My Experience with Bottom Surgery at Vanderbilt

I had my vaginoplasty at Vanderbilt a little over a month and a half ago with Dr. Julian Winocour and Dr. Salam Alkassis, and I just wanted to share a little about my experience in case it could be at all helpful to anyone else out there. In short, it was an incredibly positive experience. The doctors did an amazing job, my results look great, I've been healing really well, and I haven't had any complications. If you live in the southern United States and are looking for a place to get bottom surgery, I would recommend the team at Vanderbilt without any hesitation.

Before my surgery I was honestly really, really nervous. Throughout the whole process of getting my therapist letters, pre-surgical electrolysis, getting insurance approval, coordinating my leave from work, etc. I wasn't nervous or having doubts about surgery at all, but once all of that was dealt with the only thing left was actually having surgery, then I got nervous. At the hospital the morning of, I was so anxious I felt like I was going to throw up. Everyone was very understanding, though, and helped me get through until I went under. After my surgery I stayed in the hospital for six days. On the morning I was scheduled to go home all of my wound dressing was removed and I got to finally see my vagina. I was nervous about this too because I knew it would be kinda gory, but once I actually saw it my nerves all faded. It just looked like a vagina which was simultaneously remarkable and incredibly unremarkable. Anyway, they showed me how to dilate, then I dilated for myself, and as long as I was able to successfully dilate again in the afternoon, I would be able to go home. My second dilation was fine, so I was released. The week I spent in the hospital was honestly really rough. I had a lot of trouble getting myself to eat food, I threw up twice, I had trouble sleeping (I'm a side sleeper, so being on my back for a week straight didn't help), and I just generally had very little energy to even do things like read or watch a movie. I brought a whole stack of books to the hospital with me, but I didn't touch a single one until I got home. Things got a lot better once I was home, and two days later I had my first post-op and got to have my catheter removed. This was also a huge relief, and it only made things easier and more comfortable for me. I stayed at home for four more weeks after my time in the hospital and then starting going back to work and living my life pretty much normally. Dilating has continued to not be a problem, and I'm using the largest dilator now with ease. I'm still wearing pads because there is still some discharge, but there hasn't been any blood in weeks. At each of my three post-op visits they've said I'm healing really well and that everything looks great. I know I glossed over a lot, but if anyone has any more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them to the best of my ability and share my experience!