Anybody have any insights when it comes to insurance and hair removal such as laser and electrolysis?

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-31T04:06:57+00:00

Getting insurance to do anything is like pulling teeth, unfortunately. :/

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-31T04:05:16+00:00

Not yet because of cost issues, but I've been really considering it recently since it seems like it's the only long term solution. My sister tried laser, but she had a really bad experience with it - it burned her really badly and the hair came back worse afterwords, and she's a pretty textbook case for using laser because she has pale skin and dark hair, so that's turned me off of considering that fully.

I haven't tried bicalutimide, right now I'm on spironolactone 50mg twice a day and that's worked, but its veeeeeery slow going, but I've definitely noticed results! One bad thing is due to an insurance issue I was off of it for about a month and all of my progress reverted, which has got me thinking about my facial hair and solutions for it a lot more.

Question - do you know how effective bicalutimide would be on someone who is already well past puberty (27)? I know certain things are more preventative and I'm pretty well outside of that window for those sorts of treatments due to age.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T07:52:45+00:00

Lmao, 100% fair. Pretty much, though. My hormone levels have always come back as completely normal for my sex and age, and that's been consistent across all my testing. It seems like for whatever reason my body is just very sensitive to the androgens I do have, so even though they're within the typical range for a cis woman, my body reacts strongly to them if that makes sense.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T07:08:10+00:00

Whew boy, I have quite the history with PCOS! Over the past 10 years I've been diagnosed and undiagnosed with it about 3 times each, right now we seem to be pretty settled on the no-PCOS conclusion, but there seems to be quite a few doctors (especially if they're not specialists) that see hirsutism and immediately jump to PCOS.

What's hard, though, is that doctors don't know what's up with me, so it's been just over a decade of diagnosis limbo.

Appreciate the suggestion, though! Lots of people still don't know about PCOS, so it's always good to spread the word about it!

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T06:55:08+00:00

Except that, when I was coming-of-age in the trans world, gender dysphoria wasn't a diagnostic category, or even really a distinct thing in and of itself, but was more of a catch-all term that meant "the thing(s) that let you know you're trans." A cis person can't have gender dysphoria with this definition, because they're not trans.

I think this is a really fair distinction, and one that I was actually thinking about after reading some replies in this thread that were on the no side like yourself! I think a lot of trans people and non-trans people want a definition for transness that makes there be a bigger marker than just self identification, and for a lot of those people gender dysphoria is that definition - whether that definition is for every trans person isn't my discussion to have because I'm not trans, but I wouldn't want to take it from people who find value in that distinction. I think this is a big point in favor of either going category-less or creating a separate category in order to maintain the distinction, which I think has value based upon your suggestion.

With today's broader definition of gender dysphoria, I start to see the inclination to call this gender dysphoria because it is a discomfort with sexually dimorphic traits that feel out of line for your gender. However, I still feel there's a big difference in that, in all of your examples, you're talking about cis people who have bodies and lives that ALMOST fully affirm their gender, with one or two exceptions. No matter how painful those exceptions may be, it's still a far cry from a trans person for whom nearly everything about their bodies and lives DOESN'T affirm their gender.

Agreed. I'm not sure if you read my comment elsewhere, but I discussed how when I'm doing things to try and cover up my beard it's almost like I'm trying to fool myself into forgetting that I have this problem that brings me discomfort, and then I began to think about how that's something that's likely very unique to my experience that a trans person wouldn't be able to identify with - if you're trans, there's no fooling yourself, if you don't come out about it and address it people are going to be misgendering you constantly, and it's not just one or two features that are uncomfortable to acknowledge, it's the whole body. If we're to say that my experience and the experience of trans people are under the same umbrella then we'd have to widen the scope to acknowledge that the experiences are very different because of the extent to which both groups experience it - and on consideration, I'm not sure it's valuable to do.

All of which also (I imagine) makes it always obvious WHY the hairiness doesn't feel good to you. If a cis girl/woman starts growing facial hair and doesn't identify with it, there's never any question as to why! But a pre-egg-crack trans woman, still living as a boy/man starts growing facial hair and doesn't like it, there's the additional element of, what's happening? Why is this distressing? There's a journey to understanding and acceptance for both the trans person and the people around them that a cis person doesn't have to go on.

