Orchiectomy OK before SRS?
Some transsexuals, and even
some SRS surgeons, dislike the idea of having an orchiectomy before SRS. Some surgeons fear that orchiectomy will
permit our scrotal skin to shrink, which then reduces the raw materials available
for construction of our future vagina and labia. Some pre-ops, as much as
they dislike the idea of maintaining their current male parts, fear losing any
donor material for their future female parts. They fear ending up with reduced vaginal
depth and compromised surgical results, or needing a skin graft (and a
resulting scar) from another part of their body, or possibly even needing the
very invasive sigmoid colon transplant procedure.
I had my orchiectomy more than
six years before my recent SRS. My scrotal
skin did shrink, and I turned out to be one of those patients who required a
skin graft from my tummy for adequate depth.
This left me with a horizontal scar line below my tummy. My surgeon did leave this scar in an area
where others won’t notice in my everyday life, and I could probably wear a
bikini without exposing it. But it would
be easily visible in any intimate setting, and it does often itch.
So how do I feel now about
having had an orchiectomy? If anyone
asks me that question, the only thing that comes to my mind is the extra six
years of not having testosterone, and all of the advantages this gave me
throughout my long transition. I don't
like my extra scar line, but I hated testosterone a lot more than that.
If I were permitted to go back
in time to the year 1998 and retain all foreknowledge of things to come for the
next eight years, I still would have had my orchiectomy. I just could not have done without six years
of being free from testosterone, requiring only low doses of HRT and no Spiro,
saving tons of money on my HRT costs, and best of all, the positive effects on
my feelings and emotions along with the knowledge that no matter what happened,
testosterone could never cause any further damage to my body.
Besides, even without an orchiectomy,
years of HRT with androgen blockers (Spiro or Androcur)
can also cause male parts to shrink. Not
having an orchiectomy does not guarantee that your male parts won’t shrink
before SRS.
There were additional factors
that contributed to my need for that skin graft from my tummy. If I had decided to not have an orchiectomy
six years before SRS, I might still have required an additional skin
graft. Without these additional factors,
I might not have needed that skin graft even six years after my orchiectomy.
I decided to have my
orchiectomy and enjoy the benefits of an easier transition and elimination of
testosterone, at the possible expense of a necessary skin graft or reduced SRS
results, and I would make that same decision again. On the other side of this issue, one TS
friend has told me she not only won’t have an orchiectomy despite being several
years away from her SRS, but she is also deliberately taking inadequate doses
of HRT to ensure that her male parts will still contain enough material for her
eventual vaginoplasty.
So my thoughts are, consider
all of the pros and cons. Only you can
determine whether the pros of orchiectomy before SRS would outweigh the cons in
your case. I and some others decided
that the pros outweighed the cons, yet some TSs have comfortably decided to
forego orchiectomy and just have all of their parts removed in one surgery
later on.
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