Sex change from a man to a woman or vice versa is not the most common operation in the world, despite the fact that, according to statistics, there are as many more people who are faced with the desire to change sex. It is important to understand that surgery to change sex is a difficult process, as a result of which there is a gross intervention in almost all body systems.
To consider the consequences and risks of the operation, you need to learn in detail about all the stages of this procedure.
Reasons for the operation
In each country, the preparation before changing sex is different. In Russia, as a rule, the problem is limited to bureaucratic delays with the change of documents. But for a person who is firmly convinced of the desire to change his body in accordance with his attitude, this is hardly a significant problem.
Why a desire arises that prompts you to resort to such an operation as a gender change to female or male, it is impossible to explain exactly. But one thing is certain: the desire is not a sign of a mental illness, and transsexualism is officially included in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10).
As a rule, before changing sex, a person for a long time already exists in the guise of a person of another gender. He can dress in appropriate clothes, make a hairstyle, and even appear to be a stranger. Moreover, new acquaintances will not even guess that in front of them is a person of a different gender.
All this has the effect that sooner or later a person will come to the clinic and ask to change the anatomy of his body in accordance with his sense of self.
Preparation
The period of preparation for the operation includes a comprehensive examination of the body and psychological examination. It is important that the person understands how difficult the operation is before him, how many procedures he will have to go through. If the patient expresses strong agreement, he is prescribed hormone therapy.
Before doing the operation, it is important to make sure that the body tolerates all prescribed drugs well, because after the operation, the person will have to take them for life.
Hormonal drugs
It is known that not only the genitals are changed after the sex change operation, but also the hormonal background of a person. Few people know, but it is hormonal therapy that makes it possible to transform as much as possible, and not the surgical manipulations on the body itself.
Reception of estrogen gives femininity: the face and its features soften, round, body hair growth decreases, the voice becomes higher and more melodic.
Reception of androgens, on the contrary, makes facial features rougher, voice low, provokes hair growth on the face and body.
Reception of hormones has to be lifelong. Officially, this is called hormone replacement therapy, it must be selected by the doctor individually for each patient. However, in Russia there are difficulties with the appointment of drugs for people who have experienced a sex change, so many patients choose their own drugs, significantly risking their health.
How is the operation?
A sex change operation is a procedure in which the external genitalia are changed by surgery to organs of the opposite sex. It is important to understand that even if the manipulations performed by the doctor create visually aesthetic and correct genitals, a person will permanently lose reproductive ability. And getting sensual pleasure will also be a big question.
Sex change from man to woman is faster. During the operation, the doctor removes the penis, and forms a female vagina from its flaps and fragments of the intestine. But the transformation from woman to man lasts at least one year. First, the surgeon removes the organs of the female reproductive system. And only after 10-12 months a male penis is formed from the clitoris.
Other treatments
After hormonal therapy and surgical intervention, the process of gender transformation can already be considered completed. But many people prefer to go to the end, improving their body. The list of procedures includes:
- laser hair removal;
- breast enlargement with implants;
- correction of facial areas with fillers.
The progress, technique and scope of the interventions for people who have changed their gender is similar to taking care of themselves in people who have never resorted to a transgender transition.
Rehabilitation
The rehabilitation period after a sex change from a man to a woman or vice versa is burdened by a period of physical recovery after surgery and psychological adaptation to a new gender role.
If the preparation for the operation was correct, and the person admitted to the operation does not have somatic pathologies that can interfere with the recovery period, there will be a minimum number of contraindications.
Physiological risks
The risks that the transgender transition carries in itself can be divided into psychological and physiological.
Physiological include any complications that may occur after surgery. Namely:
- blood poisoning;
- hematomas;
- tissue infection;
- scars
- loss of tissue sensitivity;
- swelling
- bleeding.
Almost all of these complications are reversible. That is, for some time a person will have to face physical discomfort and postoperative difficulties, but after a period of rehabilitation, the person’s state of health is fully normalized.
As a rule, the surgeon gives the patient recommendations, observing which, it is possible to minimize all undesirable consequences of the operation. If complications nevertheless arose, it is necessary to inform the doctor or medical personnel about them as soon as possible.
Psychological risks
Despite the fact that the change of gender from man to woman or reverse transformation is a welcome event in the life of a person who has decided to take this step, often the period of adaptation to a new gender role leads a person to an emotional crisis. There are cases when a person went to the doctor again with a request to return to him the previous gender. Also known cases of suicide.
How to reduce the risk of adverse effects of psychological adaptation? To do this, you need to contact a specialist who will help to cope with problems as quickly as possible. You can chat with people who have gone through a similar operation, or try to share your experience with a large audience by starting your blog or writing a book.
The cost of metamorphosis
How much does a sex-change operation cost? An urgent issue that interests every person who is not indifferent to this topic. In Russia, the operation is quite expensive: in order to turn a man into a woman, it will take from 400 thousand to 1.5 million rubles.
For women who want to become men, the price of the issue will be almost twice as high. On average, a newly-minted man will have to leave about 3 million rubles in a plastic surgery clinic.
In order to reduce costs, many resort to medical tourism. For example, they leave for Thailand, where the cost of gender reassignment is only 400-600 thousand rubles. But it is important to take into account not only how much the sex change operation costs, but also the quality of its implementation. Medical services are not a cost item that can be saved. True, in Thailand, such operations have been put on stream for more than one decade, so the reviews are positive.
Famous people who changed sex
A person who is seriously interested in changing sex from man to woman or reverse transformation will be interested to learn about the experience of people who have already gone through such an operation.
Rene Richards changed her gender to female in 1975 and did not regret the operation. Her story attracted the filming of the public, and her reasoning about the place of transgender people in the world of sports only added interest to her person.
The story of Denis Banten Berry also tells about the transformation of a man into a woman on the operating table, but Denis evaluates his experience negatively. There is a special message that Danielle left to people who want to undergo sex reassignment surgery. In it, she gives arguments from personal experience, why this is not worth it.
Sandra McDougall, changing the external genitalia to female, was also unhappy with the metamorphosis. Life in the female body, according to her own assurances, brought her only humiliation and even violence. Sandra encourages men who want to feel themselves in a masculine body, to think about how women feel in modern society, what problems and difficulties they face.
Of course, there are a considerable number of stories about the positive experience of gender reassignment. But it is important to know exactly the negative points in order to make the right decision, which you will not have to regret later.
Changing gender, male and female, is a serious act, when doing it, it is important to understand that there may no longer be a way back. Of course, you can do a second operation and return the genitals to their former appearance and stop taking hormonal drugs. But any interventions affect human health, so contraindications may occur during repeated surgery. In addition, when returning to the previous sex, reproductive functions and genital sensitivity will not be returned.