Do I Regret Lower Surgery? Discharged 2 Years Post Metoidioplasty

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Jack's Summary:

Ocean, an English trans man, gives a two year update after having buccal mucosa metoidioplasty. (Note: He has changed his name, as discussed in this video.)

He briefly describes the process thus far, which involves having a graft taken from inside his mouth, and using that graft to lengthen the growth he experienced with testosterone. In this previous video, he discussed desiring stage two of metoidioplasty, but now clarifies that he has no immediate intentions to undergo further bottom surgery.

"The reason why it got delayed in the first place was because I needed to lose a bit more weight, so that the aesthetics of the penis would look good to the standard of the surgeon," he explains, "I kept going back to the surgeon's office every three months or so, to check in on how my weight loss was going... I was taking up appointments that other people could have had, just to... be told that I still needed to lose weight, and come home feeling bad about myself."

After two years, he was informed that he could no longer access stage two. "I had been discharged from the service, because it had been a year since I'd last seen them... that took me by surprise, because I hadn't been informed... I am not on the system anymore, and if I want to have any more surgery, then I have to go through my GP to ask to be re-referred."

Beyond that barrier to access, assumedly placing him lower on the waitlist all over again, he cites the expectation of weight loss as a key reason for not proceeding, describing the lack of support for sustainable, mentally-safe weight changes. "I don't want to be losing weight for surgery," he states, "I want to be getting healthy for my mental health, and having a balanced lifestyle where I'm not forcing myself to starve, or go through fat diets just to reach a goal to get surgery... and then put weight on right afterwards, because I feel like that would happen if I really rushed to get surgery."

"No, I don't regret it," he says, "But I am happy to wait a little longer, before my next stages."