Sex Change Surgery photos, procedure before and after

Dear Blog Readers, I just found this article on sex reassignment pictures, here are some photos of before and after sex change surgery , sex reassignment and sex change operation from female to male and male to female as well as some homosexual sex surgery and here are some more pictures of before and after transsexual surgery. During sex change surgery operation in the operation theater, the picture clearly shows that how they can proceed right from the initial steps in vagina, implanting penis and after the penis implantation pictures.

sex change surgery photos

see more picture here >>>>

Below, there are real pictures of sex change surgery (SRS) male to female transsexual picture that I actually took from some other sources in terms of my blog viewers to make them graceful while they are desperately looking for information and how does it look like after the vagine converted into real penis, some also asked about do they still able to release sperm. Well, for this reason I am still researching to gain more genuine information and will be posting shortly. Now what they have been expecting to find out about sex change surgery either sex change surgery from male to female or female to male by transsexual surgery operation. 

 I got this info page from http://www.symposion.com/ and I thought it would be helpful to my visitors who're here looking for information and pictures of sex change surgery. So I made it my blog post.                                                 

Beginnings of Sex Reassignment Surgery in Japan By Takamatsu Ako, M.D., Harashina Takao, M.D., Inoue Yoshiharu, M.D., Kinoshita Katsuyuki, M.D.**, Ishihara Osamu, M.D.**, Uchijima Yutaka, M.D.* **Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Gynecology*, Urology**, Saitama Medical Center, Saitama Medical School, Japan Abstract  The first sex reassignment surgery (SRS) performed officially in Japan - for a female-to-male (FtM) person in 1998 and for a male-to-female (MtF) person in 1999 - are reported. For the FtM, two-stage conversion was applied. In the first operation, salpingo-oophorectomy, hysterectomy, colpectomy, metoidioplasty, and mastectomy were performed. A free flap phalloplasty with the deltoid flap is planned as the second stage. For the MtF, one-stage neovaginoplasty was performed by penile skin inversion technique with sensate pedicled neoclitoplasty.

