laser

Final laser appointment

On Wednesday I had what I hope is my final laser hair removal appointment for my face, legs, and chest. I am so close to having my hair reduced to what is normal for most cis women after spending thousands of dollars out of pocket for “cosmetic” dysphoria treatments. This time I paid $1,400 just for one session.

As I was sitting there, gritting through the pain, I was really struck by how much pain and expense trans people have to go through just to treat dysphoria because we went through the wrong puberty. A puberty which is totally unnecessary with modern technology. I really wish more parents could believe their kids and more doctors would be willing to prescribe puberty blockers to teens. It really would save so much money and pain in the long run.

Despite how much it has cost, I am really glad I had the privilege to get that done. When I first shaved my beard, the dysphoria from the stubble was absolutely overwhelming, even when freshly shaved. I can barely stand to look at pictures from that time unless I was wearing a lot of concealer foundation because the whole color of my skin was off. Now I can shave the few remaining hairs once a week and hopefully not even that now that I’ve had my final session. If I have more hairs pop up later, I can get a couple hours of electrolysis to finish it off.

Shaving off my beard was so scary for me because of that phase I had to go through. And there are days when I can really admire how stunning it looked in contrast with my femme presentation. But overall I am really glad I look more overtly feminine now. Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better but I am so glad to be past that part.

Bottom Surgery is still a Go!

I’ve been on edge ever since this pandemic started because I have been so worried that my bottom surgery this summer would be postponed. But today I got confirmation that I can re-start laser hair removal to prep the area this weekend. And based on what the surgeon’s office has said, I think I should still be able to get enough of it in by July 29th to head down to San Francisco for my August 3rd gender confirmation surgery.

I’ve changed my plans and instead of staying with a friend-of-a-friend, I will be staying in an Airbnb so that we can maintain social isolation. My spouse and I will also be driving down instead of flying because as asthmatics, airports are a pretty big risk. And I don’t know what the visitors policies will be like at the hospital during my 3 days there after surgery. But damn am I glad that it is still happening.

Lately all the little things have been bothering me because my body just can’t wait to get this finally resolved. I am grumpy about having to use my hands to pee. And I hate everything about my balls. But it is only 68 days away now! I am almost there.

First surgery prep laser

I had my first laser hair removal session on my genitals today to begin prepping for bottom surgery. I’ve been dreading it all week because it is so extremely painful when I do it on my face that I assumed it would be even worse on such a sensitive area. But I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t know if it’s because the numbing cream works better on the thinner skin (it did last longer), or because it is a wider dispersal laser head but it was a breeze and over really quickly. It honestly hurt a lot less than waxing or sugaring.

Turns out the worst part of laser down there is the shaving. It is a pain in the ass (literally) to try to get it all and the aesthetician still  had to clean it up. I recommend having a friend or partner help you shave. The other part that sucks is the insurance approval process which took me three months of pestering.

But session 1 is finally over. I have 6 more months of doing this every 6 weeks and hopefully it is enough for surgery. I’m also going to finish laser treatments on my face since I had to stop because it is expensive to pay out of pocket ($300 every 6 weeks). But the stubborn hair patches that have come back are giving me too much dysphoria to keep waiting.

84499459_10157817476009360_8496163687717928960_o

My skeptical face as I wait for the numbing cream to work

Insurance delays

Medical and insurance gatekeeping of essential gender affirming treatments is exhausting!

It has taken me 3 months to get all the approvals from my insurance lined up so that I can get genital hair removal, an essential step before bottom surgery. This is despite them claiming in their own documentation that these procedures are covered for trans people. And before I could even begin that approval process, I had to get 2 letters from psychiatrists, one of whom had to be PhD level.

Because of this nonsense, I’m not going to be in ideal shape for surgery by August. Hopefully my surgeon can successfully remove the rest with follicle scraping while I’m under.

Oh, and the only way I even got insurance to finally respond was by having my HR person at work badger the insurance company on my behalf.

Dysphoric Bandaid Beard

There are times when I wish I still had my beard. In a lot of ways it was like a security blanket for me, allowing me to exist without having to constantly focus on my dysphoria around shaving and my chin shape. When I first grew it of course I had no idea what dysphoria was or why I hated my face so much, but I used it as a crutch for 12 years.

When I made the decision last fall to get rid of the beard, I knew that my dysphoria would get worse before it got better. And it most definitely has. It is starting to get better now that my growth rate and amount of active hair follicles have been reduced from laser therapy and electrolysis, but the first few months were hell.

Ultimately, the reason I chose to shave was because I chose to believe that it could be better eventually. That somewhere down the road I could be happier and less dysphoric than the low level that I was at with my beard. Sometimes it is hard to see through the high level of dysphoria I have now to that hope that I held for a better future. But I have to keep reminding myself that transition is just a stage in my life and the point of it is to pass through it to emerge from my cocoon as the beautiful butterfly I am.

I am lucky to be surrounded by wonderful people who constantly tell me how beautiful I am at every step along the way. But the thing is, attractiveness feels good but it doesn’t alleviate dysphoria. Dysphoria and dysmorphia aren’t the same thing. The only way to treat dysphoria is by addressing the medical and social needs around gender affirmation. Words alone can’t cut it. But luckily we live in an age where we have plastic surgeons who know what they are doing and are constantly refining the process to create and re-form the body parts that we need.

Thanks to a new trans friend for the title of this blog post and some of the thinking behind it. Maybe someday I’ll make the queer band to match.