I realize my last answer was a little vague numbers-wise, so to give some perspective of how rare the troubles I’m having really are, I offer this:
When I had phalloplasty, Dr. Crane and his team had done about 150 phalloplasties already.
So far, how many of those patients have had scar-tissue strictures like mine, *including* me?
3.
Those kind of odds are what I meant by “improbable.” So know what’s *possible* when you’re going in, sure– but honestly, I wouldn’t worry *too* much.
I’m curious where you got that number from, and was I included in it?
It might’ve been! The specific number I was referring to wasn’t of the number of strictures that had happened from Crane’s surgeries, but the cases that were so severe that the patient couldn’t pee through it whatsoever. (The scar tissue taken out of me during my stricture-fixing surgery was described as “like a cork.”) If that’s what happened to you, I do sympathize.
For the record, I’m glad I asked Dr. Chen about this when I was having my last follow-up visit in San Francisco. He said that the number of patients having strictures occur after their phalloplasty was still holding consistent at around fifteen to twenty per cent– slightly lower for forearm skin donors, slightly higher if they took your skin from the thigh.
Lesson learned: I wouldn’t *count* on a stricture happening, but if it’s at all possible, I’d budget for airfare and a hotel stay for a possible second trip to San Francisco just in case. One hopes you won’t have to take it, of course, but if you happen to be one of those “lucky” 15-20%, it won’t shatter your bank account, either.
Chinchilla Meat 