When FtM surgery goes wrong - Scott trying to raise awareness.

[FredaFrogspawn]

This is so upsetting. Don’t open if you’re not prepared for very distressing image and content. But people should know.

mobile.twitter.com/ScottNew1972

Wow. No insurance. Somehow I missed that little snippet in his article. Amazing. I wonder where they do the surgeries as I would expect any hospital giving them operating rights would expect insurance as a condition of employment or association.

Is this in America? Because surely surgeons and all medical professionals here have to have insurance? You would just sue the NHS or the private hospital.

I think that many of these people are more susceptible than most to falling victims to scams and dodgy cut-price surgery. There will be people preying on those who are vulnerable and with unrealistic expectations of what surgery will entail.

Scott seems to be in the US, yes, and refers to US based surgeons.

I've been following Forth Wave Now for some time and from the evidence they present surgery seems to be completely unregulated over there (again, not just with regards to trans surgeries but cosmetic surgery generally).

God knows our own NHS isn't perfect but across the pond really is the Wild West where surgeons are concerned. They can apparently play God with impunity.

Really scary. I hope people contemplating this sort of thing will take note of Scott’s predicament. Even if your arm is mutilated to make a fake penis, it will never be a real one. Wouldn’t it be good if you found someone who loved and accepted you for who you were born as?

I wish people would take surgery more seriously in general.

I know I probably sound like a stuck record but that's because I've had a surgical infection following minor surgery (a biopsy). I was rushed back into hospital and drip fed bucket loads of antibiotics, which as Scott points out, can have an impact later in life. I had to have the infection cut out leaving a wound big enough to fit my fist in. I was off work for four months while it healed. It took maybe three years for the muscle to fully regrow and strengthen. Even 19 years on I have no feeling in the area, you could stick pins in it and I wouldn't notice.

And I was lucky. I didn't die. I didn't have to have my leg amputated. I made a near complete recovery and all bar a couple of movements I find difficult have full use of my leg.

Surgery is always a risk. It should never be encouraged for purely cosmetic reasons and it sure as hell shouldn't be encouraged as a solution to what are mental health issues.

I'll stop ranting now.

Horrific. For what it is worth, I think the language around surgery should be simplified even more.... I was always advised to pitch any technical terms at the level of a 12 year old to ensure understanding, so for me:
Breast removal
Penis removal
Etc..
Although how on earth to describe the arm surgery is beyond me. Maybe
Flesh removal from arm to make a pretend penis?

Sorry to hear of your story Arnold , you were very unfortunate.
But a story that needs shouting from the rooftops. I am horrified by the casualness with which not just these unnecessary surgeries but the growth of cosmetic surgery generally is treated. Surgery as a fashion statement.
People have no idea.

A recent patient is seriously ill with sepsis and other complications from an infected cannula site.

Still, it'll all have to stop when we run out of antibiotics.

Agree with others, cosmetic surgery of any kind is becoming far too "fashionable". People need to learn to love and accept themselves.

for Scott

Still, it'll all have to stop when we run out of antibiotics.

Yup. I suspect at that point people are going to be a lot less less focused on being validated constantly.

Hi Jelly,

I'm the actual person you are speaking about. Please don't comment on stuff you don't know anything about, especially when it has to do with that surgeon. It's dangerous. Take the time to read about him first.

This surgeon used the wrong skin to create a urethra that caused 6 inches of hair to grow on the inside of my urethra. Ever had an ingrown hair on your leg, try thousands inside you and where urine passes, the pain is something I cannot explain. Try sepsis for just a month and get back to me. In his care I had a massive PE, stress heart attack, sepsis and a ligament that protruded from my arm causing a handicapped arm. He also has 9 med mal cases against him in CA and 1 in texas where he just moved.

I don't blame any one for my decisions. I'm sorry I don't mean to be so passionate, I have read all the cases and been through it and it's comments like that, that allow more people to be hurt.

Thanks for posting Scott. Your story is telling.

Do you have medical care you can trust now?

Scott not many here, probably nobody apart from Jellyslice, would fault you in the least for your passion about this. You have every right to be absolutely livid, I can't begin to imagine what you've been through. ♥️

Scott Your story is heartbreaking and I can't imagine how difficult and painful it has been for you to go public. It's immensely important that you and people like you do keep coming forward though if only to alert other potential transitioners to these undisclosed dangers of surgery and other medical interventions. I hope you get the treatment you need now and lots of help with continued healing.

Scott - I wish you well in recovering from the damage done by the botched surgery, and hope you can get some sort of redress from the surgeon. And I admire your bravery in speaking out.

Wishing you all the best, Scott.

Thank you for speaking out - some of us here are mothers of children who are gender questioning and your honesty could help them avoid similar problems in future.

I'm sorry you have had to go through this, Scott.

All surgery carries a risk. The person undergoing surgery will be made aware of the risks; when it’s elective surgery any unplanned after effects are totally on them.
It’s unethical of the surgeon, for sure, but for the “victim” it’s kind of an occupational hazard that they’ve walked into with their eyes open.

The person undergoing surgery will be made aware of the risks

I somehow doubt Scott was made aware of the risk of the surgeon using the wrong type of skin.
And I think Scott is taking responsibility, by publicising the risks and saying clearly that this isn't something for kids.

Certainly, I’ll give Scott that.

I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you Scott. Best of luck with the court case.

Head in the clouds, I agree with you. Here is the problem. What it's actually like to transition is not written about or talked about and when you do your web site gets shut down. Pure craziness. The surgery, ha the surgeon spent 7 minutes with me and made it seem like it was a piece of cake. This is criminal. I am a smart person, I'm not 12 and I was bamboozled, kids and parents don't have a chance.

DuMondeB,

Listen to me very closely. Transitioning in NOT FOR KIDS, period. I have 3 and I can't imagine someone knowing what I know sitting back and because they were to scared my kids had to go through this. Read this article I just wrote. Every single person I know that is TRANs that has completely transitioned has PTSD. Not one, not a couple every person.

thetransgendertruth.wixsite.com/mysite/post/what-the-physiologists-surgeons-and-physicians-don-t-tell-you-about-transitioning-genders

I live in the USA, I lost my job, my house, my car, my wife who stay in contact as long as I had money to send her. So, no I don't have medical care, I sell insurance from my house.

Thank you for speaking out about this Scott Your statement regarding PTSD and the silencing of those explaining the truth of their transition experience is truly shocking.

I am so sorry this happened to you. I wholly support anything that protects kids from taking such high risk decisions.

Thanks Scott. I appreciate the efforts you are making to tell your story. I’m going to listen to your TransBruh podcast episode later on today:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y72zb-cJi8k

I’m sure you’ve heard other trans people complain about NHS waits, but at least the NHS is responsible for ongoing needs caused by it’s mistakes (and tends to pay compensation too).

I really hope you can get adequate support going forward - personally, I think this is the kind of thing that trans charities should be helping with, not expensive court cases about paperwork (or paying CEOs or advertising during YouTube videos on Minecraft).

I’m worried that my gender questioning stepdaughter is suffering from some kind of post trauma type thing, due to a combination of her little sister being life threateningly ill (cancer type illness), starting puberty and first experiences of sexual attention from men (plus a long term interest in comic book culture and a tendency towards social awkwardness).

Would you consider writing something directly aimed at teenagers? It’s clear you care about the well being of children and you could potentially connect with them in a way that us ‘boring old cishets’ cannot.

Mumsnet gets a tough time from Transactivists, but most of us just want to raise happy and healthy kids (and keep autogynephiles out of women’s prisons and rape crisis centres, but that’s a different topic 😬)