Why I chose Dr. Loren Schechter and zero-depth:
I just recently had zero-depth vaginoplasty with Dr. Loren Schechter of Chicago, USA. I won't be posting pictures due to wanting to keep that part of myself private and as for why I chose zero-depth over the more traditional vaginoplasty, my reasons were as follows:
- I'm asexual. I dont want penetrative sex with another person, though I wouldn't mind it with toys
- Even though I like toys and masturbation, I dont want the commitment of dilating and douching for the rest of my life.
- I couldn't afford the hair removal process and my state insurance didn't cover it until literally a month before my surgery.
- Zero-depth has lower complication rates and requires less recovery time.
All of these reasons were taken into account. I want to express that zero-depth is a completely valid alternative to the traditional vaginoplasty, but like most things in life, it's important to consider your reasons and what you want for your body.
My reasoning for choosing Dr. Dr. Loren Schechter:
- Close proximity of my Chicago suburb home
- He is in-network with Illinois Medicaid
- The before and after photos shown to me were within the my margin of expectations for my body
- His time as a surgeon as well as the number of GCS he has performed
- His demeanor.
Some surgeons that treat trans people can come across as creepy or worse, they can have a god complex (or seem like it). Dr. Schechter has been kind, professional, and made sure to listen to my concerns and requests.
However, since he is one of the few surgeons performing GCS in Illinois, he is in ever increasing demand. This means it can be hard to get the paperwork, insurance stuff, etc done with the front office staff. This can be frustrating in the beginning, but once it's done it is smooth sailing. Another downside is that he operates out of Weiss Hospital. It's not a bad hospital per se, but it's small, understaffed, and isn't a financial powerhouse like many mega health care systems. So the appearance of the hospital and service can be lacking. The nurses always tried hard to be there when I needed them and I appreciate that, but having one or two nurses on a wing at night due to staffing issues was noticeable.
Appearance:
Despite being asexual, I have been sexually active in the past with cis women, I know a bit about female anatomy. I too go on the internet and have seen pictures of people doing things. Point is, I had high expectations for my vulv
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This is my (almost) complete top Surgery experience from my consultation to almost 2 weeks post op. I luckily had a pretty smooth recovery without any complications. I know that my experience won't mirror other people's exactly but I hope this can be helpful.
Cost with insurance (unitedhealth care): $4,000. Everything was covered by insurance except for liposuction.
I chose to have my surgery with Dr. Schechter because he was close to where I lived, he was very experienced and I was able to get a consultation with him soon after I called. I was also looking at Dr. Shore, Dr. Corcoran and a few other people in the Chicago land area but I found that Schechter was the easiest to get a consultation with so I just went with him. Dr. Corcoran requires both the pcp letter and the therapist letter to be sent to her office before the consultation and Dr. Shoreβs soonest consultation date was almost a year out.
I had my consultation with Dr. Schechter in late September of 2020 (I got an appointment date for a week after I called through a family connection). At the consultation Dr. Schechter and a whole team introduced themselves to me with their pronouns and asked me my pronouns. During the consultation they took photos of my chest from two different angles, measured the length of my nipples to the area where my collarbones meet. Based on these measurements and Dr. Scechters physical evaluation, he told me I needed double incision. Dr. Schechter asked me if I wanted to keep my nipples and I said yes. Everyone left and then his assistant Mira (they are amazing!) came in, showed me pictures of his results and answered all of my questions.
I had to send in my pcp letter and my therapist letter in order to get the surgery. This is what my therapist letter looked like if you are interested https://docdro.id/Nge4gmY.
I also had to sign a couple consent forms as Schechters office operates off of informed consent. If you are interested, this is the main consent form https://docdro.id/FE3YfaO
I had to wait months to get a surgery date. Schechters office books 3 months out so if you they are filled up for the next three months, they keep you on a waiting list. I believe I got my surgery date in mid July. The earliest date they offered me was around mid-october but I couldnβt do that due to my school schedule and I ended up taking Dec. 14 2021.
About a month before my surgery, I got a call from Marcella from Sc
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Give me your good, bad, and ugly about this surgeon about his technique, outcomes, and/or charecter.
It is so hard to find anything about him w/RE: to Metoidioplasty with UL or Revision for FtM Genital Surgeries (and not interested in insurance related info stuff). I know there are two postings a couple of months ago related to him, but just throwing this back into the Meta universe to see if more folks respond.
I had a consultation 7/2020 for transgender f to m bottom surgery with Dr. Loren Schechter. I drove 500 miles for the consult. He told me in my consult that 1) because of my age he couldn't make me a useable phallus (we both knew how old I was before I drove to Chicago), 2) refused to show me any photos of his work, 3) told me that I wouldn't really be able to understand all the complicated stuff he was telling me, 4) told me that he really doesn't do MLD the procedure that I was interested in, even though he states that he does it on his website, and most importantly, 5) misgendered me in my medical files in his physician health portal which contradicts all of my legal and financial records.
I wasted valuable time and money to drive to Chicago to listen to that garbage. He pontificated about "gravity flow" when talking about my bladder (which he has no actual, medical knowledge of). I seriously doubt that the man even does f to m surgeries. Even though I left with no plan to ever see the guy again, he had a surgical coordinator send me some sketchy, extremely brief information about how I should prepare for surgery and gave me another doctor's name with whom I should set up an appointment.
I think that the man is a sham as a transgender friendly surgeon and specifically f to m issues.
Note: I'm not very experienced with guitars, I've only been playing for a year or so.
I recently got a Schechter demon 7, and thought I'd make a list of pros and cons for someone thinking of getting one or a 7 string in general.
Pros:
- Most useless one - it's just beautiful
- It isn't hard to reach to the last string
- Floyd rose + locking tuners
- Active pickups sound great
- Price is fairly low for something like this
- Cons:
- Whammy bar mount keeps unscrewing (may just be an issue w/ mine specifically)
- Action is VERY low, you have to adjust it a lot
It's a really good guitar overall, would recommend buying it to someone w/ any amount of experience with guitars.
Hey what do you bass experts thinks?
I have a consolation with Dr Schechter pretty soon and I just wanted to hear some opinions on his work if anyone here has gone through him. My anxieties toward surgeries are pretty high and I just want to make sure Iβm finding the right person for me. Thanks!
My insurance covers these surgeons, but I can't find a lot of information about them online. Does anyone know anything about them? Dr. Gabriel Del Corral's website is pretty transphobic, so I'm probably going to avoid him
I'm looking into getting penile inversion bottom surgery with Dr. Schechter in Chicago. Does anyone have any experience with him, and how did it go?