Introduction Japan, which is considered to be one of the world's most advanced countries in terms of its economy, technology, industry, and medicine, has long been in the dark ages regarding people who suffer from gender dysphoria. In July 1996, the Ethics Committee of Saitama Medical School submitted a report, at our request, on surgical treatment for transsexual patients. The report acknowledges that transsexualism exists and that treating transsexual patients can be regarded as a justifiable medical activity. The report was made public by mass media. In 1997, the medical guidelines for transgender persons were issued by the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, with some modifications of the Standards of Care of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association. We organized a medical team composed of psychiatrists, a sexologist, endocrinologists, gynecologists, urologists, and plastic surgeons. This is a report of the first sex reassignment surgeries (SRSs) officially performed in Japan: one for a FtM person in 1998 and one for a MtF person in 1999. Diagnosis, preparatory psychotherapy, and hormonal therapy were carried out according to the above-mentioned guidelines. Methods SRS for a Female-to-Male Transsexual   In the first operation, regarded as the first stage in the two-stage conversion, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, hysterectomy, colpectomy, metoidioplasty, and mastectomy were performed. Please click on the picture to enlarge how they perform female to male gender change surgery.   sex change surgery procedure from female to male First, the gynecologists performed a transabdominal oophoro-hysterectomy. Then they began to elevate the anterior vaginal flap through the abdominal approach. The elevation was completed transvaginally, just to the dorsal part of the urethral orifice, by plastic surgeons. The vaginal mucosa was resected, and colpocleisis was accomplished. After the abdominal wall was closed, we performed a metoidioplasty, as advocated by Hage (1996). By resection of the chordee, the clitoral shaft was released and abdominally advanced. The neourethra was constructed by suturing the vestibular skin, the vaginal mucosal flap and the labial flap around the urethral catheter in a watertight fashion (Figures 1, 2). A suprapubic cystostomy was performed and the urethral catheter was removed. Figure 1 Figure 2 For the bilateral mastectomy, we used a modification of the concentric-circle periareoral de-epithelization technique reported by Davidson (1979). Resection of the breast gland and reduction of the nipple were performed by the transareolar approach described by Pitanguy (1966) and Hage and Bloem (1995) (Figures 3, 4).Figure 3 Figure 4 SRS assignment picture after transform to male from female rare picture see more picture here  The estimated blood loss was 740 ml, and the total operating time was 6 hours. The postoperative course was completely uneventful. The suprapubic catheter was left in place for 7 days. The total hospital stay was 14 days. We are planning a free-flap phalloplasty as the second stage of the conversion. The patient desires the phalloplasty but at this time cannot afford the necessary fee which will amount to 2,500,000 yen (US$25,000). SRS for a Male-to-Female Transsexual A one-stage operation was performed in June 1999. The operative technique involved the following procedures: bilateral orchiectomy and penectomy followed by vaginoplasty, clitoroplasty, and vulvoplasty.   For the vaginoplasty, we employed a modification of the abdominally pedicled penile-skin-inversion technique added by a triangular perineal skin flap (Karim, Hage and Mulder, 1996). A dorsally based triangular perineal flap measuring about 10 cm long and 4 cm wide was used to line the posterior wall of the neovagina and widen the introitus (Figure 5). The testes were isolated and then removed with a double ligation of the spermatic cord at the level of the external inguinal rings. The skin of the penile shaft was mobilized from the corpora up to the level of the corona. A circumcising skin incision was made at the corona, completely denuding the penis of its skin and leaving the glans penis attached to the corpora. in figure 5 its shows that after cutting the penis off and converted into the vagina as we seen in the pictures. It seems very real and not much difference if you see on the before and after sex change photo. male to female sex change before and after picture Figure 6 The dorsal part of the glans penis was used as a clitoris. Sensate pedicled neoclitoplasty using the reduced glans, which remained attached to its dorsal penile neurovascular pedicle, was performed (Brown, 1976). The corpora cavernosa were resected to prevent postoperative pain due to erection of the remaining corpora tissues. A neovaginal cavity was created by dissection between the two layers of Denonvillier's fascia using a laparoscope placed in the abdomen as a guide. The created neovaginal depth was approximately 10 cm. sex change surgery overall picture for male to female transformation rare picture The lower abdominal skin flap was dissected to about the level of the umbilicus, and this advancement of the flap in the inferior and posterior direction made it possible for the base of the penile skin tube to overlie the introitus of the neovagina. The perineal triangular flap was sutured to the posterior wall of the penile skin tube and the widened tube was then inverted to line the neovaginal cavity. The skin flap was incised in the middle and the urethra was brought out through the buttonhole and amputated at the urogenital diaphragm level. The urethral stump and neurovascular pedicled neoclitoris were sutured to the skin with interrupted sutures. A soft, individually selected urethane mold, placed in a condom, was inserted into the neovagina, and the mold was securely sutured to the perineum to prevent prolapse (Figure 7). see more picture here The estimated blood loss was 760 ml and no transfusion was necessary. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged on the eighth postoperative day. She wore the dilating stent every day for 3 months postoperatively; nevertheless, the neovagina decreased in depth to 6 cm and in diameter to two fingers' width. The neoclitoris was found to have returned to a normal level of sensation (Figure 8). The patient has returned to her previous occupation. Discussion We believe that most FtM transsexuals desire closure of the vagina. However, we recognize the different view of some surgeons who consider the risk benefit to be rather high. Their reasoning is that most patients are not necessarily aware of the presence of the vagina because of decreased discharge after hysterectomy and atrophied mucosa due to long-term hormone therapy. We have found vaginectomy to be technically difficult and bloody and autotransfusion has a valuable place here. We have also found the vaginas of the Japanese FtM transsexuals we have examined to be very narrow compared with those we have observed elsewhere, so we have chosen to do transabdominal hysterectomies. The other advantage of the transabdominal approach is that the partial elevation of a sufficient size of the anterior vaginal flap and vaginectomy can be carried out from above, under direct vision.   In SRS for MtF transsexuals, we employed a laparoscope to assist in dissecting the vaginal cavity. Its light can help avoid injury to the prostate and rectum and can provide a direct view of the vaginal cavity up to the peritoneum. We are planning a free-flap phalloplasty as the second stage of the FtM SRS (Figure 10). We have experienced 13 cases of deltoid flap and 5 cases of forearm-flap phalloplasties in non- transsexual patients during the past 15 years (Figure 11). These techniques always result in extensive scarring of the donor area. Our first choice of donor site for phallic construction is the deltoid flap (Harashina et al.,1990) because it results in less morbidity in the donor site, is a true sensory flap, has hairless skin, and is less likely to result in atrophy of the neophallus.  However, this technique may be technically more difficult than that with the forearm flap, and it may be impossible to make a roll on obese patients. We think the deltoid flap is especially suitable for Japanese FtM patients because they generally are not obese. In fact, they usually try to reduce their weight so that they will not be regarded as females. At the time of writing this paper, we have performed six SRSs: one for MtF and five for FtM. Four of the five FtM patients had already undergone mastectomies elsewhere. The SRSs were performed at the Gender Clinic of Saitama Medical Center, which was the only provider of transgender-specific health services in Japan as of March 2000. In total, over 400 clients have visited our clinic since the first patient arrived in 1992, and about 100 new gender dysphoric clients have been seen each year. Sixty percent of them seek SRS. While there are many candidates, we take our time before performing surgery because there are very few psychiatric specialists in this field in Japan and we must apply for permission from our ethics committee in each case. Conclusion The first SRS operation in Japan was affirmatively reported all over the country and there was actually no public criticism. The operation was an historic turning point for the proper understanding of Gender Identity Disorder in our country. We are just on the starting line. Many issues remain to be resolved in promoting the welfare of our patients. Whereas public interest is steadily increasing and some acknowledgement of SRS seems to have become established, there is still no policy regarding health insurance and legislation for those who have undergone the procedure. SRS is not covered by National Health Insurance, and postoperative persons cannot yet change any of their documents. Our team is still the only practising gender surgery team in Japan, although two other teams are now being organized. Despite these difficulties, the role of SRS, performed justifiably, is becoming more prominent in the treatment of transsexualism in Japan. Do not forget to comment below, We need your valuable information in relation to sex change operation or SRS surgery. I encourage to all the readers to share their stories and experiences. Remember ! "Sharing is Caring". References Brown, J. (1976) Creation of a functional clitoris and aesthetically pleasing introitus in sex conversion. In Marchac, D. (Ed.), Transactions of the 6th International Congress of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Paris: Masson, pp. 654-655. Davidson, B. A. (1979) Concentric circle operation for massive gynecomastia to excise the redundant skin. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 63: 350-354. Hage, J.J. (1996) Metoidioplasty: An alternative phalloplasty technique in transsexuals. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 97: 161-167. Hage, J. J., Bloem J.J.A.M. (1995) Chest wall contouring for female-to-male transsexuals: Amsterdam experience. Annals of Plastic Surgery, 34: 59-66. Harashina T., Inoue T., et al. (1990) Reconstruction of penis with free deltoid flap. British Journal of Plastic Surgery, 43: 217-222. Karim, R.B., Hage J. J., and Mulder J. W. (1996) Neovaginoplasty in male transsexuals: Review of surgical techniques and recommendations regarding their eligibility. Annals of Plastic Surgery, 37: 669-675. Pitanguy, I. (1966) Transareolar incision for gynecomastia. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 38: 414-419. Acknowledgement We are very much grateful to Doctor Joris J. Hage in the Netherlands for his valuable help in order to accomplishing this task.