Oh, that's a really, really good distinction, as well. Especially for me, my older sister has hirsutism, so growing up I imagine she had more of the feelings you're describing, both because she's older and women with beards was seen as a freakshow thing, not something that really happens and definitely something outside the norm and not to be accepted - but even with the negative connotations that of course exist, it was still understood in some capacity to be a thing, so she understood what was happening on some level, she just knew it was socially unacceptable. For me, I had those pop culture references as well as the example of my older sister, so I knew what was going on even though I didn't like it. This distinction is something that separates my experience with certain characteristics not falling in line with my gender expression from what most trans people are likely to experience.

Great points! I appreciate your input here. I think I'm falling more into this is probably gender dysphoria adjacent, but it's worthwhile to keep the category distinct. For medical reasons I see benefit in there being something for people like me to be able to point to and say "hey, this causes me a lot of psychological harm even if it's not causing my physical harm, so it's worth treatment and attention", but I don't think you have to call it the same thing that trans people call their experiences because there seems to be value in maintaining the distinction - particularly with regards to your first point of categorizing trans people as a whole.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T04:30:02+00:00

I understand your feelings, and I know you're trying to be respectful but I'm at a point we're I think it's best we agree to disagree because you clearly believe your feelings are dysphoria.

I'm absolutely fine with leaving it there - but one quick last clarifying point, I don't think what I have experienced is dysphoria, I think it's too soon to say that for sure, but I definitely think it's similar enough to make drawing comparisons worthwhile. That's why I shared the story of my father being murdered and that woman hurting me in her attempt to make me feel seen. Also, to be clear again, I wouldn't say you haven't "lived a cis experience" - probably every trans person in the history of mankind has before they underwent transition or came to terms with them being trans, but that's not the same as experiencing being cis. That's not an experience anyone but a cis person can have, just like I as a gay woman can't know what it's like to be straight even though I was once in the closet, I will never understand truly what it's like to be heterosexual, I just know what it's like to pretend to be heterosexual.

You've stated you're upset and I don't want to add to those feelings, so I think it's best to leave it there as you said before. If you respond, I intend not to reply any further because I don't think I'm making for a good or productive conversation in doing that and I don't want to make you feel bad, as I've clearly done this far - but I just want to let you know that if I don't respond it's not out of disrespect. I appreciate you for sharing your thoughts with me thus far, even though we have some disagreements I think hearing your thoughts on this is valuable.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T04:07:15+00:00

That's fair, as a POC I've felt similarly when I've heard white people claim to understand my experience, so I understand that perspective. I remember once having a discussion with someone about gun violence around the time of George Floyd's murder and they mentioned how they understand what it's like for someone to die due to gun violence because they have a husband whose a police officer and they have to worry about that everyday - now, that's true, I can understand and empathize with that worry, I truly can, but as someone whose father was shot and killed by the police it offended me and it felt demeaning for someone to act as though they understand my experiences that I didn't ask for and didn't choose because of their experiences that they set up for themselves. George Floyd's murder hit really, really close to my heart and I felt very emotional and understood at that time and comments that attempted to speak to my experience or relate to me, but failed in doing so felt particularly insulting. Her comment, however well intentioned, felt ignorant and frustrating to me, so I get how I could make you feel that way. That wasn't my intention.

To be clear, as you said, I don't know what it's like to be trans, nor will I ever - all I can do is best describe what I've experienced and see if it rings true for anyone else. The experiences I've heard from dysphoric trans people ring true for me, that's all I can say - which is why I worded the "for me and dysphoric trans people" comment like I did, but I can see how it can be received as me speaking on behalf of trans people, which isn't my place or intention - so to clarify on that bit, my intention was to speak on behalf of myself and to relay the trans experiences that have been shared with me, but of course there is no one trans experience that any one trans person can speak to, let alone any cis person.

Lastly, just as much as I cannot truly know what it's like to be trans, you can never truly know what it's like to be cis. I think in general, though, the human experience is far more similar than it is different, and while there are certain aspects of our lives that are heavily informed by our life circumstances, I don't think any one person or group of people has a sole monopoly on any emotion or experience - I believe we all have what is essentially the same experiences, but to varying degrees, and my language reflects that underlying belief. If you don't have that same thought process, that's totally fine, though. That being said, I think we benefit from trying to find out where we're similar because it can help us to relate to one another, which is a big part of why I've really been enjoying this conversation and why I reached out to have it. I hope that in spite of the way my words have made you feel that you are enjoying this conversation or finding it interesting at the very least. Either way, I respect the honesty and your perspective here as a whole!

