A Non-Binary Butch in the South

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Grateful for top surgery all day every day.

phinforthewin:

looking at surgens in the midwest. found one in Minneapolis, with no photos. found one in Boston with excellent results (but this is not the midwest). found one in Ann Arbor, Michigan with no photos. found one in Madison with no photos, but i’ve seen good results.

i really am opposed to the double incision (for myself for personal reasons) and would prefer the periareolar, if at all possible. my roommate had the DI locally and he has good results. he says he had the same size chest as i am now (a small B), and he says i might be too big, but i don’t think so. i don’t know. i just need it taken care of. asap.

maybe my mother will cosign a loan for this. ugh.

help.

Hey there.  Are you familiar with Dr. Medalie of Cleveland, OH?  I had DI with him, but I’m fairly certain he has done quite a few peri procedures.  Last time I checked, there were quite a few results from him up on transbucket.

676) I have had top surgery on my mind every day for 3 years now. I have been binding for 4 years, I identify with female pronouns and I have long hair, so I present as female, but I want a flat, masculine chest & no nipples. I don’t really know anyone who identifies the way I do. I want to be both genders but neither also. I swear things would be easier if I were a man in a dress.

goldengray:

I don’t know if I identify the same way you do, but there are other women and non-men who want top surgery.  :)  And I can sadly relate to the having it on your mind every day for three years… I think it’s been almost that long for me.

Hey there, OP.  You’re not alone!  Please check out this list of resources for DFAB, non-male identified folks who want top surgery!

Also, I definitely recall hearing of several trans men who opted to have their nips removed. 

(Source: genderqueerconfessions)

It’s 2013

2013.  The year in which I will (hypothetically) graduate from college.

It’ll be one of the most important days of my life; hard-won after an intense 6 years of uphill battles against anxiety and depression and dysphoria.

But it will hardly hold a candle to what Tumblr has given me. 

I don’t know that anything will ever feel more meaningful to me than making that list of resources and seeing it circulated over a thousand times.

I still get a bit choked up every time I think about it.  Every time I think about the fact that it actually mattered to that many people.  That there could actually be so many people out there like me. That I’m not as terribly alone as my 18 year old self was sure I would always be.

Thank you, to everyone who has liked and reblogged that post.  And to everyone who has reached out and messaged me.  I cannot possibly convey how deeply I appreciate you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Nipples!

artoftransliness:

Getting top surgery is a priority for many transmen (but not all!). And while most of us understand the differences between the different surgery types like Double Incision (DI), the Peri-Ariolar, Keyhole, the Purse String technique - something that is recurring throughout all of these surgeries is the question of the size, shape, and placement of your new (or old) nipples! While having a perfectly flat chest, sometimes with scars, sometimes with smaller ones, is certainly a concern; the persistent worry is about our nipples. And with good reason! There are a lot of things happening with those things!

10 good questions to ask your surgeon about nipples:

1) Will you be leaving my nipple intact or will you use a graft?

2) How do you decide where to place the nipple?

3) Do you typically create smaller-sized nipples? (or what is your preference for size of nipple?)

4) What are my chances for [tactile] sensation?

5) What are my risks for losing a nipple?

6) What are ways that I can reduce pulling and scaring on my nipples?

7) Does your technique account for possible pink/redness surrounding the nipple after it is healed?

8) How long should I wait until I can go back to doing (insert whatever it is you like to do with your nipples here)?

9) Are you able to do more oval-shaped nipples or just symmetrical circular ones?

10) Do you have any reference photos of individuals who have had surgery with you as to be able to better visualize surgery results?

It is best to be as informed as possible when considering what type of top surgery you have and which surgeon you choose to perform the operation. But also consider the vast variation in body types that exist in nature. Even people with naturally flat chests exhibit variation in nipple placement, size, color, texture, etc.

According to DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man, and other similar concepts involving ideal proportions, canon of proportions, there is an “exact” or “ideal” location for male nipples. You can do the math and figure that out for yourselves, that’s besides the point.