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Patricia Heaton Buttonless photos on bikini- Belly Button surgery gone wrong or right

"The former star of Everybody Loves Raymond Patricia Heaton was caught in a two piece bikini while vacationing in Hawaii. look at her pictures below. It sounds there is no belly button on her body.

Patricia Heaton belly button-less

Patricia has been very frank about going under the knife and basically reconstructing her entire body. She has admitted to having several procedures done, including a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) and breast lift. The mother of four who just turned 50 on March 4th looks pretty good in our humble opinion. She is rumored to have spent over $100,000 on the surgeries including belly button, which isn’t much when you have Everybody Loves Raymond money. She was making $90,000 per episode at the shows height. She and Kelsey Grammer are said to be making $150,000 and $275,000 per episode for their new show Back to You."

Patricia Heaton belly button less after surgery

 Patricia Heaton Belly button picture...If you look closely, they moved her belly button up to the middle of her right arm. Seriously, what the hell is that? Dear blog reader, Do you think she did in purpose?

Patricia Heaton belly button less after surgery

 Several websites are posting photos of Patricia Heaton in a bikini and claiming she has no belly button after having a tummy tuck surgery on her body. Is this true? And if so, why? It's hard to tell from these photos if her umbilicus (belly button) was removed during her tummy tuck. If it was, this is actually not that uncommon, as many patients who have a special tummy tuck surgery have a hernia of their belly button as well. Some surgeons will repair the hernia at the time of the tummy tuck surgery. When this occurs, there is a risk that the belly button will lose its blood supply and die. Some surgeons will pre-empt this process by actually removing the belly button at the time of the surgery, with plans to remake a new one later. They always tend to repair it at the time of surgery or have it done after the tummy tuck has completely healed.

Patricia Heaton belly button less after surgery

I'm guessing she's not into sex except as a means of procreation. So if you want to 'hit it', be prepared to take care of some belly button-less demon spawns. therefore, always anticipate about the positive or negative result of tummy tuck surgery and please give your best speculation on the comment box below in terms of we can be alert or take some methods to prevent from these kind of damages. This one ruin many lives specially those people who's profession is media fields such as modeling, TV, presenter, Hollywood, Bollywood etc. Please be aware of that.

More photos about gender change surgery here

How facial Cosmetic Surgery gone wrong

Plastic and cosmetic surgery can change your life to better. But before you decide to lay down on an operating table, find out what waits you before and after plastic surgery in here.

Bad plastic surgery is a reality most of us aren't aware of. We hear and see successful plastic surgeries on Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson or Angelina Jolie plastic surgery. But what's hidden from us and what we ignore for some reason is a fact - bad plastic surgery.There are several causes that make unsuccessful operation it means negetive influence of plastic surgery. Some of them can be influenced at, and some of them can't. Most important is that you learn about what can happen to you while you have a bad plastic or cosmetic surgery so you can avoid being scared for life. It's a good thing to be careful saving your money, time and beautyness and ask questions about this matter. It is YOUR health in question and YOUR future. Bad plastic surgery is not what you wish for, I'm sure of that. Jocelyn Wildenstein is the best example of a surgery gone wrong.

Plastic surgery gone bad

First thing you need to do to avoid being the victim of a bad plastic surgery is to check who is your plastic surgeon his past experience/feedback and negetive/positive impact from the patient. You can do that by checking the quality of plastic surgery on his qualifications. Not every plastic surgeon is qualified to perform a plastic surgery, on the beginner or advanced level. That means that your surgeon should have experience to perform advanced procedures. If he isn't sure of himself, you can be his test subject on which he will gain his experience and you will be just the statistics in a bad plastic surgery case you will be also one of the victim like Jocelyn And I'm sure that's not what any of us want.What can you do about this? Ask your plastic surgeon about his previous operations. Determind yourself, He can also show you some before and after photos of previous patients. Besides that, you should ask medical staff that works with him to see what's their opinion on him. Did he ever made a mistake or had a bad plastic surgery. Of course, not every man or woman will tell you the details of you plastic surgeon qualification, but you can see how they tick when you ask about him. I'm sure it's easier to do that then to live after you had a bad plastic surgery. Second important thing is your doctors qualifications. If he is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, then you will be in a good hands your plastic surgery will be fine. This can be easily checked, with the doctor himself or by contacting the Board directly and ask about the plastic surgeon's status. Some examples of bad plastic surgery that may surprise you:

Plastic & cosmetic surgery gone wrong

Sylvester Stalone and his mother are the best examples of a bad plastic surgery and bad cosmetic surgery. And if it happened to them, it can happened to you too. You should always be careful with your plastic surgeon and with what your body can take. There are limits you should not cross. Another example of a bad plastic surgery is Donatella Versace.

Plastic & cosmetic surgery gone wrong

That's why Dear reader you are strongly recommend to doing such kind of surgery always take longer to think what you going to do surgery with your body. To grow old is one thing, but to grow old in dignity is totally different. Something like this makes you wonder what kind of consequences this has on a person. How hard is it actually to be a victim of bad plastic surgery?

