On Surgeons

I've had a couple of people recently ask me about my choice of Dr. McGinn for my surgery. Choosing a surgeon for my gender confirmation surgery was quite an ordeal. I was anxious to make a decision as quickly as possible for several reasons including (1) my friend Jani was going to Dr. Suporn in Thailand and if I chose him, we were going to go together, (2) some surgeons have a long waiting list, and (3) some surgeons seem to recommend or require genital electrolysis before surgery and others recommend against it. I was under a lot of pressure to make a decision by around September of last year, because I wanted to get a date and get started on preparations.

So I scoured the internet for information about SRS surgeons, and I discovered several things:

- There are a handful of surgeons widely considered to be the best in their field.
- There are two basic techniques, with some minor variations by surgeon: the penile inversion and the Suporn technique.
- Almost everything you'll find is either people cheerleading for their surgeon (who is unquestionably the best in their opinion) or people trashing their surgeon due to serious complications they experienced.
- Even though some people have gone to a second surgeon for revisions, nobody has any real idea about how another surgeon's results would have compared to theirs, because you only get one shot at this.

Based on the overall sense I got from people's good vs. bad experiences and the number of cheerleaders for each surgeon, I started with a list of five possible surgeons: Marci Bowers, Toby Meltzer, Dr. Suporn (Suporn's his first name, and what everyone calls him), Christine McGinn, and Pierre Brassard.

I eliminated Dr. Bowers (1 year waiting list -- with the way my company was going I wasn't going to wait a year) and Dr. Meltzer (way more expensive than the others, and I didn't find anything that justified this). Brassard and McGinn both seemed like great choices from all I had read, and Brassard was recommended to me by my endocrinologist. Suporn has a cult following and a significantly different technique that he invented. McGinn had the advantage of being a 3-hour drive from my house and of being trans (as is Bowers). I definitely liked the idea of having a surgeon who's been through this herself.

All of these surgeons had excellent scouting reports on the various message boards and groups. Suporn's followers were actually a bit overly fanatical. I briefly joined a Yahoo group for patients of Dr. Suporn to ask about the advantages and disadvantages of his technique. When I posted questions, I got back was a mix of useful information, advantages that didn't apply to me, and replies berating me for even considering not going to Suporn. I distilled it all down to this: Suporn's technique is probably the best option if you have a small penis and want to be able to have penetrative sex with men. I couldn't really get a convincing answer to the question, "okay, but what advantages does Suporn have if you don't have a small penis?" A chance to have a fun an adventure in Thailand and a lifetime guarantee on his work seemed to be the gist of it. I wasn't in this for the vacation, though, and a lifetime guarantee isn't so great when I have to fly halfway around the world for revisions. Airfare's not included in that guarantee.

I was still leaning towards Suporn anyway, though, because he did seem to have a great track record and going through it with Jani would have been nice. In the end, though, I decided against the Thailand option after talking to my friend Jessica. Her thoughts were that Suporn's method is more invasive, requires longer recovery time, and I wouldn't get any more depth from it anyway, since I aparently had no shortage of material to work with. This was kind of news to me, since I always thought that I had kind of a below-average sized penis, but it turns out that most of the other boys in high school were probably lying or measuring wrong (note: you're supposed to measure along the top). I decided that depth wouldn't be a problem for me with either technique, but the penile inversion seemed safer and more likely to produce good sensation (I found no data on this, but I figured less invasive means fewer nerves lost). Plus, there was no real need to fly to Thailand, and complications could leave me stranded a long way from home for quite a while. That narrowed it down to Brassard and McGinn.

In the end, I chose Dr. McGinn after going up and meeting with her in person. I'd read as much as I could find about her in advance. It seemed like people really liked the results they got with her and she had an excellent reputation, but the same was true for Brassard. She didn't have as much experience working on her own as the other surgeons on my list, but people seemed to agree that her skills were top-notch. Plus, she confirmed for me when we met what I'd pretty much already decided, that among the list of top surgeons, there were really no bad choices. She never tried to convince me that she was better than the others, only that they are all very highly skilled and none of them could guarantee I wouldn't have complications. McGinn seemed honest and forthright, and has a great reputation. Good enough for me.

Now that I'm three weeks post-op, I'm still very happy with my choice of Dr. McGinn. She's lived up to her reputation. So far, I'm happy with my results cosmetically, with sensation and with depth. Those were the main factors I was interested in going into this surgery. I'm still swollen a bit, but things are healing nicely. I'm sure I could have gotten great results with any of the surgeons I'd originally considered, but I'm glad I went with Dr. McGinn. She's been great. The results are great (I think). She's been very upfront with me throughout the process.

I told my therapist last summer that I wished there were one surgeon out there who cost twice as much as everyone else but who everyone agreed was the best. I'd have gladly justified the extra expense for a better result. But there isn't. The fact that there were lots of good choices made it harder. Most of the stuff on the internet is just people claiming that their surgeon is the best because they had such a great experience and result, which makes it harder still, and confusing because they don't have any idea what how their results would have been with another surgeon. Some of these girls seem like they'd be happy with anything that resulted in them no longer having a penis. It's really hard to read anything into the cheerleaders' comments.

You might think that having no bad choices would make your decision easier, but when the stakes are high, it really makes it stressful. If your results are less than optimal, you'll end up second-guessing yourself for a long time, and nobody really knows who's the best or which technique is the best. I'm happy with my choice of surgeons. I'd pick Dr. McGinn again. Based on my circumstances, she was probably the best choice for me. There are other great surgeons out there, too. That's really all I've got to say about it.