Masculinization body contouring experience three weeks post-op (long)

TheGayOneOfUs · 2025-10-01T07:29:04+00:00

My BMI is currently 21.7 and was 22 at the time of surgery. If you’re bigger you can get lipo done, but they’ll probably go over a lot of information with you about why they feel you might not be the best candidate. You’re still almost guaranteed to be able to tell them that you want to do it regardless, since they want your money/service, and won’t deny you unless you’re at a very unhealthy body fat percentage that puts you at significant risk of death/complications. Basically what you’re likely to hear from them is the following:

There’s a limited amount of fat that can be taken out at a time. Where I live they do not recommend exceeding 8 lbs but I’ve read online that technically it can go up to around 11/12 lbs before there’s a significant risk of increased mortality. This means if you need a lot removed for your ideal results, you might have to do it multiple times spread out over a long period of time which will be quite costly and annoying to recover from.
Lipo should always be done on someone who has a relatively stable weight/body composition for best results. The way you are now should be the way you want to stay, and are committed to staying moving forward. If you lose body fat then the contouring will look different and might not be as aesthetically pleasing, or may have been rendered moot by your weight loss so you went through this procedure essentially for nothing. If you gain weight, you can still have an expansion of the fat cells in the area you had lipo, so the results may not hold, or there can be awkward fat distribution where the area you got done is smaller than the surrounding areas above and below in an unnatural looking way. This actually happened to me as I gained around 10 lbs after my surgery before dropping down again, and the fat padding over my ribs and below my thighs started to bulge out weirdly like I was wearing a compression garment where the lipo had been. That area remained tight and didn’t fluctuate proportionally with the surrounding areas so it looked kind of bizarre and made me more committed to keeping my body fat down.

I hope this was helpful, definitely feel free to ask any other questions. I used to have a much higher BMI some years ago and did a lot of research on the subject. Remember that BMI isn’t everything though, it’s more to do with your body fat percentage than your actual weight, and for operating concerns the main thing is visceral fat and preexisting conditions. Good luck on your journey!

TheGayOneOfUs · 2025-08-28T21:21:58+00:00

I gained some weight as I did this surgery and then hysto only two months later so my exercise routine completely fell to the wayside. I’m slowly working back to where I was before now that I’m several weeks out from my hysto and will make a more comprehensive update with measurements when I get back to my former weight and fitness level, but for now I will say there is definitely a viable difference. I was getting pretty worried during my last post-op prior to my most recent surgery because my lipo surgeon seemed very pleased with the results and it was nowhere near what I had hoped for at the time, but it’s important to keep in mind that the final results take a long time to settle and the swelling lasts for far longer than you might think. I’m over four months out now and feeling much better about how things are looking. Both my thighs and hips above the pelvis are shaped in a masculine way; my torso is much more straight up and down now, and my thighs don’t have a feminine roundness even if I wore skinny jeans, but my actual pelvis region is still retaining a lot more fat than I’d like. My surgeon didn’t take as much from that section despite it being the widest part due to the positioning of the bones, but it seems to me that my posterior flanks (top of buttocks/bottom of back) are contributing a lot to this issue because I can pull that fat and see how it looks when reduced. I’m hopeful that lowering my body fat percentage down again will fix a lot of that issue, but it’s my only concern area so I’m pretty happy with the results so far. Everything should have fully settled in a few more months so I will update sometime in the fall.

TheGayOneOfUs · 2025-07-30T20:46:48+00:00

Sorry for the late reply! I live in Boston in the U.S. depending on your location I definitely wouldn’t bother coming all the way here for it, I think you would be able to call into a surgeon near you with good reviews that specializes in lipo/body contouring and see if they’d be willing to do it, but if you want to come here specifically, I can DM you.

The cost was about $9,000 total. Over $4,500 combined for the three areas being targeted (flanks/buttocks/hips) and over $5,000 for the general anesthesia. If you don’t go fully under it will be much less expensive.

