Facial feminization surgery (FFS) is frequently sought after by transgender women. Psychologically, it can be considered more important than gender reassignment surgery, as it significantly aids the social integration of TG women by allowing a higher rate of “passing” as a genetic female.
The face, at a glance, gives us the first impression of a person… in that fraction of a second, the brain assigns it a gender.
While other parts of the body can be hidden, camouflaged, or exaggerated to appear more feminine, it’s not always possible to mimic female facial features without surgical intervention. For this reason, transgender women seek facial feminization surgery as a way to transform their faces. However, FFS techniques allow us to obtain significant changes to the skull and face that are also often desired by genetic women with more prominent masculine features.
The actual requirements of the surgery vary from person to person and could well range from minimal to extensive. Each patient will need to obtain personalized advice and input from a facial surgeon to determine the desired and required procedure.
In recent years, the facial skeleton has been treated almost exclusively by maxillofacial or craniofacial surgeons. Improvements in surgical procedures and approaches to the facial bone complex have led to remarkable results in facial surgery.
The ability to transfer these innovative techniques to the field of Facial Feminization Surgery allows us to directly treat the bone contours. The effects of sculpting facial bone are predictable, ensuring long-term facial surgery results. Newly developed sculpting techniques work directly on the bone surface to modify contours and volume for a more harmonious oval shape. Subtle or dramatic changes are possible, depending on the desired results, through the following facial surgery:
– sculpt the prominence of the brow bone
– smooth the jawline
– reduce square or prominent chin
– minimizing the prominent tracheal (Adam’s apple)
Soft tissues (skin, fat, muscle and tendon) are exposed to numerous agents of change (muscle contraction and relaxation, fluid retention, gravitational effect, loss of elasticity and cohesive properties, etc.), which make it difficult to predict results of surgery on these tissues in the long term. On the contrary, the facial skeleton is not subject to the same vectors of change as those mentioned above, so the surgical modifications will remain unchanged over time. Taking this advantage into account and analyzing the main differences between male and female facial skeletons, we are able to redefine a human skeleton with FFS to achieve a more harmonious and ultimately more feminine face.