Is top surgery always necessary?

[Gothy]

Daddy asked me to come in and ask all the guys for more info since we're having difficulty finding resources on this topic online.

Is top surgery always necessary? I know for two of my friends, it wasn't... but how often is that the case? And are there things that a guy can do to increase his chances of not having to have top surgery (and ultimately the scarring that comes with it).

Daddy is young (22 yrs old), in excellent physical health, barely a B-cup (meaning he could still wear an A-cup snugly), the skin on his chest has not had time to stretch nor sag from age nor weight of larger breasts, and his nipples are proportionate to a bio males nipples. It seems to me ( and I claim to be no expert on this subject, which is why I am here to ask for more info) that if T and exercise would shrink down and redistribute the breast tissue and fat on his chest, that surgery night not be needed at all. Am I way out in left field here? Any information you guys may have would be helpful. Daddy will be seeing a doctor and therapist soon to get a lot of these types of questions answered as well, but until then, he's trying to gain some knowledge from other people's experiences.

Thanks in advance for your help. Stuff like this is bouncing around in his head and making him crazy till he can get to the doc.

[Rockinonahigh]

I have a young trans friend(age 22) who is pretty flat chested we have spoken about this subjet a bit,what he has done is do a lot of exersises and bulking up at the gym to change his body shape.If this dosent work as well as he would like he has already spoken to a doc about liposuction wich is a lot less invasive and a lot less expensive,sofar he is pleased with the working out and changeing his body that way.

[Nadeest]

I know one guy that didn't have top surgery, and looked fairly normal for a male. He just exercised, but to be fair, I didn't know him before he started T, either.

[Corkey]

Surgery is not always necessary. Your guy needs to discuss this with his therapist. Depending on what your guy feels is best for him is what he should do, none of us can make that decision for him. There are threads here that discuss transition, post transition and even a Braveheart thread for those of us who choose not to have SRS (surgical reassignment surgery).
Good luck to you both.

[Gothy]

Thank you, everyone, for your input so far. Corkey- as I said, Daddy does have upcoming appointments with a therapist and doctor but just wanted information based on others' experiences while waiting for those upcoming appointments. Obviously, the decision about whether to have top surgery or not will come down to a lot of personal factors including His anatomical make-up, and that will be something that He and His doctor will have to discuss. He just wanted to know what other people have experienced and if top surgery was actually necessary in order to achieve a masculine (passing) chest. We know it is possible, but we have not been able to find statistics on how many FTMs are able to achieve this without surgical intervention. I guess the ultimate goal here is hope. He would like to have hope that it would be possible in His case that surgery will not be needed.

Regarding liposuction- we have heard that this is not always effective because breast tissue is more dense than just fat. Are there cases where liposuction is sufficient?

[Deborah]

I am in a relationship with an FTM who has not and doesn't plan to have top surgery....as with most things this is an individual decision - no one should dictate what you do with your body...if one is comfortable with themselves it matters not what someone else thinks.

Just my opinion.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by GothFemmeDyke

Daddy asked me to come in and ask all the guys for more info since we're having difficulty finding resources on this topic online.

Is top surgery always necessary? I know for two of my friends, it wasn't... but how often is that the case? And are there things that a guy can do to increase his chances of not having to have top surgery (and ultimately the scarring that comes with it).

Daddy is young (22 yrs old), in excellent physical health, barely a B-cup (meaning he could still wear an A-cup snugly), the skin on his chest has not had time to stretch nor sag from age nor weight of larger breasts, and his nipples are proportionate to a bio males nipples. It seems to me ( and I claim to be no expert on this subject, which is why I am here to ask for more info) that if T and exercise would shrink down and redistribute the breast tissue and fat on his chest, that surgery night not be needed at all. Am I way out in left field here? Any information you guys may have would be helpful. Daddy will be seeing a doctor and therapist soon to get a lot of these types of questions answered as well, but until then, he's trying to gain some knowledge from other people's experiences.

Thanks in advance for your help. Stuff like this is bouncing around in his head and making him crazy till he can get to the doc.

Depends on what you mean by necessary. It's not necessary for everyone in that not everyone feels the same degree of dysphoria with the chest (some might not at all) as others. Some people are fine with their chests the way they are.

As far as working out at the gym reducing breast tissue to the point where top surgery isn't needed for someone who doesn't want breast tissue...that's a huge misnomer that a lot of people seem to think is possible (or maybe they just wish it were), but is only possible if you have a very small A sized chest. If he's borderline A/B then very unlikely that it'll work for him. Breast tissue does not reduce itself, its one of the last fat stores to be attacked by the body when dropping body fat percentage, fat loss on the chest doesn't work the same way as anywhere else on the body. Even at that he would likely need to be below 9% body fat to reduce it to that degree (if he had a small enough chest, which is rare). Unfortunately, building muscle mass on the chest doesn't get rid of that tissue, since the body sees it as essential fat and will retain it as much as possible.

It all depends on him. If he hates his chest and has a lot of dysphoria around it and there is an opportunity for him to get top surgery (financially and getting to a good surgeon), then he should go for it (he'd probably only need keyhole, which is cheaper and doesn't have as much scarring).

But on the subject of scarring, it really depends on the person and the surgeon. If you go to a reputable surgeon (preferably recommended by trans people NOT cis therapists), you're a non-smoker, healthy weight, generally in good health, and if you're in your 20s you're less likely to have extremely visible permanent scarring. It also depends on the off chance of you having an allergic reaction to any of the material the surgeon uses (though rare), that could cause more extensive scarring. A lot of guys around my age that I know who have gotten surgery have had almost barely visible scars after a few years. Also, apparently vitamin C helps. That's what my surgeon has recommended for me to help with the healing and I've been taking it as my date approaches. Will see if it makes a difference.

I'd be very careful with therapists, though. Personally, I don't agree with the tradition of recommending that trans people go to "GID" therapists to "figure things out." Especially if it's a cis therapist. If you have a trans support group in your area just go there, instead, or if you can find a trans therapist go see them. Don't fall for this bullshit psychiatric tradition any longer.