Sex Reassignment Surgery

Details

Sex reassignment surgery or transgender surgery allows an individual to change sex. These procedures are aimed at individuals (men and women) whose gender conflicts with their biological sex. Given the strong psychological impact of these procedures, surgeons, psychiatrists, endocrinologists and psychologists come together to assess the patient. Engaging in a process of sex change represents a long journey, which involves a heavy treatment, which is not limited to the surgery alone.

 Who Is This For?

Sex reassignment surgeries can be female-to-male or male-to-female. Male-to-female surgeries are more common. Although doctors will provide clear and detailed information on this issue, the typical conditions sought for a male to female sex reassignment surgery can be listed as follows,

• The patient must be at least 20 years old. Those who do not reach this limit must provide proof of parental consent or their legal guardian
• The patient must have taken female hormones continuously for at least one year
• The patient must have had feelings of femininity for a long time, even from the earliest memories of childhood
• The patient must have lived a woman's life for at least one year
• The patient must be disgusted by his sexual organ and consider it as foreign to his body
• The patient must have undergone a psychological test and have been certified by a psychiatrist as being sane and able to use sexual reassignment surgery
• The patient must be in a good physical condition

Treatment Duration

8-10 Hours

Potential Risks & Side Effects 

• Anesthesia risks
• Hematoma
• Infection
• Bleeding
• Blood clots, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary emboli (Due to the estrogen therapy used in transgender women)
• Blood pressure, insulin resistance, and lipid abnormalities (Due to the testosterone used in transgender men)

Recovery Time

2 months

Success Rate: 86%

Alternative Treatments

Alteration of the body appearance such as make-up/shaving, change the clothing, styling the hair, etc.

How Does it Work?

• Sex reassignment surgery is the last step in helping people who have always had a conflict between their sexual perception and their physical characteristics, which in medical terminology is called gender dysphoria (gender identity disorder). Sex reassignment surgery brings the sex organ or body appearance into conformity with the state of mind so that the person can lead a more fulfilled life in tune with their new "gender".
• Male-to-female sex assignment surgery involves building a vagina, clitoris, and lips from a penis. During the operation, the surgeon removes the testicles and the penis, the skin of which is used to line the walls of the vagina. The clitoris is reconstructed from the tissues of the glans. It is a complex and meticulous operation.
•  Female-to-male sex assignment surgery involves phalloplasty which is an operation aimed at reconstructing the penis or creating one from scratch. The reconstructed penis is artificially reconstructed using skin grafts on the patient.

What Does Sex Reassignment Surgery Treatment Involve?

1.    Consultation for Sex Reassignment Surgery

The first step to start your sex reassignment surgery process will be the online consultation.

This stage is the head of everything that will allow us to understand whether you want to enter this process, whether you know the process more or less. As this is a big decision and long journey, in the sex reassignment surgery procedure, a more detailed process is followed instead of a short preliminary interview where we will understand each other. We inform you, get information from you and offer you options to choose the clinic we will invite you to continue your process face to face.

Planning Your Trip and Choosing the Clinic

At this stage, we will share the list of the clinic and surgeon; which we filter according to the criteria we receive from you. After you make your selection among them, we proceed to the stage of date determination and detailed adjustments.

2.    Final Consultation with Your Surgeon

When you arrive at the clinic, there will be a face-to-face consultation with your surgeon and the team involved in the process. This team, which is always with you to prepare you, eliminate or minimize possible risks, start your medication/hormone treatment, and prepare you perfectly for the process, both psychologically and physiologically, will also carry out the necessary official procedures.

3.    Medical Examinations

Before the sex reassignment surgery process begins, your surgeon will conduct some necessary medical tests to make sure that you are in acceptable health status for the procedure. Every patient is required to undergo medical tests to ensure that nothing can hinder the success of the surgery and if any risk detected surgeons try to eliminate them first.

4.    Surgery

• Sex reassignment surgery represents much more than a surgical procedure, it is an approved medico-surgical act recognized within a multidisciplinary team made up of surgeons, psychotherapists, and specialized endocrinologists.
• Phalloplasty in transsexual patients remains an ongoing challenge in function and aesthetics to create a penis. As part of the surgical management of a phalloplasty, it is important to obtain satisfactory results both on the urinary level (urination by the penis in a standing position), and functional by obtaining tactile sensitivity, allowing the installation of an erectile prosthesis.
• Despite the many techniques proposed, the reconstruction of the penis by the free radial flap remains the method of choice to satisfy the following facts: obtaining a functional urethra allowing urination in standing position, an aesthetic as close as possible to a normal penis, a tactile and erogenous sensitivity, as well as mechanical efficiency allowing sexual activity.
• Vaginoplasty involves inversion of the penile skin, sometimes associated with skin grafting, or transplantation of a rectosigmoid pedicle. It is important to create a vagina that is functional, sexually sensitive and aesthetically acceptable.
• Vaginoplasty is surgery to obtain female genitals. The surgeon uses a surgical technique that includes a single step, which is a penile inversion (the skin of the penis and testicles is grafted inside the vagina) coupled with the autograft of a neurovascular flap of the glans which will be used to create a sensitive clitoris.
• Lifelong follow-up with the doctor prescribing hormone replacement is essential to ensure optimal results and control the possible occurrence of side effects.
• Finally, follow-up with the mental health professional can help the patient to adjust the difficulties encountered even in the postoperative phase, which is often the time when the patient decides to become completely autonomous, both socially and psychologically.

FAQ

What Are the Other Surgeries Involved in Sex Reassignment Surgery?

Other surgeries involved in the whole transgender process include vaginoplasty, feminizing augmentation mammoplasty, orchiectomy, facial feminization/masculinization surgery, and voice feminization/masculinization surgeries. Those are the surgeries that result in the change in anatomy an individual was born with.

When Do the Surgical Scars Heal?

Sex reassignment surgery scars will be with you for a long time, but over time you will notice that their appearance and color have changed and become invisible. Total scar healing can take up to 1 year.

How Long Should I Stay in The City Where My Sex Reassignment Surgery Is Performed?

Patients who come from abroad/out of the city should stay in the city for about 2 weeks after sex reassignment surgery and about 8-9 days following facial feminization/masculinization or breast augmentation surgeries.  

Costs