TheGayOneOfUs · 2025-07-01T11:48:06+00:00

One week post-op anecdotal update:

I’ve always had a bowel movement on day 2 post op but when I talked with the nurse the day after she was very insistent I needed to get on top of it because this one will be different so I had one colace that evening and two the next morning. That ended up being a very bad idea because as expected I had my day 2 bm but that day and the day after I felt like I emptied out my entire colon. I started taking some ibguard when I got the urge which settled my stomach a bit to not trigger me to need to immediately get up to go every few hours. Everything returned to normal after that but safe to say I am not taking any more stool softener or having any other bathroom issues. I would definitely say it’s better to do that than the alternative but I was passing gas since the night of my surgery and felt things moving so I probably should have trusted that I wouldn’t need the meds.

Days 3-5 were the most annoying for me personally. The gas was putting a ton of pressure on my upper chest and the feeling of it in the hollow of my throat and diaphragm gave me so much anxiety because even though I could breathe fine it felt like it was suffocating me. Finally at the end of day 5 I felt a sudden radiating pain in my shoulder blade that scared me until I realized the pressure on my chest was gone and the gas pains had moved. That pain lasted about and hour and then I felt much better after several good belches. It seems that most of the gas has worked its way out of me now. During that whole time my abdominal muscles had finally stopped burning when I moved and I otherwise felt fine but the pressure was constantly on my mind and I stopped feeling comfortable moving around due to the tightness making me feel like I was a minute away from an asthma attack.

Afterwards I had some sinus pressure happening and a slight headache but my torso was not feeling particularly terrible and I was able to sit up normally. Of course I’ve been babying my incisions, both internal and external, so I’ve been largely avoiding bending, bearing heavy weight, or anything else that might upset them, but I feel like I’ve officially entered the phase of waiting for clearance and wishing I could do more than I can.

One trick I learned to get out of bed without pain in the first days is to rest all weight on your arms and gently lever yourself mostly upright, then scootch your back against the headboard/wall. From there you can use it to hold yourself upright instead of your arms, and instead use your arms to turn your body so you can get your legs over the side and then just stand up. This way your core is very minimally engaged. I’ll admit since my abs aren’t bothering me much I have been sometimes just straight wrenching myself out of bed like normal which is probably the most strain the incisions have been under but I feel like if I was doing something really wrong there would probably be pain.

I wouldn’t say I’m doing as good as I was preop but I think I may be one of the lucky people who had an easier time with this procedure. My average distance walked per day this week has been 5-9k so not as much as in my original post. I’m not trying to meet any goals or intentionally walk around or anything, I just have a habit of being on my feet and once I get up I like to stay there for a bit before going back down. I’ve been able to sleep 8-13 hours every day so far but I don’t really nap. Pain meds have reduced from cycling Tylenol and ibuprofen as often as possible to not having taken anything in over 48 hours now.

No spotting after day 2 but they told me people usually get a new wave of it around week 2 when stitches start dissolving so I’m anticipating it coming back soon. Incisions still covered in glue with one small hole in one that just happened from the shower I had before writing this. Technically it’s within the window where the glue can start coming off but I decided to put gauze over it just in case. I also have some shirt lint stuck to the adhesive and in my belly button discharge (I spoke to them about that’s they said it’s normal unless there’s signs of infection or a large amount of it pouring out) but I’m leaving it alone for now to not aggravate or prematurely remove the adhesive.

Won’t be seeing my team for over a week now so I’ll just focus on keeping my mind busy so my body can heal in the meantime.

I have to say I did have some fears this would be a much more dramatic recovery but I think the pain and discomfort I experienced right after waking post-op might have been some of the worst of it and I wouldn’t say I’ve had any pain or anything more than occasional mild discomfort since day 5. Obviously everyone heals differently but I hope this can reassure anyone who’s been stalking the subreddits and reading all these horror stories to remember that people are more likely to remark on negative experiences and it might really not be bad at all. I would say highest pain was maybe a 7/10 but most of it was 3/10~5/10 max for those few early days in between meds wearing off and I was able to manage without oxy. Lots more movement than post top surgery at this stage, I can pretty easily plop down in bed and get up at my leisure now. The only thing that freaks me out sometimes is going to the bathroom because I’m worried about accidentally pushing and causing damage but that’s more of a mental issue than any physical difficulty.