Plastic & cosmetic surgery gone wrong

Maybe pop star Pete Burns can tell us more about that. He is suing his plastic surgeon over a botched attempt to remove lip implants. He is also one of the victim now he think had such a bad feeling about plastic surgery that will influence to the people, all he can get is money, but his looks will never be like before. That is the result forever ruined by a bad plastic surgery. He won't be able to back his Beauty. Your health should be always at first, so be careful when choosing your plastic surgeon.To avoid being a bad plastic surgery statistic, check the doctor that will operate you and don't rush into anything never hurry to doing plastic surgery sometome that will be the bad for you aslike you dive into the swiming pool where is no water. Please take your time to do something properly, that should be your guide in attempt to have a good private and business life. Don't be a victim of bad plastic surgeries. Don't water your time, money and your Beauty.

Dear Blog readers... depend upon some real facts some time plastic surgury can be harmful for us. By reading above person't experience was bad influence about plastic surgery It is not important that why do you want a plastic surgery, what is important is that there are some risks involved that you should know any kind of plastic or cosmetic surgery before going through with any procedure. It is one of the example of people influenced by bad plastic surgery ever.

Sex Change Surgery Operation during a surgery - rare images/pictures/photos

Dear Blog Readers...

Following images are from a male to female sex reassignment procedure Images (SRS). This has proven that the various procedure involved during an operation. Every surgeons has differnet methods to perform the gender/transgender or transsexual change surgery operation. However patient's safety is utterly crucial at any cost.

Viewer Discretion is advised

 

See more picture here >>>>

Dear Readers !! after all, sex change surgery (Sexually reassignment Surgery operation) runs the risk of infection, bleeding, and a need to return for repairs. This type of sex change surgery (SRS) is irreversible, so the patient must have no doubts about accepting the results otherwise you are just putting yourself in danger.

To be honest, my dear readers, I think based on some factual situation what people with positive concern about Gender Identity Disorder in terms of sex change surgery (SRS) have to go through on a regular basis. NO more plastic surgical procedure is going to be pretty or as they plan, but at least this will leave someone with a much happier life for the rest of their time. Therefore, please be aware of any negative consequences and seek genuine professional people for appropriate sex change surgery operation. When you have professionals with better knowledge, experiences and equipment with best technology, there are less changes that gender change surgery would go wrong. Hence one should not be regret or misken to damage of their organ or waste money and time. At last, please do not go for cheap plastic surgery as we can find on the internet. They are offering on various methods to pay for the cost. It is your responsibility to research about the provider, consult with your family or friends and if possible inquire to testimonials otherwise you severely damage your own beautiful body organ which is rarely people restore.

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How sex Change Surgery Gone Wrong in India? & Why?

Want to know about some fact about SRS?

Castration is illegal in India, and Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) is legally ambiguous. Therefore, those who wish to undergo a sex change surgery operation (SRS) have to go to private clinics, and sometimes suffer physical and mental trauma because the process is often incomplete especially in India. The cost of the operation is very high there (around 45 lakhs Indian Rupees). As an alternative, the Hirja Community (one of the Indian Community in India) has devised 'nirvana', a process of castration done in the traditional way.

wrong-sex-change-surgery-picture(vagina)

 The physical completion of one's sexual identity is one of the most critical aspects of a transgender's experience. Christy Raj, our Community Correspondent in Bangalore, is intimately acquainted with the sufferings and difficulties attached to normal Sex reassignment surgery (SRS) procedures which led to complications. Numerous friends of his have been through it, and he himself hopes to be able to undergo the surgery one day, albeit under better circumstances. The transgender community for sex change reassignment is still discriminated against massively in India, and there is total ignorance amongst the public of their needs.

sex change surgery gone wrong (SRS) penis

 Legalisation of sex change surgery (SRS) would provide this surgery and its accompanying counseling at subsidized rates for the working class community. A proper sex reassignment SRS not only consists of a surgical operation. It also includes counseling, before and after the operation, hormonal treatment to enhance the physical changes, and a medical follow-up, to prevent the risks attached to the surgical intervention. But when the intervention is carried out in private clinics, transgender patients hardly receive any of these, and are left vulnerable to various infections, medical complications, and post-intervention psychological distress. To improve his community's situation, Christy Raj is engaged in Sangama, an NGO that provides support for the counseling process. He also belongs to an activist network that lobbies the government to subsidized the surgery, as is the case in Tamil Nadu. He has numerous friends who have undergone sex change surgery (SRS) and now lead happy lives, ultimately at peace with their gender identity. He hopes that his video will help improve the situation of the transgender community, and eventually grant them the right to fully choose their sexual identity. 

Here is one of the patient's Story about Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and some difficulties about the situations
Story-1

My name is Prapha, 26 years old. I am female to male transgender. i have done the Sex Reassignent surgery (SRS). In india SRS surgery is not legal. and this poses a big problems for the community. i just would like to explain how i did SRS in spite of its illegal in the country. i have had alot of health problems after the SRS surgery because it wasn't perform properly. its not just about surgery but counseling is also necessary before and after SRS surgery. my first underwent castration in 2003-04. i did my vaginal surgery in Bangalore it was an unsuccessful process and i fail to get proper medicare afterwards. i couldn't go back to ask what had gone wrong, and i couldn't even file a case because its against the law. the entire procedure ended up costing me about 2 to 3 lakh (about US $7000) this included vaginal surgery, breast enhancement harmonal injections etc. i was generally confused about the SRS process. because it was not legal. i had to get it done privately and spend a lot of money. at the end, i want our government to legalise sex reassignment SRS and provide free surgeries for the transgender community.

