“I had top surgery in April 2015 at the Nuffield Health Brighton Hospital, a private hospital. The NHS funded my surgery; I had to wait about 18 months before having the procedure.

Charing Cross gender clinic required patients to have been on testosterone for at least 6 months before surgery, and then you needed two clinicians to agree that you were ready for the procedure before referring you to a suitable surgeon.

After receiving my referral (which wasn’t as straightforward as I had hoped) I was referred to Dr Andrew Yelland who at that time worked at the Nuffield hospital. Mr Yelland was an experienced cosmetic surgeon who had a very good reputation for the quality of his work among the trans masculine community.

During a pre surgery consultation with Mr Yelland he suggested that double incision would be my best option. Double incision is a bilateral mastectomy with chest reconstruction. I was happy with this because this was the surgery that I’d wanted. Mr Yelland also made me aware that people with darker skins were sometimes prone to keloid scaring, something I hadn’t been aware of. The thought of this didn’t put me off having surgery but it was good to know that this was a possibility.

At my surgery pre op the nurses did all the usual health checks and I was able to tell them about my general wellbeing. I was particularly worried about my weight because I had experienced an eating disorder and was still fairly underweight at this time.  I was told that my low weight wouldn’t stop me from having the operation, but they ensure that I had a child’s dose of anaesthetic as an adult dose might be too powerful.

My surgery was very early in the morning at about 7.30 am, the private hospital environment was very pleasant, and in nice peaceful surroundings with nice food. I live near the hospital so didn’t have far to travel. Everything went smoothly and I woke up with post op bandages covering my chest. I don’t remember being in much pain, but I was on painkilling medication. I was able to go home the same day.

After a few weeks I had to go back to the hospital to have the bandages removed, this was done in front of a big mirror. There were no drains used during my operation and in hindsight I think this made things much easier. I had to wear a compression vest for quite a while after the bandages were taken away. During the healing process I slept on my back with a few pillows to keep me propped up. I wore light clothing, pyjama tops and loose things. I was immediately happy with the results of my surgery, beyond the scabs, blood and scarring things were looking good and I didn’t develop any big keloids. For about a week I had a slight bit of infection in one of the nipples but that was taken care of by a short course of antibiotics. About two and half weeks after surgery I became much more mobile and was able to drive. I kept wearing my compression vest for quite a while. When the scars started to heal I began using aloe vera gel and other recommended oils on the scars.”

- Ludo 

(he/him)