Painkiller patch 1.61 skype

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Blue dress Nov 2018 - Plaid Shirt (light makeup) Sept 2019.
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Fall 2017 when I first started looking into FFS vs 9/23/19 - 3.5 months Post Op FFS

Hello all - Hope I can post this here,

I recently had Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS) done on May 28th, 2019. I had the procedures done in Guadalajara, Mexico by Dr. Lazaro Cardenas and the TransOp.com team. The procedures I had done are:

• Hairline Lowered
• Type III Forehead Contour
• Brow Lift
• Rhinoplasty (Nose job)
• Upper Lip Lift
• Fat injections to Lips
• Chin Contour
• Jaw Contour
• Chin Implant
• Buccal Fat Pads Removal (Cheeks)

It has been 3.5 months since the surgery and I feel great. I had no complications whatsoever (thank god). Honestly, at this time, it is difficult to see any major changes in the face on what was done. As much as I may personally struggle to see the differences I must say that the dysphoria I had with looking in the mirror is all but gone. The biggest changes I noticed already are a slight puff to my lips, my nose is completely different and my brows are more shaped. I still struggle to see differences in cheek, jaw and chin areas but don't really have any complaints about it, though I may have wished the surgeon to be a bit more aggressive on the areas. There is, of course, still swelling in all the areas, particularly the nose, but I feel I can get a good understanding of what my face will look like down the coming months. All surgeons advise to wait and see a full year after surgery for the final results though so hopefully it will only get better :).

Albums:

More Before
More After
Post Surgical Pics (A bit gruesome)
Recovery House and Guadalajara
I will add more photos in the future detailing the differences of the side profile.

Why Mexico?

There were several reasons why I finally decided on going to Mexico for the surgery. The main reason was the price. Healthcare in Mexico is much cheaper than America and thus less expensive for cosmetic surgery. Several of the surgeons I really liked the work of and had consults with, including Dr. Spiegel in Boston, varied far too much from patient to patient. Part the reason I really liked transop was that they were transparent with the prices and everyone pays the same for the same procedures. I was quoted well over 30-50k+ USD for all the procedures listed by various surgeons in America that I had in person and skype consults with. In the end, I was quoted roughly 20k USD for transop and paid about 25k with tax, plane tickets and other various unexpected expenses (additional prescriptions, compression garments etc).
Another reason was that Dr. Cardenas during the Skype consultation actually talked me out of some procedures which significantly reduced the price. It was a little reassuring to see that he wasn't just after the money and going to suggest a bunch of unnecessary things. Aside from chopping off several procedures entirely, he said he could get the same results I wanted while doing other, less invasive procedures or while doing another unrelated procedure. I mainly refer to the fact that my right eyelid/brow was slightly lower than my left. One of my biggest hangups when looking at myself in the mirror. One surgery told me I would need a procedure just for that. Cardenas was able to correct that simply during the brow lift by lifting the right side slightly higher than the left. This saved me about 2-3k that could have been wasted on. A simple fix for the thing that bothered me the most!

The Facility

I have been to over 15 plastic surgeon offices and even had surgeries at different hospitals in America and can still, without a doubt, say that the Innovare Hospital that the surgery was done at was by far one of the most advanced, clean and modern medical facilities I have ever been to. I know Mexico tends to have a bad stigma when it may come to cleanliness or at least that is the general consensus it seems many Americans have about it. If you ever look to transop for surgery this is absolutely going to be no concern.

