Face Feminization Surgery or FFS for short, is a facial reconstruction procedure used to give a masculine face a more feminine appearance. It encompasses a broad range of systems designed to alter typical male features bringing them closer to a characteristic female feature. Some of the masculine features developed include various bony and soft tissues such as brows, nose, lips, forehead, cheek, and jawline.
Features in the upper third of the face seem to be the most important, and various procedures such as brow lift, rhinoplasty, and cheek implantation are included in face feminization surgery. However, subtle changes in the lips, such as lip augmentation can have a significant effect.
What
to Expect in Face Feminization Surgery
Facial feminization surgery might include;
1. Forehead contouring: Bony ridge above women’s eyes socket is less pronounced. The outlines of the forehead tend to be higher, smoother, and more vertical. Part of forehead bone can be cut, removed, reshaped, and fixed back in place to achieve this look.
2. Eye and lid modification: Here, excess tissues are cut away from the upper eyelids.
3. Cheek Augmentation: This procedure is done to achieve the prominent round cheeks women have in the middle third of their face. Cheek augmentation can be performed by breaking and moving the cheekbones into a different position. A different way is by taking fat from a separate part of the body and placing it in the cheeks to alter its size and shape.
4. Nose Reshaping: This procedure involves reducing the size of the nose and its angles for transgender women.
5. Lip lift and Augmentation: This procedure involves the use of implants to achieve a typical shorter and more curled female lip.
Some other procedures to expect are; Mandibular angle reduction, Genioplasty, Tracheal shave, Lowering the hairline, and Hair transplantation.
Definitive results after this surgery might take up to a year to appear. Face Feminization Surgery can be an essential part of gender transition that can dramatically improve the quality of life in mtfs.
In a quest to live happier lives, and make their bodies more congruent with their gender identity; some transgender people undergo specific medical treatments. There is an overwhelming consensus in the medical community that transition-related care is medically necessary for any Trans individual. While this care is considered life-saving and even critical for many trans people, not everyone needs medical care to live their desired life. There are various medical treatments do trans people available based on individual needs, and in this blog post, we will be exploring hormone therapy.
Hormone Therapy
Hormone therapy for Trans people causes the development of many of the secondary sexual characteristics of their desired sex. Even so, this therapy cannot reverse many of their existing primary and secondary sexual features. For instance, Hormone Therapy can induce breast growth for MTF, but can only slightly reduce breast for FTM. It can prompt facial hair growth for trans men but cannot regress facial hair for MTF, and so on. However, hormone therapy can reverse some secondary characteristics, such as the distribution of body fat, muscle, and even menstruation in trans men.
Masculinizing Treatments
For Trans men, practitioners use testosterone therapy for masculinizing treatments. Some of its effects can be increased muscle mass, hair loss, thicker vocal cords, and thicker skin. In contrast, estrogen and anti-androgen therapy are used for feminizing treatments. Estrogen alone is insufficient to suppress androgen, and this explains the call for anti-androgen medications.
In general, surgery is required to obtain satisfactory physical characteristics in most trans people. Upon cessation of hormonal treatment, those traits reverse unless chemical or surgical castration has occurred. However, in trans men, some hormonally-induced changes may become virtually irreversible within weeks. Trans women, on the other hand, usually have to take hormones for many months before they can see any irreversible change.
Conclusion
Different transgender people may need different types of transition-related care. For more information on other medical procedures available, see our blog on Chest Reconstruction Surgery and Face Feminization Surgery.