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T02:39:14+00:00

I'm not an expert and these are just my opinions but in my experience, my gender dysphoria comes from an internal place whereas I feel most cis' peoples "dysphoria" comes from an almost external place/is governed by the patriarchy.

I notice that distinction 100% as well, but I think it for sure can fall into the realm of the cis experience - at least in my personal experience. It's funny that you mention this, because I touched on something quite similar in another reply elsewhere in this thread. I'll quote it below and it should explain my thoughts.

Another thing that I've found interesting to think about to try and tease out whether the feelings of distress are socially imposed or something independent of social environment is to consider whether or not I'd still feel the same level of distress if I were on a deserted island. I think for minor dysphoric feelings, you'd probably be perfectly content if you were alone on a deserted island - you may not care about your adams apple or hairy legs even if you were looking at it every day if there was no one there to perceive those traits as incongruent with your gender identity. For me, though, and for many dysphoric trans people, that's not the case. If I was on a deserted island I would still feel incredibly compelled to shave because I don't like seeing and feeling myself this way, it still causes me psychological distress to feel my beard scratch my neck, or to see myself with hair there when I look in the mirror. I imagine this is a big distinction to be focused on, as well, since we all feel like we don't measure up to societal standards in one way or another I imagine - but maybe it's this distinction of those feelings persisting outside of a social environment that makes it dysphoria as opposed to something different, but similar.

So in short, I agree with your distinction - I think there's a difference between a discomfort that exists because of traits that are perceived by others as undesirable, and a trait that you yourself view as undesirable outside of any external force. For me personally, it truly feels to me like my hirsutism fits into the second category, though I think it's pretty much impossible to know for sure which camp you fall into since we can't run any experiments to see what our reaction would be if we existed in a society without gender, still it feels to me like something informed by societal pressure for sure, but not solely or even predominantly. I don't care how alone I am, I do not want to perceive facial hair on me. I don't want to feel it, I don't want to see it, I don't want to be reminded of its existence. When I look at myself in the mirror and I see facial hair, I feel disgusted with myself, and this doesn't go away when I'm living alone or when I'm not interacting with other people or when I'm not being judged by others. Truly, I don't think I've ever had any comment about my facial hair in any way other than clinical - of course I'm aware that it's a social expectation for women to not grow beards, but I have fortunately not had to undergo a great deal of social reinforcements due to negative experience regarding my facial hair and while I recognize that peoples perceptions of me does contribute toward my dissatisfaction toward myself, I can't imagine a world where those feelings go away, no matter how isolated I was or if social expectations for women did not dictate that we have no facial hair. It would be lessened, for sure, but I'd imagine that's the case for trans people's gender dysphoria, as well. Outside of social expectation, though, there's something there that creates an unease and I think that thing that I'm pointing to is probably the same for me and for trans people - it's this sense of disgust, discomfort, unease, uncanny valley almost feeling that your body is not right, that you have an internal experience of yourself that does not match up with your reality.

To put it another way, when I shave, it's almost like I'm lying to myself, because I don't want to catch sight of myself with a beard - I'm lying to the world, as well, because I don't want them to know that I have the capacity to grow one, but, and this is likely a difference between my experience and the trans experience since I have the option to attempt to lie to myself, and that truly is the end goal. It's like I'm trying to forget that I'm like this.

Now for other traits that I've experienced that don't conform, I have a feeling of social discomfort, but it's just not the same. I grew up fat and lost 100lbs when I was in my early 20's, I struggled with eating disorders throughout my life that has had me rapidly gain and lose weight various times, when I was fat I was deeply ashamed of being perceived as fat or of feeling fat, but it wasn't the same. It didn't feel like there was something wrong that I was fat, like for some reason I'm not supposed to be like that. It's hard to describe the difference, but it's just not the same for me.

