Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS) and its
History
While facial feminization surgery has become more popular over past 14
years for those pursuing male to female surgery, male to female surgery
can be traced back to the 1930’s. The Danish artist, Einar Wegener
had become a successful female impersonator early in his life. Surgery revealed
two distinct sets of gonads, one being male, the other female, and Wegener
decided upon male to female surgery. It was then Wegener became Lily Elbe.Wegener was about 40-years-old when he underwent his first male to female surgery, which involved castration. Next, Wegener’s penis was amputated. Successive male to female surgery procedures resulted in an artificial vagina. Wegener asked for an additional male to female surgery, which he hoped would create a womb, but he died during the procedure.
Rapid advancements in sex hormone knowledge and plastic surgery following World War II provided complete male to female surgery solutions for transsexuals. During the 1950's, transsexual women benefited from newly available female sex hormones, which enabled the development of breast, softened the skin and produced female body contours. Some surgeons began male to female surgery involving the construction of vaginas by using skin grafts taken from the thighs or buttocks
Christine Jorgensen was one of the first transsexuals to undergo such male to female surgery. In 1952, the U.S. print media covered her initial male to female surgery making her a national sensation. As a result, many transsexuals learned about new hormonal and surgical treatments. Access to male to female surgery though was limited to small group of patients in Europe.
In the 1950's, doctors first removed the male organs in one or more male to female surgery procedures. The next male to female surgery involved creating a vagina by using skin grafts from the thighs or buttocks. This male to female surgery was initially used to create vaginas.
Through the 1980’s and 1990’s, facial feminization surgery as part of male to female surgery was pioneered by the United States maxillofacial surgeon, Douglas K. Ousterhout in San Francisco. He included facial feminization surgery as part of male to female surgery. Since 2000, Thailand’s reconstructive surgeon, Suporn Watanyusakul, also has been developing facial feminization surgery as part of his male to female procedures.
Other maxillofacial and plastic surgeons have started performing facial feminization surgery as part of their practice. Facial feminization surgeons include Frans Noorman van der Dussen in Antwerp, Belgium, and Dr. Zukowski in Wilmette, IL.
Among the most innovative surgeons to enter the world of facial feminization surgery is Dr. Jeffrey Spiegel of Boston, MA. Dr. Spiegel trained in San Francisco and at Harvard University before joining the medical staff of Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Spiegel has taken many of the best techniques of the prior surgeons and improved them to provide some of the safest and most effective facial femination surgeries available anywhere in the world. As a result, many patients from around the United States, Europe, and the world now go to Boston for the best in facial feminization surgery.