More videos about sex change surgery for male to female reassignment (M2F-SRS) click here.
Or for more picture about female to male gender change surgery (F2M-SRS) please follow this link.  

NB:Please don't forget to drop your valuable comment to share your personal experience, opinion or any new information, that helps others or may benefit to many people pertaining gender/sex change surgery.

What preventative measure or warning people ought to identify for Male to Female (M2F) Gender change surgery?

Basically, i got this whole information from http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Warning.html and i think that will help enough to my blog reader who is condiniously seeking for negetive or positive impact before and after they proceed for Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS). hopefully it will help those people who is facing / struggling with SRS.

What if you "succeed" in completing a TS transition,
but did it for the wrong reasons?

In the large majority of cases, transsexual (TS) transitions work out well over the long-term, as we've seen in the many stories documented in Lynn's Transsexual Women's Successes page. However, in some cases a complete TS transition may totally fail to meet very unrealistic expectations, and way too late the transitioner may realize that undergoing sex reassignment surgery (SRS) was a BIG mistake.

In Lynn's TS Informational pages, we discussed some of the social risks that face TG and TS transitioners. In the SRS information page, we discussed some of the medical risks of the surgery itself. Here in this page, we focus on the risks involved in undergoing SRS in cases where the overall rationale for transition and/or for undergoing SRS is questionable.

Some examples of "wrong reasons" and wrong situations for undergoing SRS are (i) efforts to become a center of attention and live a "sexy life", (ii) thinking it will "automatically turn oneself into a woman" in others' eyes, (iii) deciding to become a woman on a whim (for example, in the midst of a mid-life crisis), (iv) doing it for autosexual "thrills", (v) doing it while suffering from preexisting serious mental conditions unrelated to GID (depression, bi-polar conditions,...), etc.

Regrets and adjustment difficulties seem to occur especially frequently in the cases of older intense crossdressers and sexual fetishists whose drive to transition is based primarily on male sexual feelings and habits. These individuals will gradually lose their male libidinous responses to their new female body as time passes after the removal of their testicles during SRS. This loss of libidinous rewards, combined with accumulating practical, social and emotional difficulties in postoperative life, can lead to serious long-term adjustment difficulties for those who've "made a mistake". (This effect is quite different from the experiencing of a heightened female libido and improvements in lovemaking capability that occur in many other postoperative TS cases).

The bottom line here is that EXTREME CAUTION is advised if you are unsure of your motives for SRS.

Examples of cases of "regrets":

Following are stories of people who have experienced regrets and have openly talked about their particular regrets. We can learn a lot from such cases, which help clarify the nature and validity of this serious warning:

Renée Richards


Dani Bunten Berry


Sandra MacDougall


Samantha Kane


Renée Richards

First consider the case of Renée Richards, who transitioned and had SRS in 1975 at age 40, and who was widely outed the next year as the "transsexual tennis player". Renee's story was widely reported in the media, and her story initially did a lot of good by announcing to a new generation of young TS girls that "sex change was possible", just as Christine Jorgensen's case had done in the mid-1950's. In 1983, she went on to write an autobiography about her transition entitled "Second Serve", which stimulated further notoriety about her situation and about transsexualism in general, especially regarding whether postop women should be allowed to participate as women in competitive sports.

Unfortunately, the extensive publicity about Renée's "sex change", publicity which she largely brought on herself, generated a widespread public image of her as a "transsexual" rather than a woman. The mystique surrounding her case widely propagated the image that postop women are not women after all, but are instead whatever "Renée Richards" is.

Part of Renée's problem with public acceptance, and possibly (though unconsciously) with her own inner self-acceptance, was undoubtedly her unusual facial structure. She had a very feminine, well-toned and attractive body, and must have thought of herself as being very beautiful. She sought media attention at every turn, and her photos were widely disseminated. Unfortunately, she never seemed to realize that she had a very prominent male brow-bulge and large male jaw and chin. Back in the 1970's and 80's, few transsexual women were aware that such features gave off powerful male gender cues, causing unease in other people without those people quite knowing why they felt this reaction (this awareness developed much later, in the 1990's, as people saw the dramatic before/after results of Douglas Ousterhout's pioneering facial feminization;surgeries).

For whatever reasons, including the sports-based notoriety surrounding her name - combined with the wide dissemination of her photographs - people always seemed to think of Renée as a "transsexual" rather than as a woman. This was unlike the situations that had faced other widely known postop women such as Christine Jorgensen and April Ashley, who although facing problems of discrimination were nevertheless quite generally thought of and reacted to as women by most folks, even in those early days.

In the end this may have become a major problem for Renée. Or perhaps as the media attention faded and as social, relational, emotional and physical realities set in, her hopes for an unendingly sexy, exciting life as a center of attention faded too. Whatever the reason, her transition failed to meet even her own expectations, and Renée now acknowledges that she wishes that she had NOT undergone a sex change.







Renee Richards after SRS regret

 "It's not something for somebody in their 40s to do, someone who's had a life as a man, - - - If you're 18 or 20 and never had the kind of (advantages) I had, and you're oriented in that direction, sure, go ahead and make right what nature didn't. But if you're a 45-year-old man and you're an airline pilot and you have an ex-wife and three adolescent kids, you better get on Thorazine or Zoloft or Prozac or get locked up or do whatever it takes to keep you from being allowed to do something like this.''


- Renée Richards, Associated Press, February 1999.