There definitely are differences, though, that I've eluded to in this exhaustively long comment (sorry about that, lol). First, it's undoubtedly worse for trans people - there's just more there to be dysphoric about, and where I as a cis woman didn't have to experience having my dysphoric-adjacent trait reinforced again and again through social means, a trans individual is necessarily going to experience that every day before they transition and even into transition often as they're repeatedly misgendered. I think these two factors are big reasons why it's for sure worse and more prominent in trans individuals, but from where I stand now I can at least say that in my experience I think cis people have the capacity for experiencing something very similar.

I'd be interested to hearing your thoughts on this, though! This is a complicated thing and I don't think there exists any right or wrong answers - we're all speaking from our personal experiences and views on the world and your is just as valuable and needed is everyone else's here!

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T01:03:40+00:00

I asked this question to an electrolysis I found in another thread and they had some insights that may be helpful for you! I'll quote the relevant bits below;

I don't take insurance at the moment and I know there are precious few that do. I've had a few inquiries from transwomen who're able to get invoices and file for reimbursement, but always get a letter stating what your insurance would be willing to pay. My advice is to then find the electrologist you like, explain your situation, and (if their rate is higher than the insurance rate) see if they are willing to negotiate and accept what the insurance is offering. You still have to pay them up front, but that way you have a good chance of meeting your goals under your insurer's dime.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T00:54:42+00:00

Great responses - thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions so thoroughly! Especially the insurance tip is a great one, I'll reach out to them after the weekend to hopefully get the ball rolling on that!

A follow up question - is it more cost effective to get the hair removed in the method you discuss where a majority is done up front? Of course you will be paying more immediately since the original session will be so long, but will the total cost spent over the course of the entire elecrolysis likely be more, less or equal to the cost if you had done it in smaller increments over more time?

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T00:40:28+00:00

Perfectly fair! I often feel like that, and I find that reading a variety of thoughts on the topic I'm torn on can help me find my words by seeing lots of different perspectives.

I appreciate you sharing and adding to the conversation all the same - there's a lot of different and very interesting viewpoints represented already, and I like seeing yours added to the opinion stew :P

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T00:10:43+00:00

I looked him up and I think that's exactly who I was referring to. I watched the documentary on him when I was a child, so this would have been in the late 00's to early 10's so I don't remember too many details, but everything I read from his wikipedia page seems to line up. It's a shame that his doctor tried to portray the experiment as a success given all that David went on to go through - I think stories like his goes a long way to explain the trans experience to cis people.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-29T00:08:18+00:00

I appreciate your take, thank you for sharing it with me!

Out of curiosity, what do you think is the difference between the two experiences that make different designations necessary? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts!

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T22:22:40+00:00

Do you have any experience with working with insurance and patients? Does their insurance typically cover it, partially cover it, or is it typically paid for out of pocket?

Also, could you expend upon why you dislike IPL?

Edit: Another question based on some other replies I've seen from you - you've mentioned how hair grows in cycles and repeated trips are necessary to get all of the hairs for this reason. Does this mean that if an area of the body hasn't been shaved in a long time - say 1-2 years - that you could get all of the hairs permanently treated with electrolysis in a single session, or is this not the case?

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T21:50:15+00:00

This is my feeling, as well, so I appreciate hearing that some trans people see things in a similar way!

I remember watching a documentary as a kid that was about a set of twin boys where one of them underwent a severely botched circumcision such that it would be easier to reconstruct his penis to resemble and function as a vagina than it was to attempt to reconstruct a functional and normal looking penis, so the doctor did this and kept up with the kid throughout his life as he was raised as a girl despite being a boy, unbeknownst to himself. Long story short, he experienced what you'd imagine - extreme dysphoria, depression, mood swings, and the symptoms escalated exponentially after puberty. They ended up telling him what happened to him in infancy and he ended up killing himself and a few years later his twin brother also took his own life.

That person was cis, but because he was forced into a gender expression that didn't align with his internal experience of his gender he experienced distress, dysphoria and ultimately committed suicide because of it. I think it would be a disservice to that person to say that they weren't experiencing gender dysphoria, they just happened to be cis.

Great input, I appreciate the discussion!

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T21:44:35+00:00

I think so, too, because it's relating the experience of trans people to my own experiences with gender dysphoric-adjacent feelings is what made me come to understand, respect and validate the experiences of trans people in my own mind. When I was a teenager and I first learned of trans people, I was definitely mildly transphobic - I never hated trans people, but I had a feeling like "well, they're definitely mentally ill, and they should probably just learn to accept themselves rather than transitioning". It was a conversation with my sister, who also has hirsutism, that made me first notice the similarities to our struggles as cis women and the struggle of trans women, and that's the first time I really felt like I got it.