Dr. Cardenas and the TransOp Team

From my Skype consult to Surgery was about 1.3 years apart. I was pleasantly surprised again at how well Dr. Cardenas spoke English and had no trouble understanding or explaining what I wanted or needed. During our consult, he actually convinced me not to go for some procedures as he thought it wouldn't achieve what I wanted or that he could get the same look with something less expensive. Before the consult, I had a quote from the website for about 26k. After, it was down to 18k. I opted to go for an additional optional [to me] procedure when I got to Mexico which bumped it up to around 20k.
The team themselves were very professional and friendly. All the doctors seemed to speak English, some better than others. The anesthesiologist was intent on making me laugh before putting me under (she succeeded). There were 4 doctors that I could tell performing the actual surgery. Dr. Cardenas' wife is an ENT. She did not perform the Rhinoplasty but her [fellow?] was in the surgery and I believe he did. He was the one who took care of all my post-op visits regarding the rhinoplasty aftercare. Before leaving my last appointment I met with his wife to get my nose checked out one last time.
The only downsides I have experienced and heard from others is that he is not aggressive enough with Forehead Contours (not my main concern anyway) and Jaw/Chin contours. I strongly recommend being extremely, annoyingly precise with what you want to be done and the results you expect.

The Recovery House

The recovery house is SUPER clean. There are two women here who cook and clean daily. The house would regularly smell faintly of cleaning products because they clean everything at least once a day sometimes twice. The beds are changed daily and laundry can be done if paid for. They regularly left the windows and doors to the backyard open. It was late May - Early June and there was little to no bugs around. The temperature varied from 70-90 F but was not uncomfortable as the location is the high altitude and didn't have much humidity until I left around mid-June. It was still much more tolerable than where I currently live.
Vincente runs the recovery house and is an absolutely amazing man. He picked me up from the airport, drop off and picked me up from appointments, picked up prescriptions, and drop me off at the airport when we were leaving. He was sweet, funny, caring and spoke English very well. He has two doggos - Lucas and Luci who are the sweetest doggos. They honestly made the recovery that much easier as they regularly would come sit with me on the couch when I was resting in the common areas and let me pet them.
Food - I am a very picky eater myself. The two women who work here don't speak any English but Vincente would often ask if there was anything particular I wanted to eat. They did their best to accommodate me. The morning would have some cereal, bread, donuts, and other pastries. The afternoon lunch/dinner would have just about any variety of food you could ask for. After surgery, I mostly ate soft bread, apple juice, ice pops, and pasta.
Rooms - When I asked how many rooms there were I believe he said he could have 7 people total staying there. There were 2 rooms with two single beds and another 2 with double beds. I didn't explore the entire house though so this could be a bit wrong. I went with my mom so we had the largest room that had 2 single beds, a TV and a loft area that didn't seem furnished at the time. It had a balcony and its own bathroom. I believe two of the rooms had their bathroom outside the room. There were no other girls staying at the house while I was there until my last couple of days. There was a German girl who came in in the middle of the night and had surgery shortly after. I was, unfortunately, unable to meet her since she was recovering and I didn't want to disturb her.

Pain

As someone who has fairly low pain tolerance, I must say that all the procedures I had very little pain. I would just describe it all as intense discomfort for the first few days. After the straws came out of my nose and they cleaned it up it was much easier in the coming days. Swelling reducing meds were far more effective than painkillers. I did have to ask for sleep pills though as the swelling/discomfort did keep me up at night and because my sleep schedule was all messed up.

Final Tips

If this is something you may consider doing please look at these things so you can avoid some mishaps I experienced while there.

• They will only accept credit/debit. They regularly have to turn people away because they are unable to pay due to credit companies thinking it is a fraudulent charge or credit limits not high enough. Call your card companies before leaving. Sooner if you are leaving on a holiday weekend/time period.
• Use a card that has no foreign transaction fees if possible. Otherwise, account for the increased payment for the conversion to Peso.
• Take into account a 4-5% tax to be added onto your totals. This is not accounted for in the quotes.
• I am not sure if this was intended to be included or an addon charge but I had to pay about $1200 for the hospital stay. This was a separate charge but I am not 100% sure if it was intended to be in the original quote since I added additional procedures after I got to Mexico.
• Bring someone with you if you can - aside from the plane ticket, it is free to stay for them!

Tell me what you think! Do you see the differences in my face as well? Please feel free to message me or ask ANY questions :)