I don't want to give out too much personal info so I apologize if some things aren't as detailed as you hoped
I had facial feminization surgery in January of this year. Before I reached out to anyone for a consultation, I did a lot of research (r/mtf has a list of plastic surgeons for each state in the sidebar I think) and found one that I wanted to speak to. I set up a consultation with the surgeon and after speaking to her in person I felt comfortable enough to move forward.
The procedures I had done were a sliding genioplasty (cutting the tip of the chin in a triangular shape and sliding it forward to get rid of a recessed chin), chin narrowing, tracheal shaving (reducing the size of the Adam's apple), a rhinoplasty/septoplasty (straightening and reducing the size of the nose), and buccal fat removal (removing/reducing small pads of fat in the cheeks so they're slimmer). I wanted to shave my brow bone and bring my hairline forward a little but I couldn't afford to do those.
The recovery was pretty brutal for the first three days. I had no feeling at all in the bottom half of my face and my teeth were extremely sensitive so I could only eat soft food like mashed potatoes and soups and I made a mess every time. The anaesthesia made me a little kooky so I was falling in and out of sleep all the time and I had some mood swings. My feet were swollen for several days and it hurt to walk on my heels, which really sucked because I had to go to the bathroom to pee a lot because they hooked me up to an IV machine to keep my hydrated while I was under. I also had to sleep sitting up for two weeks and that was pretty uncomfortable. There were times where I actually wondered if it was worth it.
After the three day hump, I started recovering really fast. The swelling and bruising started going down, I had more energy, I could slowly start to eat regular food, I could sleep better and I could actually bathe myself without passing out in the tub. My mental health improved dramatically the more I got back into my usual routine.
Two months later and almost all of the swelling has gone down. I went from people referring to me as ma'am about 70% of the time to all the time (unless they hear me speak first). I think back to when I regretted getting everything done and I laugh at myself for feeling that way. For the first time in my life, I feel kind of content with the way I look. People tried to talk me out of it before I actually got the surgery by telling me I already look feminine but I didn't listen because I wasn't happy and that's all that matters. I would recommend it to anyone who is dysphoric about their face and can afford it
@alexandra_kollontai tagging you because you asked
My friend had this done last year. She's still a bit swollen to this day but she's over the moon with the results. I'm happy to hear yours went so well! She ended up having to fly to Cali to get it done, and it was not covered at all. Death to American health care.
Btw I'm at work so sorry if I don't respond very quickly but I will respond to everyone's questions
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I don't remember the right term for it but my surgeon was "out of network" so I had to pay for it all myself up front and then get reimbursed for it by my insurance after the actual surgery. The total for everything including the hospital bill was about $27k
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I only had to stop taking HRT for 24 hours before the surgery but I take injections once a week and I don't need spiro so it wasn't an issue at all
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Unfortunately I don't have anything you haven't already mentioned. I used those two mainly and just used what I found from Google for any questions I didn't get answered from Reddit.
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I had specific things I was insecure about and in the consultation, the surgeon and I talked about it and figured out what procedures I was gonna get. The surgeon was pretty nice so she actually gave me recommendations of things I could do instead of what I came in wanting because she thought I would be more satisfied of the results of one procedure over the other. I've read reviews of other surgeons that mention them obviously trying to get them to get every procedure they could so they could charge them out the ass so I made sure to meet with one that didn't give me that feeling.
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how long did it take from the time you reached out for a consultation to actually getting surgery?
I had my consultation in June of last year but I told them I didn't want to have the surgery until January after my sick and vacation days at work reset so I could take off two weeks after the operation. I believe the wait would have been about three months if not for that.
were you scared at all by negative reviews online for your chosen surgeon
I was actually kind of nervous about the lack of negative reviews I saw for my specific surgeon. I was kind of skeptical going in because all the other ones I looked into before had at least a few bad reviews about pricing or the results and then this lady is somehow cheaper and no one seemed to have issues. I was extremely lucky in this regard.