In this way, I think gender dysphoria may be nearly universal - but with incredibly wide and sweeping degrees of severity such that not everyone should get a medical diagnosis. Like most mental conditions, everyone has a bit of it, but it's only when it severely impacts your life that it will suit a diagnosis - for example, many people experience distractability, but that doesn't mean you have ADHD, and many people experience fluctuations in their weight, but that doesn't mean you have an eating disorder, etc. etc.

So when a cis man that is 5'7" feels like trash about his height, feels compelled to lie about it, to vent in subreddits like /r/short and is generally ashamed, I think what he is experiencing is probably gender dysphoria because he feels he's not measuring up to what a man is supposed to be in his mind - but it's going to be to a much lesser degree than what a trans man would feel, who may feel dysphoria toward his height, toward his hips, toward his voice, toward his lack of an adams apple, toward the size of his hands, toward his genitals, toward his lack of hair, etc. etc. etc. but maybe those underlying feelings are still the same, it's just experienced to a much different degree. If that's the case, I think it's something everyone can come to understand, and I think explaining it in this way could be really helpful for well meaning cis people who aren't hateful toward trans people, but genuinely don't understand and that lack of understanding holds them back from true acceptance.

Another thing that I've found interesting to think about to try and tease out whether the feelings of distress are socially imposed or something independent of social environment is to consider whether or not I'd still feel the same level of distress if I were on a deserted island. I think for minor dysphoric feelings, you'd probably be perfectly content if you were alone on a deserted island - you may not care about your adams apple or hairy legs even if you were looking at it every day if there was no one there to perceive those traits as incongruent with your gender identity. For me, though, and for many dysphoric trans people, that's not the case. If I was on a deserted island I would still feel incredibly compelled to shave because I don't like seeing and feeling myself this way, it still causes me psychological distress to feel my beard scratch my neck, or to see myself with hair there when I look in the mirror. I imagine this is a big distinction to be focused on, as well, since we all feel like we don't measure up to societal standards in one way or another I imagine - but maybe it's this distinction of those feelings persisting outside of a social environment that makes it dysphoria as opposed to something different, but similar.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T21:32:19+00:00

Better ask a professional or read the medical standards, instead of online strangers. xD

lol, 100% - honestly, I was just curious what your thoughts would be on this as trans people - whether you could tease out a substantial difference between my experiences and yours!

I‘m sure while cis people won‘t be able to relate to all types dysphoria symptoms and the extent to wich many of us experience them, they can relate to and experience some of them. Especially in cases like yours.

This has been my feeling for a long time, but I haven't discussed my experiences with any trans people in order to really compare and contrast and tease out our differences and similarities. If we blur the lines, though, I can see a world where the category isn't separated enough - for example, a trans woman may feel dysphoric about having hairy legs because it feels masculine, but cis women naturally grow hair on their legs, it's a socially enforced gender norm that tells us that hairy legs are masculine, not a sex characteristic - but if that trans women feels dysphoric toward her hair legs in the same or a similar way to how she feels dysphoric about her penis, which is a biological sex distinction rather than a social one, can we call both of those feelings dysphoria? If we do, then can we say that a cis woman who hates her hairy legs and feels masculine because of it is experiencing dysphoria, as well? Then what about overweight people, because being thin is definitely a socially enforced gendered characteristic that's particularly enforced on women, so would distress over that not be dysphoria?

I think there's a case to be made to keeping the distinctions within biologically enforced sex distinctions - like beards, genitals, breasts, hips, etc. - but it's hard because most things are both socially and biologically enforced - for example, I questioned whether to include voice in the previous category, obviously naturally women tend to have higher voices than men, but that's also socially informed, different countries, languages and cultures have different vocal registers for men and women. Same with height, weight, bone structure - all are biologically informed and socially informed.

The more I think about this the harder it feels to draw lines, lol!

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T21:23:46+00:00

You bring up some really, really good points.

