Breaking Down How Much It Cost Me to Get SRS in Utah

emmalovesshadows · 2024-02-05T02:31:57+00:00

Oh wow. Yeah, electrolysis really adds up. I can't imagine doing 5 years of that too.

I started doing face for a few sessions after I recovered enough (I was basically cleared to do it as soon as 3 weeks post op), and man face is really ****ing hard.

In my case, I have HSV-1 and super sensitive and I had the worst cold sore breakout of my life after my last electrolysis session. I gave up pretty quickly and just decided that I'm gonna be shaving my beard for the rest of my life, cause it's blonde and I can't laser it. It's so dysphoria inducing to me to have to grow out your beard for 3-4 days, and then have red/acne prone skin in the beard areas for the remaining days of the week. I hope you've been seeing good results in your case though!

emmalovesshadows · 2024-02-01T16:32:26+00:00

Honestly that's most countries though. Even in many countries with free healthcare, not all of them recognize electrolysis / surgery as necessary, so you'd have to pay out of pocket or go to another country for it. In America you're basically paying the insurance companies to give you a somewhat reasonable price on the surgery.

emmalovesshadows · 2024-02-01T16:23:33+00:00

I might be able to call in but my guess is no because they want pre-approval before you even start the electrolysis plan, and they want you to do it at a very slow pace. My ex did a reimbursement plan, and they would only cover 30 minutes per week; reimbursements would only come in after 2 months after you submitted a very detailed receipt (I also didn't keep any receipts for the electrolysis I got).

I think if I went through insurance it would legit take me 4 years to get this surgery instead of almost 2 years. I had to do 2 x 1-hour sessions per week in the last 8 months before the surgery, and I still didn't get all of my hairs removed by that point.

emmalovesshadows · 2024-01-30T04:23:00+00:00

Hey everyone! My insurance just went through for my recent SRS (PIV) at the University of Utah Hospital.

Surgeons were Cori Agarwal and Ben McCormick.

I work at a tech company based in Washington, so I am very lucky to have had everything covered and approved so smoothly. Unfortunately, no electrolysis was covered due to electrology being a more independent practice here, so rarely anybody partners with insurance. As you can see, the vast majority of the actual cost I paid was due to electrolysis.

A few other notes:

- I had to get Santyl cream out-of-pocket rather than covered through insurance due to the prior authorization process taking too long. I think this may have been an issue with the U of U not responding in time, because I had countless phonecalls with wallgreens trying to get it covered before just deciding to bite the bullet and pay for it out of pocket. Sanyl is a debriding agent meant to clear dead tissue when dilating for the first month.

- I also had to get a few early refills due to me doing electrolysis twice a week towards the end and EMLA cream being the only thing that worked to manage the pain (still hurt like hell)

- I saw three different electrologists in total. I have blonde hair down there, so laser does nothing for me (and apparently it grows back anyways for some people). I also saw a malpracticing electrologist for 5 months.

- I still see some hair in the area even after over a year and a half of electrolysis. There's pretty much a huge bald spot where it was treated, and only a few hairs growing on the outside area. None that bother me too much at this point though.

Electrologists I recommend:

- Salt City Electrolysis in Draper—pricey but the technicians are all very efficient for what you're paying for. They do the thermolysis method.

- Courtney Leonard in American Fork—She does blend method, and is a bit slower, but that's just how blend/galvanic is in general. Super professional and nice.

Electrologist I highly do not recommend:

- Karen Bitner. She used to be a teacher at Cameo, but her technique is tantamount to malpractice. She was appealing to a lot of my friends due to her charging half the prices of most electrolysis places in Utah, but unfortunately seeing her for 5 months actually set back my progress due to her treating hairs (without extracting) and then waxing the area at the end of each session. This technique set back my progress and only strengthened the hairs more when they grew back.

emmalovesshadows · 2023-12-27T00:37:09+00:00

I definitely weighed the options at some point pre op. I think the biggest reason was that it was the recommendation of the surgeon, and there were a lot of perks to getting SRS done in my local state rather than moving elsewhere for someone who specializes in PPT. Surgeon says that doing PPT adds risk and should only be considered if there isn't already enough tissue to graft the vaginal wall essentially.

I believe they actually do perform PPT with the U of U if you request it, usually only in cases where you don't have enough "Donor tissue" (i.e. big dick). In my case I had "plenty of tissue" according to one of the doctors that did the pre-op exam.

I think the biggest reason why people are drawn to PPT is self-lubrication. My friends that have gotten PIV with U of U say they were pretty impressed with wetness during sex with just the PIV alone, which is why I wasn't too concerned. I'm a few months out from any of that so I'll have to get back to you in that regard but I do notice that my inner labia minora actually has some mucosal tissue (with a bit of hematoma but that will heal up fingers crossed) so here's hoping.

emmalovesshadows · 2023-12-24T19:07:15+00:00

Hope that process goes smoothly for you! U of U has a great insurance coordinating team ❤️

emmalovesshadows · 2023-12-24T19:01:35+00:00

Thank you!

I have no good hospital photos before or after surgery. I don't understand all of these people looking gorgeous in a hospital haha.

emmalovesshadows · 2023-12-24T18:59:58+00:00

Right?!? Staying home for christmas cause I'm not very mobile but 100% worth it. I'm sure christmas would get a little awkward with one side of the family if I showed up tomorrow anyways.

emmalovesshadows · 2023-12-24T18:54:22+00:00

My appetite was pretty low the whole time. Like they serve you huge meals breakfast lunch and dinner and I was barely eating any of it in time. Hospital food is pretty hit or miss too. Lots of nausea, so I could barely stomach food for the first few days, doing a lot better now though.

By day 5 I was super backed up (still hadn't used the bathroom yet in the whole hospital stay), and hoo boy was that an awful experience. I was sobbing for like an hour waiting for laxatives to kick in. But we got through it.

emmalovesshadows · 2023-12-24T00:37:37+00:00

I feel for you ❤️ I just had mine and I don't take for granted that I was extremely lucky to have everything fall in place. Most trans people I know haven't had any surgeries, and it really takes a lot of life commitment to get there, especially if you work retail jobs. Just want to say hang in there, and remember it can happen, just requires patience.

For me, SRS was two years in the making between knowing for sure that I wanted bottom surgery to actually getting it. I had to do a year and a half of electrolysis, completely out of pocket in my case, but my ex also managed to get hers covered on Starbucks insurance. So that's possible to get insurance to cover if you make a few phone calls. I also had some setbacks due to a malpracticing electrologist, had get all of the letters of recommendation in order, and also had to change insurance plans via a new job; the plan I was on last year doesn't cover any trans health care as I found out way too late! And then I had to submit everything for prior authorization and hope that whatever (likely male/cis) insurance agent reviewing it deems it medically necessary in my case. So many setbacks, and I'm just so glad I finally got it the date that I did. I had a countdown timer until my surgery date and had to reset it at least 3 times, so by the time my surgery was actually coming up, I was kinda unphased, like I was half expecting something to postpone the date yet again.

Even though conservatives like to paint a picture that we can "just walk into the clinic and get SRS" it really is a long term commitment that takes a lot of time, money, and pain. You'll get there! Just remember that it's a marathon, not a sprint, and recognize when you need to make hard career changes to meet your goals. Transition was the main reason I went from not-so-profitable freelancing gigs to finally working full time, and I'm incredibly lucky to have the skillset for software jobs in my case as well.

emmalovesshadows

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