What is 'facial feminization'? Transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney opens up about her latest surgery
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The TikTok singer and transgender activist, Dylan Mulvaney, recently opened up about her experience of getting a bunch of procedures done for "facial feminization" in December 2022. She also revealed what her recovery process was like.
In a recent clip posted on her TikTok, Dylan explained, "The surgery itself took multiple hours. It was the first time I was ever under anesthesia and I don't remember a thing. I had a hairline advancement, a brow bone shave, a rhinoplasty, minor cheek enhancement, a little lip lift, a jaw shave, a chin reduction, and a tracheal shave."
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So what is 'facial feminization'?
According to Mayo Clinic, facial feminization could refer to a variety of surgical procedures that alter the shape of the face to make it appear more feminine. Examples include moving the hairline to create a smaller forehead, augmenting the lips and cheekbones, and reshaping and resizing the jaw and chin. Another alternative is skin-tightening surgery, such as a facelift. Facial feminization surgeries could be performed as a part of the treatment of discomfort caused by a difference in gender identification and sex assigned at birth or gender dysphoria.
The treatments can help transgender women in the physical transition to their self-identified gender. However, the treatment also contains several risks associated with it, such as bleeding, infection, injury to adjacent structures, an imbalance in facial characteristics, an unfavorable reaction to anesthesia, scarring, facial nerve injury, fluid accumulation beneath the skin, swelling of clotted blood in tissues, and so on.
Why did Dylan Mulvaney go for facial feminization treatments?
The 26-year-old TikToker noted that not every facial feminization process is the same, as patients can pick and choose which parts they want operated on. "FFS (facial feminization surgery) is sort of like a 'choose your own adventure'. You can get one of those things. You can get all of them. You can get none of them. It's really whatever you have dysphoria over. I wanted to get everything done in one fell swoop because the recovery process is a lot."
@dylanmulvaney The FFS healing process! #trans #ffs #surgery @drharrisonlee ♬ Relaxing Japanese-style piano song inviting nostalgia - Akiko Akiyama
Dylan also remarked about her recovery process saying that she had "some of the most insane swellings I've ever experienced in my entire life." After suffering for several weeks she went to the doctor, where she was given “steroid shots to bring down some of that swelling and that was the first time that I looked at myself and thought, ‘Oh my gosh. I love what I'm seeing.'"
In her concluding remarks, Dylan remarked about her overall experience with the procedure, saying, "This is an extremely privileged procedure and I want to stress that is not just typical plastic surgery. Had I not been trans, these wouldn't have been changes that I would have sought out. But because of my gender dysphoria, I felt I need it. And I want us to all start viewing FFS as just as important as other gender-affirming health care. Trans people spend years saving up for these types of procedures because they are rarely covered by insurance and it truly already brought me so much peace that I hope we can all start advocating for better trans health care."