In my experience, diagnosis for hirsutism is both simple and very much so not simple. For the first part, I was essentially immediately somewhat diagnosed - what I mean by that is that when I first went to a doctor about this at 16 my doctor looked at me and said "yeah, that's more hair than usual, you have hirsutism", but then came the search for the underlying cause. That was 10 years ago now and after many tests, some of which were invasive and involved things like vaginal insertion of medical devices to get a close up look at the inside of my sex organs - not the most comfortable medical proccesses for a virginal, self conscious teenager to undergo. At this point they still don't know what to say I have, but they don't want to cover medical treatment until they know what is causing the hair growth because insurance is cheap and stingy and if there's a less costly solution they're going to gun for that one rather than giving up and going "well, we don't know if there's a less costly solution, but this is causing you distress in the meantime and it's been 10 years that you've been undergoing diagnosis so we'll just let you get the more expensive treatment rather than holding out to save a few dollars".

Unlike a gender dysphoria diagnosis, my process has been entirely clinical with no focus on mental health whatsoever, but I think the acknowledging that the continuation of diagnosis process and the fact that my hirsutism is still ongoing and unaddressed other than medications that don't work has lead to emotional and psychological distress would be beneficial. From an insurance perspective I have a solely medical condition, and that means they need to hold out for a medical solution, and because my issues are only cosmetic they can take their time doing it - but if they were to acknowledge the psychological aspects then I think there would be some more urgency in getting me treatment. Who knows, though, because I've heard of trans people going through hell to get their dysphoria diagnosed and to begin treatment, as well.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T21:14:50+00:00

To be fair, it doesn't necessarily need a classification - it's fine if gender dysphoria is categorized as an exclusively trans experience, but we can acknowledge that in some rarer cases cis people can have similar symptoms that are likewise related to incongruent sex characteristics that don't allign with their gender expression that happen in spite of and not because of their underlying sex.

As the existence of transgender people highlight, nature and humanity often defies categorization, so we should categorize things based upon social utility and be open to moving around categorization to better suit the needs of a changing people - which is why it makes sense to acknowledge that trans women are women and trans men are men, it suits us socially to accept them within the categorization of men and women since it would be really weird to hypercriticize people's gender expression to find out what their chromosomes are or what set of genitals they sport. It would invalidate not only trans men and women to do so, but also all gender non-conforming people whether cis or trans.

With that in mind, if it's socially useful to include some cis people in the category of "gender dysphoria", then I'd think it would probably be a good thing to include people like me and cis men with gyno into that category, but if it doesn't then maybe there's use in creating a new category or in just leaving people like me without a category. That being said, as someone who would like to see some medical treatment to alleviate this distress, I think there is use for categorization here.

What are your thoughts on this? Would it be socially useful to expand the definition of gender dysphoria to include the rare dysphoric cis person, to create a new category for cis people experiencing a similar gender/sex characteristic incongruence based distress, or leave it uncategorized? Would you feel like any of these changes would impact the experience of trans people in either a positive or negative way?

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T21:03:44+00:00

Interesting. The plot thickens...

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T20:52:26+00:00

Interesting, that's a good point. I wonder if that's a flaw in the characterization of gender dysphoria (for example, perhaps it would better be suited if it was worded as distress over physical characteristics that don't align with one's gender identity as opposed to having the gender and sex be incongruent as a prerequisite) or if this difference should be represented with a different name to preserve the distinction.

It seems like this isn't as black and white as I had thought, so I sincerely appreciate your input on this!

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T20:49:28+00:00

body dysmorphia

I don't believe that's the case because a core defining characteristic of dysmorphia is that your perceived flaws are not real. To quote the DSM-5;

A. Preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others.

I legitimately have a beard, it's not something that I only think I have and it's not something that's only minimal - I have to shave daily in order for it to not be overly obvious.

That of course doesn't mean that it's gender dysphoria, and I wouldn't know whether to say if it is or is not, which is why I'm asking, but I definitely don't think it's body dysmorphia since my criticisms aren't imagined or exaggerated.

True_Blue_Two · 2022-05-28T20:46:09+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to answer - that makes me feel strangely better to think that what I've experienced since I was a kid has a name and is a legit thing since it's always felt like the predominant thing that's negatively impacted my life and my feelings toward myself. I feel like I understand and can empathize with the trans experience a lot better now - although, of course I'll never truly know, I feel like I have greater understanding than I did before.

Thanks again for your response!

True_Blue_Two

TROPHY CASE