results. It's why I initially trusted her. If anything, REALLY bring it up with her and stand up for what your goals are with surgery if you gotta go that way.
Just getting an in person consultation has been like pulling teeth.
Yeah I know the feeling, it was terrible BEFORE covid. Seeing her for post op appointments was, well, I saw her assistant almost exclusively.
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Sadly, it's all I could of managed with my insurance. :(
Don’t go back there for revision.👍
I'm on disability and wouldn't be able to afford a revision anywhere else.
Revision in your case may be covered as now it could be considered as restoration of function. I don't know the exact words perhaps; others on here may have better info.
Right now your result does not look sufficient for vaginal intercouse with a male in particular as you may be able to insert a dilator but that angle would be extremely difficult for a penis, with so much of the perineum still present.
Oh, I'm not worried about getting a penis inside me since I'm a lesbian. lol
That isn't the issue really, as it is a question of full function if you ever wanted to do so.
Right now you seem functionally impaired. Sort of like a cleft palette. Just because you don't want a penis inside you is immaterial.
True. (regarding the not wanting a penis inside me)
Though, everyone's situation is different when it comes to this kind of thing. Not everyone will be able to get a revision from particular surgeons due to many factors. (travel, money, etc)
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I think that at this point in time there's not much to be done, you will need a revision to perform a proper vaginal introitus. I would talk with your surgeon however this is not a normal result.
Also we had the same surgeon for our orchis 😂.
Did we? That's funny. Lol
Not to be a stalker but yes.
You ever notice how an erect penis isn’t perpendicular to the the torso? They pretty much angle straight up, right? There’s a reason for that.
Depends on the penis. Which I think is the crux of this whole thing.
OP: all bodies are different. All surgical results are different. Your new vagina very probably isn’t wrong or weird or bad or anything other than new, different, yours.
This isn't the wild west of GRS anymore. People definitely have expectations based on female anatomy. The fact is, results can be weird, wrong and bad, all at the same time. We have all see result that exemplify this. Sometimes it takes multiple revisions, to get anywhere near the original goal if it's even possible.
I'm not commenting on the OP's results here, I'm simply stating that we do recognize standards for this surgery and when you have a result that doesn't meet them, you tend to notice.
This is very true and important, and I think we all need to be more honest about this. I think at the surface it's unhelpful to people who have concerns, especially those researching surgeons. It can even just make people feel that their concerns aren't valid, although that's a smaller problem. Statements like "all vulvas are different" and "a lot of cis women don't like their vulvas" are pretty dishonest in the context of SRS. In the context of cis women, it's about whether their vulvas are "pretty". At least for me, I'm much more interested in my post op vulva being anatomically correct as opposed to pretty. I also don't think it's helpful to inform your search on a surgeon based on "lots of cis women also hate their vulvas", because again, cis women hating their vulvas for being "ugly" is very different from them not being anatomically correct or natural looking.
This is me speculating, but I also think this can serve to allow bad surgeons to continue delivering bad results. As trans people, we deserve good results, and we deserve to have our surgeons be held to high standards. We deserve to be acknowledged when we've suffered bad results. We deserve to have bad results revised, and have those revisions be covered. I can only imagine what it must feel like to have had a bad result, and have your concerns be dismissed with the lines above, almost implying that it's vain or wrong to want a good result.
I also think the broader medical community needs to start acknowledging this, so we can take insurances to task for only offering surgeons with bad (or nonexistent) track records. Like you said, the expectation is generally to have a natural, functioning, and as anatomically correct as possible vulva and vagina, but there seems to be no mechanism to actually hold surgeons to this standard besides simply being more selective.
There is quite a bit of variation in erection angle. Many do point straight forward. Only 5% of penises point within the upper 30 degrees.
Holy.... sue that doctor please. Who did that?
I'm afraid no that is not normal, nor are the incisions and the outcome in the picture. The orifice would be 1-2 finger wide away from your butthole normally and the dilators would go in straight, not angled.
Don't dispair.
Your external vulva looks largely fixable.