"I wish that there could have been an alternative way, but there wasn't in 1975. If there was a drug that I could have taken that would have reduced the pressure, I would have been better off staying the way I was -- a totally intact person. I know deep down that I'm a second-class woman. I get a lot of inquiries from would-be transsexuals, but I don't want anyone to hold me out as an example to follow. Today there are better choices, including medication, for dealing with the compulsion to crossdress and the depression that comes from gender confusion. As far as being fulfilled as a woman, I'm not as fulfilled as I dreamed of being. I get a lot of letters from people who are considering having this operation...and I discourage them all."

- Renée Richards, "The Liason Legacy", Tennis Magazine, March 1999.

"She calls the 2004 decision of the International Olympic Committee, which allows transsexuals to compete, “a particularly stupid decision"" . . . "Better to be an intact man functioning with 100 percent capacity for everything than to be a transsexual woman who is an imperfect woman.”"

- Renée Richards, as quoted in "The Lady Regrets", New York Times, February 1, 2007

There may also have been even deeper issues in Renée's case, as we learn from her autobiography. Renée had been a long-term intense crossdresser, and had gone back and forth about whether to transition. In one early phase, she went on hormones. Then as self-doubts began to set in, she detransitioned off of hormones and even had her new breasts surgically removed!

Furthermore, Richards had also met with a number of young postop women in Paris, and they had all warned her against transitioning. Those girls confirmed that they themselves were happy being complete women. However, they told her that there were "others who were not so lucky". They told her about "one who was not ready, who did not have the true feminine nature" and who "after the surgery went mad".

In her book Renee says "Then I knew that this was all for my benefit", i.e., that those girls were trying to warn her against transitioning. However, she went on to do it anyways, and ended up having serious regrets.

Unfortunately, Richards now generalizes from her own sad experience and now proclaims that NO one in their 40's or older should transition. Readers should be aware that Richards is totally out of contact with the large community of successful postop women, and has no clue that many later transitioners actually do very well. It is sad to see her generalize in this sweeping way about late transitioners, and to do so in ignorance of the many successes out there.

Nevertheless, Richards' case is a good warning for some older transitioners to consider.

We can speculate further about what might have gone wrong in Renée's case, and better visualize how mistakes can be made, by reading about a more recent case of an intense crossdresser who underwent transsexual transition. Carefully consider the following essay by Dani Bunten Berry, a prominent computer game designer who underwent transsexual transition in 1992 at the age of 43:



Dani Bunten Berry

The following essay by Dani is contained in a memorial website about her career and her gender transition. Dani was a wonderful gal who took full responsibility for her actions and didn't blame (although she questions) others for what happened to her. Her essay contains her own honest and heartfelt words of advice to others who might be inclined to undergo SRS for the wrong reasons, as she did.

Dani was a computer scientist, and was the pioneer of multi-player computer games. She was widely known and greatly respected as a major innovator in her field. Multi-player computer games have become an underpinning for much of modern computer-collaboration technology, and thus her work has had a great impact on computing in general. For more about Dani, see the March 18, 2003 Salon.com article about Dani and her creative work.

Even though Dani's gender transition went too far in her case, she bravely made the best of it afterwards and found some degree of peace. Sadly, she died of lung cancer in 1998 at the early age of 49, and is no longer here to speak with us directly. We owe Dani a huge debt for leaving us this very candid, deeply personal essay. By being so open and honest about her difficulties after having SRS, she can speak to others and pass on her words of caution long into the future.



Dani Bunten Berry 1949 - 1998

 "Special Note to Those Thinking About a Sex Change,


by Danielle Berry

[Compiled from a number of emails I sent in response to requests for input from those considering their own change.]

Don't do it! That's my advice. This is the most awful, most expensive, most painful, most disruptive thing you could ever do. Don't do it unless there is no other alternative. You may think your life is tough but unless it's a choice between suicide and a sex-change it will only get worse. And the costs keep coming. You lose control over most aspects of your life, become a second class citizen and all so you can wear women's clothes and feel cuter than you do now. Don't do it is all I've got to say.

That's advice I wish someone had given me. I had the sex change, I "pass" fine, my career is good but you can't imagine the number of times I've wished I could go back and see if there was another way. Despite following the rules and being as honest as I could with the medical folks at each stage, nobody stopped me and said "Are you honest to God absolutely sure this is the ONLY path for you?!" To the contrary, the voices were all cheerfully supportive of my decision. I was fortunate that the web didn't exist then - there are too damn many cheerleaders ready to reassure themselves of their own decision by parading their "successful" surgeries and encouraging others.

I can speak the transgender party line that I was a female trapped in a male body and I remember feeling this way since I was 4. But, it's never that easy if you look at it sincerely and without preconception. There's little question that a mid-life crisis, a divorce and a cancer scare were involved in at least the timing of my sex-change decision. To be completely honest at this point (3 yrs post-op) is not easy, however, I'm not sure I would do it again. I'm now concerned that much of what I took as a gender dysfunction might have been nothing more than a neurotic sexual obsession. I was a cross-dresser for all of my sexual life and had always fantasized going fem as an ultimate turn-on. Ironically, when I began hormone treatment my libido went away. However, I mistook that relief from sexual obsession for validation of my gender change. Then in the final bit of irony, after surgery my new genitals were non-orgasmic (like 80% of my TG sisters).

So, needless to say, my life as a woman is not an ultimate turn-on. And what did it all cost? Over $30,000 and the loss of most of my relationships to family and friends. And the costs don't end. Every relationship I make now and in the future has to come to terms with the sex-change. And I'm not the only one who suffers. I hate the impact this will have on my kids and their future.

