The thread on the poor person who suicided post op popped a question into my mind.
I know that there are procedures where they grow new body parts on an arm, leg or even face in the case of an ear or nose [and the use of an attached flap to create a new nose was even done over a thousand years ago in India!]
If they are creating a new penis, they currently flip the vagina inside out [more or less] but I have issues on seeing how that would really work all that well. The skin inside is pretty delicate and it hurts to dry it out [wearing a tampon more than a couple hours if not menstruating can do it] so I can not see how it would be that good an idea. Would it not be a better option to grow an area on the inner thigh by inserting a cylindrical bladder for saline that could be used to stretch a section of skin and muscle tissue to shape into a penis and the scrotal sack from a section of the external labia? Perhaps make a foreskin and use some of the vaginal vault membrane under the foreskin?
I am thinking that seeing the new parts being created slowly and gently might help psychologically transition them better?
Well, yes, I think a tube-like appendage can be made from the thigh, but it’s further complicated by trying to work out a way by which the possessor of said appendage can continue to enjoy sex utilizing the nerves specialized for sexual pleasure. A thigh-penis is going to be as sexy as sticking a finger into an orifice. Yes, there is an aspect of pleasure involved but it’s not on the same level as sticking a functional penis into an orifice.
Honestly, I don’t know much about FtM bottom surgery, other than the results are not as satisfactory as MtF bottom surgery given our current techniques, and it’s not usual for a transman to forgo bottom surgery.
My curiosity would be quite pleased if someone with more detailed knowledge could enlighten us.
Tom Beattie, a female-to-male transsexual who later carried a child to term, states that taking testosterone enlarged his clitoris until he was able to make love with it. While he had his breasts removed, he didn’t have any genital surgery.
How functional are FtM surgically constructed genitalia?
I am sure they could construct something that would erect (I used to know an engineer who made pumps they could implant so men could get erections), but could they orgasm? I suppose ejaculation is not feasible without a prostate.
I don’t mean an enlarged clitoris, I mean a penis that the doctor constructed more or less from scratch.
How common is this outcome? Is it, say, 1 in 10? Because I thought a lot of trans in both directions took their target gender’s dominant hormone for a couple of years prior to the actual surgery. Wouldn’t others commonly have this happen?
I’m poorly skilled at looking up medical literature (outside of WebMD!), or I’d go look myself.
Clitoral tissue is always used in a phalloplasty, so the “more or less from scratch” without existing sensitive, erectile tissue doesn’t actually happen.
An enlarged clitoris is a common side effect of testosterone, but it’s unusual for it to be become big enough that you can use it for penetrative sex. I suspect the guy had an unusually large clitoris before he started hormones.
I’ve heard about that too, and there’s a procedure that frees it from the underlying tissue so it looks even bigger and more realistic.
One of my high school classmates was featured on a Discovery Channel program called “Changing Sexes”, on the f-to-m program. He was described as “Scott, formerly Caroline” and I nearly fell off the couch when he held up his HS graduation picture; I had absolutely no idea. :eek: Anyway, he had insurance coverage that paid for this, and he didn’t feel that he would be a complete man unless he had something he could urinate through, and in his case, his penis was constructed out of skin on his forearm because it’s the least hairy on the body. IDK if they used tissue expanders. He also said he initially regretted it because the surgery was very painful, but after it all healed, he said, “Everything’s in harmony.”
This is also where skin is taken to do reconstructive surgery on men who lost what nature gave them, whether from disease or injury (and this happens more than many people realize; the most common reason is industrial accidents :eek:).
I’ve heard that Chaz Bono does not want “bottom” surgery either. Not long after Chastity announced that she was going to become a man, I saw (self-identified) him interviewed on CNN, and he did say that he had undergone a hysterectomy but that was many years ago and done because of medical issues. He didn’t say if the ovaries had been removed.
There’s also probably variation from person to person on how big is “big enough”. Some might be satisfied by rubbing around in the foyer, while others might want to go further down the hallway, so to speak.
Pretty much all I know is what I read in the Wiki article on phalloplasty, but they give you a pretty detailed description of how the construction process works.
Evidently the “neophallus” (great word!) can be peed through if the patient chooses to have the urethra extended through it. After construction, usually in a separate surgery, it is fitted with an erectible prosthesis.
An accompanying scrotoplasty can be done using the original labia majora for the outside and prosthetic testicles for the inside. The clitoral nerve bundle is attached to the glans of the neophallus.
Apparently the success rate for post-phalloplasty functional penetrative intercourse is about 50%, and a much smaller number of patients report having actual sexual sensitivity in the neopenis. However, AFAICT most post-surgery FtMs report having orgasms, though I don’t have a clear idea of what physiological sensations/involuntary reactions accompany them.
TL;DR version on FtM surgically constructed genitalia:
Resemblance to naturally grown male genitalia can be quite good
Reliable erection via mechanical means
Functional penetrative intercourse less reliable but possible for many
Satisfying orgasm capability and general sexual fulfillment
Results are typically poor to “OK.” Transmen suffer from two problems - first, it’s just physically much more difficult to create a functioning “penis”, and second, the surgery is performed so much less often than for transwomen that the experience record simply isn’t there. For those reasons none of the transmen I know have had bottom surgery.
There are some partway techniques. Under heavy testosterone use the clitoris can enlarge significantly, in some cases to 3-4 inches and thick, and if a minor bit of surgery cuts it “free” somewhat then penetrative sex is possible.
Under ideal conditions, sex with an enlarged clitoris can be satisfying to both partners, but it can also be too intense for the penetrator. I heard an interview once with a transman who had seen successful growth to about 4 inches, and she put it this way: “ladies, you know how sensitive your little clitoris is? Imagine that same sensitivity spread over a hundred times the area. I have to use numbing cream, or else it’s so over-sensitive I can’t do it.”
It’s highly unusual to have something as large as a penis. No good statistics are available to me, and I have thousands of references on transsexual issues. What statistics there are indicates that perhaps 1 in 20 to 1 in 50 could have penetrative sex of some sort, with a very minor bit of surgery needed sometimes to loosen the attachment of the clitoris to the skin around it.
Of the transmen I know very few have any surgery at all, save for breast reduction surgery. Hysterectomies would be the next most-popular surgery. I know of no one personally who has had phalloplasty. Many transmen really “bulk up” on the military-grade testosterone they take, and their breasts shrink so much, and they build up so much muscle via weightlifting and exercise, that the breasts are not really that visible and look like “man boobs,” save for the large nipples. Surgery to shrink the nipples is not often done without some breast reduction coincident.
In my community we call it the give and take. Transmen can pass and go deep stealth much, much more easily than transwomen. My T-dar, being a transsexual woman, is pretty damn good, and I rarely am unable to pick out another transwoman. But transmen…I was once in a whole room of them, and I couldn’t have told to save my life any of them was not born physically male. In fact, they were so male they made me nervous being the only woman in there with them, an instinctive reaction.
Then again, we transwomen have the advantage that SRS is much easier, cheaper, and more successful. It’s now the norm for transwomen to be fully functional and orgasmic, sometimes multiply orgasmic, during penetrative or other sex. After a few years past surgery and continuing on hormones, some of the cells in the new vagina actually become female cells like you would find in a “real” vagina, and capable of some lubrication. One of my best friends says she now can get “wet” all on her own, 4 years after surgery (the things that get blurted out when one has too many black Russians…)
