Another Of My Crazy, Out-there Ideas..

[Guest My_Genesis]

I'm probably the only one here that is so desperate for the surgeries to improve that I want to do my own research..but I was thinking maybe in college I could start some kind of group or organization that supports improving FTM surgeries (or even SRS in general..although FTM surgeries are behind MTF ones in technique.) I have a lot of ideas about what can be done, but I don't know how feasible it would be, in terms of resources available and having enough people who are interested in doing this..I actually started one of those online groups on Facebook, but I think I need to find a better way to reach out to more people in more extended areas...So I wanted to know what you guys all think about this in terms of feasibility and level of interest. Do you think this is something worth doing or would I have a hard time finding people? I also really have no idea exactly what actions we'd take to make things work out, so I'm thinking maybe I should find someone like an advisor, like a doctor who does SRS (preferably one who is trans, like Dr. Marcy Bowers - I am attending college in CO, btw..), or maybe a researcher (it would be cool if I could find a researcher who is trans but I don't know of any currently)..or maybe a gender therapist. Also, the GIC is in Denver, which is where the school is..

So yeah, I just wanted some feedback about whether or not this is realistically possible, if anyone has any that would be awesome, and if anyone actually thinks it is feasible, do you have any ideas about how I can actually put it together?

Thanks everyone..I appreciate anyone's reply.

[Guest Rory]

Dude, I think seriously, if you want to work with people on developing surgeries, then you need to stop thinking that you are more 'desperate' for them than other people. It sounds like you are undermining everyone else's struggle to obtain surgery.

Anyway, I'm certain that as it stands currently there are a least a few people, who are working on improving SRS. I know some surgeons are already developing better techniques for particular surgeries. So I'm sure you would be able to find a team of professionals, who are working in the direction you say you are interested. Working in this field would be realistic, if you choose to pursue it, and you would do well to study medicine. But I wouldn't worry if you decide on a different career path, I'm sure you aren't the only one who's able to make improvements to SRS.

[Guest My_Genesis]

Do you know of any people in particular? I got discouraged every time I looked around on the internet for people working on this, but never found much in terms of improving SRS specifically..even those stories about tissue engineering with.. "male organs".. they never once in any of the stories about it mention SRS...they only mention its possible uses in bio-males...so I guess that's why I just kinda felt like I was the only one concerned with this..I assumed if there were other people, I'd find them online somewhere, like on a science news site or something...where there are thousands of stories but not a single hit when I search for this in particular.

I wasn't intending to "undermine" anyone...I'm just very frustrated and tend to be an impatient person..and, being a perfectionist, with an issue like this affecting my life as it does, that makes it even more frustrating to me

[Guest Snow Angel]

All the people that have the will or desire to further research into improving surgeries are already doing it. A crusade won't make it go faster. As a whole, the human race evolves slowly. We still have a crappy health care system, immigrants, terrorism, and people calling each other Sweetie if they're different. These surgeries are hard to pioneer because they're uncharted territory, and it's hard to find a test subject for. That paired with the whole YMMV part of trans hormones and surgery make it all that more unpredictable.

[Guest Rory]

Well I know that in Serbia there is a surgeon called Dr Perovic, and he seems to have a new technique for phalloplasty, which involves harvesting tissue from the latimus dorsi. It leaves a much less conspicuous scar than the radial forearm flap. Also information I have found suggests this is a fairly recent development, having been worked on for a number of years, so things seem to be improving, and of course everything takes time.

With any medical procedures it can take years to fully test and research new procedures. Often information isn't publicly available until the more advanced stages of development, so just because you can't find any information today, doesn't automatically mean that we won't see any advancement in SRS within the next couple of years.

Once there has been more work on stem cells and more information becomes available, eventually this could be applied to SRS, but like snow angel said 'As a whole, the human race evolves slowly.' , only time will tell.

[Guest My_Genesis]

Thank you Rory, I'm glad to hear that not everything is available to the public right away..I was hoping this was the case, but this also makes it ambiguous in terms of where they stand currently and what work needs to be done..maybe if I had a better idea of what progress is being made I wouldn't be so apprehensive, thinking that nothing is happening.

What is YMMV? I've honestly never heard of it before..and even if I don't start a "crusade" or anything of the sort, I'm still interested in reserching these kinds of things in college (it works itself out well, because I'm going to be majoring in something Biology-related )

[Guest Evan_J]

YMMV is "Your Milage May Vary" and means the given subject may be different for each party in question because of personal factors.

Its a flaw -the ability to sound like a dictionary lol

[Guest Jack Solomon]

You're not the only one by a long shot. Some of us can apparently be happy with what they have, and I say good for them, but I can never be one of those people and I have no idea what's that's like. I can't change what's ingrained, that I should have a penis. So yes, improvement in surgery is important to me. I'd be interested in such a group, although I don't plan to major in biology or anything similar, unfortunately. I am sure that if you start this while in college for your degree you could probably find/contact a few researchers who could serve as advisors. If you eventually become a medical researcher in this area yourself, I'm sure this could potentially be very helpful as well to further interest in the medical community regarding SRS.

As for improving techniques: Currently, more (non-trans)people are interested in funding/furthering surgical techniques to help bio men who have somehow lost or damaged their penis. There is unfortunately still in place a certain 'invisibility' to transsexuals' need of these surgeries. However, the techniques found for bio men have in the past and are still being been applied to transsexuals. SRS technique is advancing, albeit slowly. I agree with you that its still not nearly fast enough, and obviously transsexuals should be better recognized in their need for SRS surgeries.

As mentioned previously, Dr. Perovic does have a promising technique...he uses it both on transsexuals as well as bio males who have lost their penises somehow. The scar on the side is much less obvious when totally healed than the radial forearm flap. Some other surgeons may use the side as the donor site as well. What is seen in his technique is definately improved from what was readily available even 7+ years ago.

Presently Phalloplasty is usually a multi-stage surgery. However, with a penile implant you can achieve erections, and the appearance result can be fairly realistic (note I say 'can be', assuming you choose a very skilled surgeon). Of course, the surgery leaves scars no matter how well its crafted, still leaves much to be desired, and the cost is much, much higher than a meta. The implant devices have been improving in recent years from what I have seen, but obviously are still limited. Here is some information from a FTM site regarding penile implants. It is interesting to read to learn how they work. Note that not all types of implants would be compatible to the penis resulted from a phalloplasty, but hopefully penile implants will become more widely compatible and easier to obtain (ie, less cost) for male transsexuals in the following years.

Obviously the main cons to currently available phalloplasty surgery still include the following:

*Cost prevents many transsexuals from pursuing phalloplasty

*Surgery is much more complex than the SRS for MTFs

*Higher risk of needing revision due to complication or poor aesthetic

*The created penis is made of a different tissue than a biologically born penis and therefore is not capable of male function without implanted erectile device

*Some minor risk of very painful complications long-term post-surgery

*Even if result appearance is very good, it is still not optimal

*Currently available techniques cannot provide anything close to the level of sensation of a 'natural born penis' - again, this has partially to do with the tissue being of a different type

Solomon