Gender Affirmation Surgery may provide a solution is you wish to match your physical body to your gender identity.

Are you a Suitable Candidate for GAS?

Anyone wanting to change their gender is a candidate for gender affirmation procedures. However, as these are major surgeries, Dr Hunt needs to ensure you are completely supported and healthy before he can consider you for surgery. Hence, to get gender affirmation surgeries you need to fulfil certain conditions:

• You are older than 18 and able to consent
• You are mentally and physically healthy
• You are making an informed decision
• You have no severe systemic disorder
• You are not allergic to the materials used in the reconstruction
• You are a non-smoker
• You do not have any serious heart, kidney or other organ disease that may affect the surgery
• You have taken hormone therapy. Usually a 10/ 12 month hormone therapy is required
• If you have gender dysphoria or you are suffering from gender identity disorder you can be a good candidate
• Body weight is a major health issue. Your BMI should be below obesity, to avoid any unwanted complications during surgery
• You will need WPATH certification and psychological support

More about the surgery

To prepare for the gender affirming procedures, you will need to quit smoking or alcohol for at least a month or so. Medications like aspirin or other anticoagulants will be stopped prior to surgery as well. As a preparation for surgery, Dr Hunt may also ask you to stop other medications for two or three days.

• Surgery Length: The MTF or FTM top surgery can take 1 to two hours.
• Recovery: The recovery process for Top surgery is mostly about letting your upper body rest. Which involves you resting your arms, torso and restricting movements as much as you can. Even though you can go home after the top surgery, have someone drive you home and stay with you for a few days. You will feel some soreness after bottom and facial reconstruction surgeries as well.
• Recovering from gender affirmation procedures can be more difficult than other interventions because of the toll it takes on your mind as well as your body. You will need time to adjust to the newness of your body. So, expect some discomfort. You should also talk to your therapist about the challenges you are facing.

The first few days of the recovery period are often associated with a certain level of pain and discomfort as the anaesthesia wears off. You will most likely be prescribed some antibiotics and analgesic medication; make sure you take them on time. To speed up the recovery process, wear the support bra given to you after the surgery. You should also avoid showering or getting water on the stitches until the dressing is removed. Another thing to remember is to prevent any tearing or stretching of the suture sites. Tearing the stitches can lead to large scar tissue. This means you cannot lift heavy objects for 1-2 months either.

• Back to work/ exercise: Regardless of which gender affirmation surgery you are taking, you will need some time to heal. To get back to exercising, you will need to wait at least 2 months. The best course of action here is to take cues from your body and let your body decide when you are ready to work out. As for work, you can join your office within a few weeks of the surgery, but don’t overdo it!
• Results: Results are a huge concern for most patients. The results of gender affirmation procedures may not look similar to what you had in mind immediately after surgery. But this is only because of the swelling. After a few weeks you will notice the swelling has subsided and everything looks more natural. It takes about 2- 3 weeks for all the inflammation to go away completely. You can speed up the process by applying cold packs.