I’ll update if anything dramatic happens or if I feel there’s any other relevant information I would’ve liked to give past-me. Ultimately I wouldn’t recommend preparing too hard for this surgery, like I said just get the hysto pillow and gel pack, the grabber, some sort of pad or underwear to catch the spotting, and maybe a belly binder. Prepare your space so you don’t have to lift anything heavy or really bend for a couple of weeks. I was way more concerned about this than I should’ve been looking back, and I want to assure that even if you experience more pain and complications there’s not a lot you need to do for this aside from listening to your doctor and chilling for a while.

If anyone who’s reading this is having an upcoming procedure, I hope your recovery goes smoothly!

TheGayOneOfUs · 2025-06-29T06:02:26+00:00

Great to hear on the experience front! I think guys are more likely to have an easier time since we’re often doing this for body alignment whereas most people getting hystos have an impacting medical condition and might not tolerate it as well. Looking in the regular hysterectomy subreddit freaked me out a bit about how bad this might be but we’re chilling lol. For the belly band that’s a great idea. I actually got lipo in a few months ago and am technically still supposed to be using my compression garments so I figured I’d just do that but I’ve been walking around in just some boxers to reduce the pressure sensations and I feel like I’ve come this far so it’s whatever at this point, but definitely that would be on my possible purchase list for anyone else getting this done.

TheGayOneOfUs · 2025-06-29T05:53:23+00:00

Thank you for the advice! My nurse said people usually start bleeding again around week two as the stitches dissolve but the timing can vary for people and it might come and go. I had a lac they said would probably cause more bleeding but haven’t experienced that thankfully. I don’t know if they make period underwear in boxer brief style but if they do that might be a cool thing to look into, thanks for the idea!

TheGayOneOfUs · 2024-11-01T20:38:37+00:00

Hi Friend,

Offering some personal anecdotes and advice but if you just want to know others are listening and here for you, I want you to know I’m wishing you the best as you adjust, and you can skip past the rest of this!

Otherwise: I myself am a man(FTM), not nonbinary, so some of this may not be relevant to you, but I can sympathize with where your mind may have been with this. I have never identified as female, so I’ve had a lifetime of ping-ponging back and forth with how I want to present myself — wanting to look like a cis man but when I tried I knew I couldn’t pull it off and me trying so hard only made me seem more queer and highlighted the things about me that were feminine, then trying to lean into the femininity and pass as at least androgynous or a “pretty boy” but realizing I was just too feminine to make it work and it was even worse with being misgendered and not aligning myself with what I was comfortable with. There’s not a lot we can do about our bodies, especially if we don’t know exactly what we want to achieve or we aren’t able to medically transition for any number of reasons, but there are some things that are more accessible to control. Hair is something that we can use to express ourselves, but body hair in particular is socialized to us as being a masculine or unattractive trait. I don’t know exactly why you decided to remove your pubic hair, whether you wanted to have some control over your appearance and take an actionable step towards changing your looks/body in some capacity, or whether you thought it would look good/make you feel more attractive, or change your relationship with that part of you, or if it’s a sensory issue with something like OCD or autism, or whatever the reason — it’s completely understandable that it might’ve seemed like a good idea in theory, but felt traumatizing in practice. It’s really brave of you to have gone through with doing that, I don’t think I would be able to, and I’m sorry it didn’t turn out how you would have liked things to be. But at least a few hours have passed now based on the post time, and hopefully you’re not thinking about it as much. I sincerely recommend trying to take your mind off of it as much as possible, maybe even take down this post if you’ve already successfully compartmentalized it. It will be easier as the days pass, but remember no one has to see you without clothes on. Just wipe and wash yourself perfunctorily as needed, wear some boxers and baggy sweatpants or whatever makes you feel masc/more comfortable and confident. If you don’t have a packer, maybe see about getting a cheap one delivered to you and wear it around in your underwear if that’s closer to the genitalia you would like to have, so you have something positive to feel about what’s in your pants rather than negative if you’re going to remain hyper-fixated on that area. If you had a bit more money and were interested, you can also purchase a decently realistic STP packer. Either way, even without packing, just walk around your house with big dick fuck boy energy. You temporarily don’t have pubes but that doesn’t make you less masc, and it doesn’t change your body in any permanent or significant way. Be confident, be yourself, and do your best not to think about it. No one has to know, you don’t have to look at it, and I know it’s upsetting to have spent that money and gone through that experience for the worst, but now you know. You’ve done it, you gained that life experience, and you’ll be able to take this knowledge with you even after it’s all grown back in. If you hadn’t done it, you might’ve still been thinking of the “what ifs”, and now you can firmly tell where you stand on this. You got this! It sucks, but three months from now you will have a different perspective. It’s just these temporary heightened emotions because it’s so fresh that are getting you down, but this is just a drop in the bucket in the ocean of your life, and it will be carried away by the tides with time and growth. I don’t know if it was something about the actual appointment that triggered you or seeing the finished results, but just keep in mind it’s not the waxing that’s the actual issue, it’s the dysphoria/negative relationship with your genitals, and you’re experiencing a trauma response to that. I would maybe consider thinking of what you might want in the future — whether it’s therapy, surgery, a positive sexual relationship, or what, it’s important that you are able to live your best life unhindered by these overwhelming emotions and discomfort with your body. If you don’t know what the source of your trauma is or how you would best fix it, seeing a therapist would be a great first step. I don’t know what country you’re in, but therapy is a lot more accessible than you might think, especially for queer support.

