seeking guidance on bottom surgery
seeking guidance on bottom surgery
Hi, I'm the total mess known as Emma, and I'm currently a little overwhelmed with things.
So, long story short:
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I started HRT January 2023
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I desperately need bottom surgery as soon as possible
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I'm worried that I should have been doing electrolysis instead of laser
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I'm worried about wait lists for surgery
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I'm worried about the costs of surgery
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I need to find a surgeon
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I'm interested in evacuating to a safe state on the west coast
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I feel overwhelmed with everything that I need to do
There's so much going on for me right now, and I'm seeking input from everyone here with something to say about any of my struggles.
Thanks ❤️
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I only got Lazer, but I had 12 sessions. My Dr said either was good but laser takes longer. I'm not sure where you are for Drs but if in America Rush medical center is great and where I had mine done. Cost wise will depend on insurance. Mine has paid a lot, I paid co pays which was a few hundred dollars after everything. My account still says I "owe" 90k but that's because Blue Cross is being stubborn. All the good surgeons have a long wait list. Was 4 months for the consultation and almost a year for the surgery.
Laser is MUCH MUCH faster than electrolysis. The issue is that it's not 100% effective. A small amount of hairs will always grow back.
A small amount of hairs will always grow back.
Yeah, that's what I was saying on matrix is what concerns me. Like, I'm thinking I just want the most permanent removal possible. I'm such a perfectionist, and it causes bad thoughts to consider flaws and stuff. I really need to find a surgeon and go over this stuff. Also a therapist would probably help a lot right now..
The majority of surgeons do pore scraping to remove any hairs left over. As my surgeon said to me, he can do hair removal during the surgery, but he doesn't want to be doing hours and hours of hair removal, so he wanted me to get rid of as much as possible before hand.
omg that is so good to know! thank you thank you! that is like the missing puzzle piece that actually calmed my mind about it. i should still get a therapist tho.
You also need a primary Dr letter and two therapists letters to get bottom surgery.
damn, two therapists? this gate-keeping of healthcare is really exhausting and frustrating. exhaustingly frustrating. frustratingly exhausting. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Yep, that's for insurance and the Dr. They both require it. Also one had to have their PhD but the hospital had one on staff that validated my letters with the therapists.
I haven't done electrolysis myself, only laser, but as far as I know, with electrolysis you have to run a needle through each hair individually, while laser can cover a large area at once. I've heard many people do laser first to massively reduce the amount of hair per area, then electrolysis to kill off the few remaining hairs.
yeah i've been doing the laser first just like you said. my doctor that prescribes my hrt is the one who does the laser, and she said i may need the electrolysis after laser is done. well at least for the remaining light-colored hairs. buy yeah, i can kinda work myself into mild panic and stress out enough to doubt myself. like a lot. lol
I'm not sure where you are
I'm in southeast Louisiana. I've been doing laser for my whole body since I started HRT, but I've only done three sessions on my...delicate region. I'm just concerned about the permanence of laser and the wait for surgery. One of the reasons I'm considering evacuating to a safe state on the west coast is that I could hopefully have the surgery covered by my insurrance.
Was 4 months for the consultation and almost a year for the surgery.
I've heard some people suggesting that some surgeons have a wait list of three to five years, and I absolutely cannot wait that long. One year is already long enough to consider.
Thank you for your comment ❤️
In Oregon the wait list is not very long for surgery, but the problem is getting electrolysis by someone who takes insurance. Currently as far as I'm aware, OHSU is the only place doing bottom surgeries. You can get OHP to cover everything, and you get the insurance immediately after moving if you are low income. Side note, you can get a vulvaplasty done very quickly, but if you want the full vaginoplasty, it requires electrolysis. Dr Dy at OHSU said I could get the vulva first and if I wanted the vagina later, I could have a second surgery, but I think the skin would have to come from my side.
and you get the insurance immediately after moving if you are low income
I would guess that I'd need to actually have a residence there right? So like, if I can manage to rent a room, I'm good, but if I can't find a stable living situation it wouldn't count as having moved there?
I currently have Medicare, so I think everything should be covered if I can just manage to secure a residence.
Medicare might be different, what I was talking about is Oregon's medicaid program, OHP. For OHP I don't think you need a permanent address, you can be homeless and list your address as "general delivery" at the local post office. But Medicare is an entirely different program, and I can't tell you whether you can have both Medicare and OHP, the rules get very complex
IL is great and Rush is in Chicago. It's still Midwest though.
If you have insurance now, it might cover bottom surgery. This site has a pretty comprehensive list, but if it's not listed there it's worth googling "<your insurance> trans healthcare" and seeing what comes up. You'll likely need two letters of support in order to receive coverage: one from your hrt provider and one from a mental health provider.
Though not completely up to date, this site can help you find GRS surgeons that take insurance by area
If you have insurance now, it might cover bottom surgery.
I currently have Medicare, so it looks like I am covered. 😊
You'll likely need two letters of support in order to receive coverage: one from your hrt provider and one from a mental health provider.
Well I do currently have a GP that prescribes my HRT and should be able to write me a letter, and I have a Psychiatrist who knows that the only reason I'm talking to him is to get the letter. So maybe I'm all set and don't need to rope a third person into this to get consent to alter my own body? (I cannot begin to articulate the level of rage that I feel about my lack of bodily autonmy)