Anyway, I'm making it sound awful and it's not. There are some perks but the important things like being comfortable with myself and having a true love in my life don't seem like they were contingent on the change. Being my "real self" could have included having a penis and including more femininity in whatever forms made sense. I didn't know that until too late and now I have to make the best of the life I've stumbled into. I just wish I would have tried more options before I jumped off the precipice. I miss my easy access to my kids (unlike many TS's I didn't completely lose access to them though), I miss my family and old friends (I know they "shouldn't" have abandoned me but lots of folks aren't as open minded as they "should" be ... I still miss them) and finally, I hate the disconnect with my past (there's just no way to integrate the two unrelated lives). There's any number of ways to express your gender and sexuality and the only one I tried was the big one. I'll never know if I could have found a compromise that might have worked a lot better than the "one size fits all" sex-change. Please, check it out yourself before you do likewise."

- Danielle Berry -


What we learn from Dani's candid essay is that both she and her counselors ignored, or were unaware of, key warning flags. She lost her (male) libido when she began taking estrogen, without any heightening of any female libidinous feelings. This was a predictor that she might possibly become inorgasmic postop. Her comments that CD's/TG's transition "so you can wear women's clothes and feel cuter than you do now" and that "I was a cross-dresser for all of my sexual life and had always fantasized going fem as an ultimate turn-on" reveal that her motive for transition was a male CD sexual turn-on. Her loss of orgasmic capability postop proved to be an especially cruel outcome of her search for an "ultimate turnon".

Dani was left with all the usual difficulties of gender transition, but gained none of the profound benefits felt by many postop women. This is an all-too-common result among the recent spate of late-onset transitions. Dani's guess that 80% of CD's/TG's end up inorgasmic IF they undergo SRS may be about right - whereas the reverse is likely true of those who are intensely TS (follow-ups indicate that a majority of early-transitioning TS's are orgasmic postop).
Dani would threfore have been much better advised by her counselors to undergo FFS to correct her very masculine facial structure and then quietly undertake a TG social transition. She could have taken hormones, undergone electrolysis, changed her social gender and name and ID's, and lived as a woman - but NOT had sex reassignment surgery. She would undoubtedly been far happier, and as a prettier woman would have encountered a better social reaction to her gender transition. She could have also continued to enjoy her male autosexual transvestic practices. Tragically, this option wasn't visualized and presented to her in 1992.

Sandra MacDougall


The stories of Renee and Dani are not isolated instances. There have been many TS transition failures in recent years. Ever-increasing numbers of late-transitioning intense CD's and self-proclaimed "autogynephiles" are getting letters of consent from careless counselors and then unwisely undergo SRS, without being fully prepared to live as women and without having clear notions of the other options available to them.

For example, see the 4/28/02 Scotsman.com news story about Sandra (Ian) MacDougall (49), entitled the "Torment of sex change soldier trapped in a woman’s body" (more)

Sandra (Ian) MacDougall SRS

"The former member of the Scots Guards says she has suffered verbal and physical abuse since her sex swap operation almost four years ago, and wishes it could be reversed. But MacDougall now finds herself trapped in a woman’s body after she consulted doctors and was told the operation could never be reversed.

MacDougall, who has not had a relationship since going under the knife and expects to be celibate for the rest of her life, has now decided to make the best of her hard-won gender. She said: "Since I had the operation my life has been made a misery by people taunting me whenever I go out."

From the context of the article, it seems clear that Sandra is an intense CD (she has "more than 80 dresses, bags of makeup, and a whole cupboard full of shoes"). It is also clear that she (i) wasn't prepared or emotionally ready for social transition, (ii) had no idea how people were going to react to her afterwards given her lack of preparedness, and (iii) apparently somehow thought that undergoing SRS was going to magically do what she herself had not yet done by other means - i.e., change her social persona and apparent social gender to female.

As a result, her life has been totally miserable ever since undergoing SRS. She doesn't pass and everyone in her community makes fun of her. She never has, and never again will have, sex. She desperately wishes she "could go back", but there's no way to reverse the surgery.
Sandra's best option at this point might be to de-transition socially and hormonally (return to the male role and go back on testosterone), but she doesn't seem to be aware of that option either. Total transition failures of this type should serve as extreme warning signals to intensely fetishistic crossdressers (and to those who self-identify as "autogynephiles", i.e., as sexual paraphilics, according to their therapists) who are considering undergoing SRS.

Samantha Kane

Then we have those who "change sex" on a whim and have the financial means to do so, then afterwards have regrets and sue everyone in sight who "did this to them" - while not taking any responsibility whatsoever for their own actions.
For example, consider the case of "Samantha Kane", and then think about the damage that this impulsive person has done to himself and about the harm he is now doing to trans women everywhere by his irresponsible actions - both in transitioning and then in lashing out as those who tried to help him in the first place.

"Sam, as he was"



"Samantha, as he erm was?"





"Charles, as he is today!!!"

"Samantha Kane was, by anyone's standards, a hugely successful woman. She ran her own interior design company; was independent, modern and extraordinarily beautiful. She had a top of-the-range Mercedes, homes in West London and Spain and accounts at Knightsbridge's most exclusive boutiques. Her name made her sound like a character in Dynasty - and her feline looks would certainly have qualified her to be one.
She rubbed shoulders with the likes of the Crown Prince of Dubai, ran with the international set in Monte Carlo and Cannes and shared her bed with a number of fabulously wealthy men.


But something inside Samantha hated being a woman. She found the conversation superficial and the sex second rate. She loathed shopping, disliked gossip and fretted over the endless maintenance of her face and figure. In short, Samantha Kane desperately missed being one of the boys.


