Planning Your Surgery
Between deciding on surgery and waking up from it there are usually several months of practical work. You choose a surgeon, sit through a consultation, finish hair removal, sort out hormones and fertility, book time off and line up someone to look after you. Done well, that work turns a big operation into a calm, well-run few weeks, and it lets you walk into hospital knowing everything at home is handled. Here it is in roughly the order it comes up.
Before you book
The biggest decision is choosing a surgeon. Judge them on three things: how often they do your exact operation, how they show results, and who looks after you at week three. If you want a head start on a shortlist, the best MTF surgery clinics in Thailand and the Bangkok FFS clinics are the teams I trust most.
Your consultation is where you test that judgement: what the surgeon examines, what to bring, the questions to ask in the room, and what a straight answer sounds like next to an evasive one. Check the eligibility rules before you book, because letters of support and time on hormones can set your earliest date.
Getting ready
Hair removal is the step that most often sets the date for vaginoplasty. It takes many months, so start it as soon as genital surgery is on the cards.
The pre-op checklist runs week by week through the run-up: tests, oestrogen and other medications, paperwork, supplies and getting your home ready. If you are travelling for surgery, plan how long to stay before flying, where to recover, and how follow-up works once you are home. Most of the women I coordinate fly to Bangkok, and the ones who plan the home end early have the smoothest return.
The caregiver guide is written for whoever is looking after you, so send it to them before surgery. It sets out what they will actually be doing, from helping with dilation supplies to spotting the signs that mean calling the clinic.
Hormones and fertility
Fertility preservation has to happen before an orchiectomy or vaginoplasty, because both end sperm production for good. If you are already on oestrogen, banking can mean pausing hormones for a while first. That needs months of notice, not weeks. A good surgeon raises it at the first appointment, but make sure the question is asked.
Your surgeon's instructions come first
This is information, not medical advice, and it never overrides your surgeon's instructions. What surgery costs, and who pays, is under costs.
Guides
Before you book
Your Consultation: What to Ask and Bring
What happens at an MTF surgery consultation, what to bring, and the questions to ask your surgeon.
Choosing a Surgeon
How to build a shortlist, check credentials, read results photos and spot red flags before you commit to a surgeon.
Getting ready
Pre-Op Checklist
A week-by-week checklist for the run-up to surgery: hair removal, oestrogen, tests, dilators, bowel prep and setting up home.
Travelling for Surgery
Planning surgery in Bangkok or elsewhere: how long to stay, flying with dilators, clot risk on the way home and follow-up once you leave.
Caregiver Guide
For partners, friends and family: what looking after her involves after vaginoplasty, FFS or breast augmentation, and when to call the clinic.
Hormones and fertility
Fertility Preservation
Sperm banking before orchiectomy or vaginoplasty: how hormones affect sperm, pausing to bank, timing, costs and what to ask.
New to MTF surgery?
Start with the guide: every procedure, how it builds on what hormones have done, and the order most people take them in.
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