There's a great deal of surgeons to choose from when it comes to picking someone to perform your surgeries for Female Facial Feminization, gender reassignment surgery, Adam's apple shave, vocal chord width reduction, body shaping, breast augmentation, dual breast mastectomy, phalloplasty and other procedures.
What is the right choice? How do I make that choice?
Well I can't specifically tell you what the right choice is or isn't. You have to figure that out for yourself. I can tell you how to go about it, but I can't make that decision for you. So here's what I did.
When I was in the process of selecting a surgeon for my gender reassignment surgery, I also knew I wanted to have my breast augmentation at the same time, so that helped me narrow it to surgeons that were able to do both procedures. The reason for this is I didn't want to go back and have to pay for anesthesia and hospital costs a second time. Two birds, one stone.
When I first began transition, insurance was not available to me, so I had originally planned to go to Thailand and see Dr. Kamol or Dr. Preecha for my GRS and BA surgeries.
However, after I moved to Colorado in 2013, the laws here changed and insurance companies began selling trans-inclusive plans on the Colorado Exchange (Connect for Colorado) that allowed transgender individuals to have their surgeries covered. This changed everything for me. I no longer had to go overseas to get these procedures done. Following this change, I began researching surgeons here in America. My top choices were originally Dr. Christine McGinn in New Hope, PA, whom I say featured in the documentary "TRANS" and I have to be honest, I was in awe of her beauty, her personality in the documentary and I had a pre-determined mindset that she would be my surgeon. I also had selected Dr. Toby Meltzer in Scottsdale, AZ and Dr. Marci Bowers in San Francisco, CA (formerly in Trinidad, CO). Later, I added Dr. Kathy Rumer to the list after talking with another transwoman online who told me about her. I did my research on all 4. I had a lot of difficulty getting hold of Dr. McGinn for a phone consult, plus she didn't take insurance at the time (this may have changed since then). I did eventually get a phone consult with her and I was very disappointed with her phone demeanor. Maybe she had an off day, but she seemed off, distracted and I didn't feel like what I was asking mattered or was even heard. That's not what I needed in a surgeon.
I did a phone consult with Toby Meltzer, but I was not impressed by his phone demeanor either, not to mention his waiting list was at minimum of 2 years and I really felt more like a source of income to him than a patient who's needs were important. Dr. Marci Bowers was much the same way and her waiting list was 3 years and I couldn't wait that long.
In January of 2015, I reached out to Dr. Kathy Rumer's office and scheduled a phone consult. When I talked with Dr. Rumer, she was SPOT on the money about everything I asked. She was well prepared for my answers, she was friendly, courteous, open and explained everything in great detail but keeping it from getting too lengthy or technical. During our conversation, I felt something with her that I didn't feel with the others when I spoke to them. She felt like a familiar friend, someone I had known for a long time even though I had never even met her. She was on the same page as me, she was tuned in to what I wanted, she listened to me, to my needs and that meant the world on me. I had found my surgeon. I had also done a lot of research online about her, and complaints were few, praises were high. Everything I looked at in regards to her, I liked. My excitement grew. A few months later I scheduled an office consult and flew to Philadelphia in early December of 2015. The visit went very well. She answered all of my questions, she was so warm, caring, compassionate and friendly. I haven't been let down by her yet and she did a great job, and as of 7 weeks post-op, I am very satisfied with my results, although there is much healing left to do.
These were the things that were important to me to have in a surgeon. You are trusting your LIFE, your health and your future to this person. This includes your future sex life. The ability to have sensation, feeling, orgasms and sexual pleasure is in their hands. You want to know that this person cares about you, your well-being, your health and your ability to enjoy the life of a woman that you have sought for so long. You can't afford to make a mistake.
So do your research, ask questions, talk to former patients of surgeons and ask about their quality of care, personal relationship with that surgeon, aesthetic results, form and function (orgasm, sensation, ability to pee, etc). Most of all trust YOUR instincts. Not someone else's word that refers you. When you connect with the person that is to be your surgeon, you will know.
Choosing the wrong surgeon to save a buck or two can mean the difference in having all those things or having to go back for multiple revisions, fixing errors and mistakes, or even worse, being stuck with no sensation, no ability to orgasm, paralysis in your mons pubis region, a caved in vagina that closes up or gets a bad infection.
There are FAR too many surgeons for me to list individually on this blog, so I'll just include a convenient link to make it easier for you to find their name, location and contact information.
http://www.transhealthcare.org/usa/
Currently, there are NO surgeons in the state of Colorado that perform gender reassignment surgery for male to females or female to males. You can expect to travel out of state, have to get airfare, hotel and other accomodations, so factor this into your budget if you plan to have GRS anytime soon.
Dr. Terrance Murphy does do top surgeries for both M2F and F2M transgender people as well as FFS and other cosmetic enhancing procedures. He is very highly regarded by the transgender community here in Colorado.
Dr. Terrance Murphy
799 E. Hampden Ave.
Suite 540
Englewood, CO 80113
Phone: 303-788-8400
info@murphyplasticsurgery.com
http://murphyplasticsurgery.com/
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