Others have already said this but all that line of fused perineum should not be outside your vulva. That line was your vulva before it fused and your body changed to look male. Your vulva and vaginal canal should begin about an inch+ from your anus or at most 2" if you are a taller person.
That said I, early on, did need to tip up my dilators before leveling and fully inserting. The skin there eventually loosened up with healing and was stretched often from every version of dilation.
Also my canal does slant slightly downward when laying down on my mattress because of my glutes and the curvature of the small of my back.
My advice is after you heal, seek out Dr. Marci Bowers or another highly skilled and experienced revision surgeon.
She in particular has learned how to restore function to young women who have had F.G.M. in addition to being a gynecological and GCS surgeon.
My biggest whole body bear hug & cuddles.
Barbara
Might want to check this before having a revision with Bowers.
What is your point please ?
Hanna Simpson had a very different kind of case with lots of necrosis. She could well have been prone to necrosis in this area as she had some with both surgeries. It may or may not have been prevented somehow (?oxygen tent for possible capillary insufficiency?), but we can't really be sure.
My point is that Hannah had a revision by Bowers and is not happy with what Bowers did. If you have some other reviews of Bowers revisions by all means add them. I'll add them to the wiki if they are not already there.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TransSurgeriesWiki/wiki/srs/usa#wiki_marci_bowers
Bowers has plenty of other complaints if that helps.
Really ? I am surprised. I have never heard of "plenty" of them.
I am on her schedule though likely at least a year out for relatively minor work.
Look in the link.
I saw some of it and I know all surgeons have patients with problems that develop.
I will continue to revisit and read more.
I am relatively confident that the uroplasty to slightly reposition and redirect my flow more vertically and removal of a small amount of corpora tissue is not much difficult or risky.
I don't have a problem changing my surgeon if warranted. I might ask Dr. Ley in AZ. Meltzer was my surgeon but in 2 revisions he did not do quite enough. I have a better opinion of her work in GCS lately.
All surgeons have complaints if they have done any significant number, but some have more than others. And then there's Rumer who has an incredible number of them. Anyway, I try to look at the rate. And I also try to look at the results in photos and judge for myself as people have different ideas of whats good.
And for popular surgeons, why are they popular? There are top ranked surgeons who do no marketing, and those who do a lot. Are they popular because because of the marketing or in spite of it? Or maybe both. Bowers is clearly popular, does a ton of marketing, is trans, and has been doing it for a very long time. But is she good? That's the important question. To me anyway.
I suspect Ley would be a better choice in your circumstance as she's probably more familiar with your surgery given Meltzer did it.
My only problem with Ley is the fit of pique Meltzer had when I questioned the central stitching, after my labiaplasty, over of my clitoris. I was only thinking 2 or 3 stitches and he cut all of them.
Hi, I'm completely ignorant to how MtF surgeries work so I'm unsure of how it should be, but as an FtM person they don't typically move that way. I wish you the best of luck!
mine does ¯_(ツ)_/¯ (im ftm) its not completely vertical but def not horizontal either. it can come in all sorts of shapes in there... id recommend OP checks in with a doctor just in case, especially because none of us are able to look at it and tell her for sure, but the angle isn’t necessarily indicative of a problem
Ohh okay. I've never heard of that, my bad!
Would help if you linked a picture. I’m having a hard time visualizing what you’re describing
Your vagina should open pretty much an inch or so in front of your bumhole, and when lying on your back, you should be pushing a dilator in a direction fairly parallel to the floor or maybe angled slightly downwards. If you're inserting it vertically, your vagina sounds like it's on the front of your body, not between your legs.
That may be the issue. Is that normal? x_x
Well, no its not.
Look at any cross section diagram of female anatomy.
It looks like your perineum is far too long, and the vagina has been placed far too forward and consequently at the wrong angle.
May be residual swelling?
Also worth noting that this may be all that was possible with your anatomy, so might be nothing to do with the surgeon and everything to do with how your body was built.
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There are just so many factors person to person. I think this is something you should go over with the doctor.
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