For Samantha used to be Sam, a millionaire with a property empire and a husband with two children. As Iraqi-born Sam Hashimi, he brokered million-dollar deals for Middle Eastern businessmen and flared briefly in newspapers when he launched an unsuccessful takeover bid for Sheffield United FC.


Following the first Gulf War, Sam's business empire collapsed and his marriage ended. At 37, seemingly out of the blue, he decided to become a woman.




He had a sex change operation in December 1997 and spent close to £60,000 on surgery - including £10,000 on genital surgery and £3,000 on breast implants.


Within four years of the operation, Sam realised 'he'd' made a dreadful mistake and has begun the painful process of having more surgery to return to being a man again!.


He was in the headlines again, claiming his sex change was 'an act against nature'. He has reported his doctor, consultant psychiatrist Russell Reid ... to the General Medical Council alleging he had a `cavalier attitude' in recommending him for the gender realignment surgery.


He registered officially as Charles a month ago, wanting to put as much distance as he could between Sam and Samantha.


He cuts a poignant figure of a man. Charles is dressed in a pin-stripe suit and pink tie - an amalgam of man and woman. His hands are soft with clean, shaped nails. He walks and sits in the manner of a woman, but uses the men's lavatories.


He has no facial growth and little male muscle. He says it took four years of hormone treatment and surgery to feminise his body completely. It will take as much time again to return it to manhood. But Charles will never be as Sam was. His genitals will be re-constructed by plastic surgery. His body will never naturally produce testosterone and he will never again grow a beard.
Charles cannot give a convincing reason for becoming a woman. He says he was suffering from a nervous breakdown when gender change was recommended and that he should have been referred for counselling not surgery.


'I was a traditional male. I was strong and tough in business and the provider for my family. My wife Trudi had never worked a day of her life. I shouldered the complete financial responsibility for her and the children,' he says.


'She'd think nothing of going shopping and spending a few thousand pounds on a dress. I always used to wonder what it would be like to be a woman, to have none of the responsibility I had, to have doors opened for me and have all the privileges a woman seems to have.' Until his breakdown, he was thoroughly heterosexual; a conventional, grey-suited businessman with short dark hair and a moustache.


Born in Baghdad to middle-class parents, he moved to England at 17 where he secured an HND in engineering and married Trudi, a former beauty queen, at 23. He built a property empire, negotiated deals for wealthy Arabs and ran a club in Mayfair. At one time, he says, he had £2 million in the bank.


'I was like any other man,' he says. 'I worked hard and did pretty much what I liked. I enjoyed spending time with men talking about football, the stock market and, of course, girls. I think my sex drive was above average. I had one or two affairs during my marriage..."




=================================


BBC1, Tuesday 19th October 2004 1035pm


=================================

After the failure of his business and departure of his wife and children, Sam Hashimi took the drastic decision to undergo surgery to become a woman.

It was only later that the ex-millionaire realised he had made a terrible mistake. As he prepares for the final stage of a sex-change reversal, Hashimi wonders if he will be accepted as a fully fledged male.



Documentaries about people undergoing sex-reassignment are extremely common these days. But this one is quite extraordinary. It follows Samantha, a wealthy 44 year old property developer who was born a man (and as Sam was married for ten years and had two children), but who seven years ago had a sex-change operation.



Now - and here's the twist - Samantha wants to become Charles and is on the brink of having another sex-change operation to turn her back into a male again. "I was robbed of my manhood for so many years" explains Sam/Samantha/Charles, ignoring the fact that it was his/her decision to undergo surgery.



While Charles waits for the final bit of reconstructive surgery, we see him getting into an hysterical state about an expensive yacht he's buying (and which he hopes may help him find a girlfriend). In a way it's yet another example of how he rushes into things without thinking about the consequences.



It's obvious that he's a complex person who's extremely confused about what he wants, but you'll still sit open-mouthed that anyone can make radical life-changing decisions like this on a whim.



Summary:

It is clear that you must be very, very honest with yourself about "why" you need to transition, and whether a TS transition (including SRS) will meet your inner hopes, aspirations and expectations over the long term. No one else can know your inner feelings of "why you need to do this", and no one else can predict how competent you might be at doing this. It is VERY important to be brutally realistic with yourself about your motives, capabilities and expectations before committing to a complete transsexual transition. So do be careful and think long and hard about the above warnings.

Listen to your heart and to your body, and don't let perceived social pressures force you into something you'll regret. If you really enjoy your male sexuality preop (especially male "mounting, thrusting and penetrating" urges), then you are unlikely to develop and enjoy a female sexuality after a TS transition. Instead you may simply regret losing your male sexuality, and that will be such a turn-off that you may become sexually "cold". If you think this is a possibility, you should seriously consider TG social transition without undergoing SRS.

Furthermore, those at risk for very difficult social transitions should realize that SRS will not in and of itself somehow miraculously "make them a woman in other people's eyes". After all, the only people who see your genitalia are those whom you are intimate with (and your physicians, etc.) and thus SRS by itself will not affect the general reactions of those around you. In cases where serious difficulties are expected in social transition, it might be wise to give FFS priority over SRS, because FFS has a much more profound effect on the reactions of others to one's transition.
Suddenly transitioning and then undergoing SRS on a whim is an especially bad idea, no matter how much money, influence, or power one has with which to make it happen. Seek counseling instead. Learn about the alternatives. Slow it down. Listen to the advice of Dani Berry and reflect on the case of Samantha Kane above.
However, if you feel a very deep need to be a female in body-sex as well as in social-gender, and especially if you feel a deep need to fully express your female sensuality in intimacy and lovemaking, then transsexual transition and SRS may be right for you.