The point is that rarely do things in nature exist in such “perfect” of proportions and even if they did, would they be any more valuable or beautiful? My answer is, no. We should celebrate our differences and scars and quirks while understanding that our issues that we have with our chests are not uniquely ours and recognize that we are not so different from people who matured with flat chests.

Below are a few pictures to highlight the vast differences in nipple size, placement, color, and texture in people who matured with flat chests. I apologize for not having photos with much variation in skin tone, we didn’t have a large selection of photos to chose from.

So while being as informed and educated as you can possibly be about your surgeon, and the technique, and the predicted outcomes - you may not have the “perfect” nipple in terms of size, shape, location, and texture…but does it really matter? Knowing now, that people who mature with flat chests have virtually indistinguishable chests from a lot of transguys who have top surgery, you can make strides to becoming happy with your outcomes of surgery and value your chest for its potential deviations from the canon of proportions.

This is a really great post, and actually a topic I’ve been thinking of discussing for a while.  How my nips were going to look after top surgery was a huge deal to me, in terms of both the placement and the appearance of the nips themselves. 

The question is not really “Who is the best surgeon?”; the question is “Which surgeon’s methods are most compatible with how I want my chest to look?”.  There are a lot of excellent top surgeons out there.  I think that Medalie, Garramone, Brownstein, and a number of others are all excellent surgeons.  And I know there are quite a few lesser-known surgeons out there who are really great, too.  I chose Medalie because I liked the way that he does nipple placement and that he seems able to often retain the definition of the nipple itself; I thought his method would be the best for my body.  In terms of what I wanted my body to look like after surgery.  I liked that his nipple placement is not quite as wide set as others (such as Dr. Garramone), and that he doesn’t make the nipples particularly small.  These were both things that I wanted in my results.  But does that mean that there is something wrong with Dr. Garramone’s method?  Absolutely not!!  All it means is that the way he does chests wasn’t as compatible with what I wanted as Dr. Medalie’s methods were.  It all depends on what you want your chest to look like.

I’d really like to see folks who want top surgery or have had top surgery stop insulting other people’s results. It’s shitty and hurtful.  You’re talking about someone else’s body.  Knock it off.

Birth Control After Top Surgery?

Trigger warning for talk of menstruation and breast tissue.

I have a bit of an unusual question, and I don’t know if anyone will be able to answer it.  I would ask a doctor, but… well… I don’t know any in my area that are non-binary friendly.  And being in, y’know, the South… I just don’t trust doctors here to give me accurate medical information. 

Is there anyone out there who has (a) had top surgery and (b) is not on testosterone who is taking or has taken birth control? 

I’ve been seriously considering going back on birth control as of late, because I don’t think I can deal with the deep, deep depressive cycles I get thrown into every month due to my hormones. 

I’ve heard that taking hormonal birth control can increase the amount of breast tissue you have, and since I’m post top surgery but not on T, this is a huge concern for me.  I would flip the fuck out if my chest started growing back to its pre-surgery form.  Has anyone taken birth control after top surgery and had this issue?

Edit:  I ask this because top surgeons do generally leave some breast tissue present so that the chest does not wind up being concave.  I’m pretty sure Dr. Medalie explicitly told me that he does this.

Thanks in advance for all responses.

neveranysanity:

I had a dream I had a double mastectomy and nothing has ever felt more right. However, I don’t identify with being trans. Weird.

Hey there.  I hope that you don’t mind me reblogging this— if so, just let me know and I will take it down ASAP.

Just wanted to drop you a line and say that there is nothing at all wrong with wanting top surgery but not identifying as trans, or not identifying as male.  Your gender and your body are your business, and you are the only one who knows what feels right to you.  If this is something you’re interested in pursuing, here’s a list of resources that may be helpful to you.

Also, if you need to talk to someone who is not male-identified and has had top surgery, please don’t hesitate to message me.  I usually take a while to respond, but I promise I will get back to you.

You know, one of the most surprising changes that happened after top surgery is that I cry far less often.

I couldn’t figure out why that was the case for a long time, until I realized that before top surgery I was so consumed by dysphoria, anxiety, and depression, that it hardly took anything to push me over the edge.

God, I’m glad that part of my life is over.