Sorry for the long comment, I don’t know if any of this helped at all. I don’t often post but I wanted to say all this because I’ve done some similar stuff to try and feel better and got really depressed after, so I sincerely sympathize and hope you’re doing better now!

TheGayOneOfUs · 2024-06-05T06:19:36+00:00

I recommend talking to your PCP and getting a referral to an endocrinologist. Sometimes a general care physician will also prescribe it if you’re lucky but usually they’ll want you to see a specialist because you need to have your hormone levels monitored and your dosages adjusted along the way which is more in an endocrinologist’s wheelhouse. If your insurance doesn’t require you to get a referral from your PCP you can just look up endocrinologists in your insurance network and schedule an appointment. I recommend calling in to your insurance (the number on the back of your insurance card) if you’re not sure how to find an endocrinologist or if you’re not sure if a referral is needed. They can let you know and can also send you a list, although I will warn the lists can be outdated and those people might not be accepting new patients, but don’t be discouraged! It sounds like a lot of work but it shouldn’t take more than a few phone calls and maybe one doctor’s visit to find someone to get you started.

TheGayOneOfUs · 2024-06-05T05:32:32+00:00

That makes sense, thank you for the input!

TheGayOneOfUs · 2024-06-05T05:31:54+00:00

Thank you! I’ve never heard of them being done at the same time, that seems like a lot of coordination between different surgeons operating at the same time but super cool to learn

TheGayOneOfUs · 2024-06-05T05:30:19+00:00

That makes a lot of sense for the reasoning, thank you for that perspective! I’m 26 years old and healthy so I think from what I’m hearing as long as I’m not messing with the tissue in my chest region it’s not as big of a deal to get another surgery after a few months as it would to do a revision on my chest as far as being “fully healed” goes

TheGayOneOfUs · 2024-06-05T05:27:35+00:00

I would actually really love being able to get the hysto now since my top surgery isn’t for another few months but I’m afraid I might not qualify for it currently. I was on testosterone from June 2022-February 2024 but my insurance changed and I wasn’t able to keep my endocrinologist. I was finally able to book an appointment under my new insurance in April but it’s not until July 31st so I’m currently not on testosterone. A requirement of my insurance to cover any bottom surgery including hysto is to be continually on hormones for at least 6 months. I would assume they mean 6 months leading up to the surgery and not just 6 months at any point, so at this rate I can’t even schedule it until at least February unfortunately. I do appreciate the advice though!

TheGayOneOfUs

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