<aside> 💡 The goal of this document is to help trans and gender-diverse people navigate the complex processes involved in obtaining gender-affirming care in British Columbia.
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As someone living with multiple chronic physical and mental health conditions, I would not have been able to access the healthcare I needed without the help of my local and online disabled, trans, and racialized communities. By illuminating the steps to receiving gender-affirming care in BC, this document is my way of giving back to the communities that have given me so much.
This guide is still in the works; if you see any mistakes, please reach me at:
@ngmitts on Instagram
@MittertreinerEm on Twitter
Please reach out if you are facing access barriers in any area of healthcare; if I don’t have existing resources to send you, I am happy to conduct any research needed to create new ones. Reaching out for help is NOT a burden; if you have this question, it's likely that others do too. Your questions will always be leading to the creation and maintenance of communal knowledge that will benefit others in the future.
<aside> 💡 This guide is still in the works, and mostly represents information relevant to my own journey.
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In the future I hope to include information beyond what I needed to know for my own surgery process, including travel funding and subsidies for out-of-town surgeries, processes for obtaining revisions, scar healing and care, post-op depression management, post-recovery physical therapy, and more. I also will build further on the Resources and Managing Expectations sections as I just recently started on both of them.
<aside> 💡 This guide is set in a British Columbian context, following the protocol set out by our publicly funded Medical Services Plan and the provincial TransCare team.
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I wrote the pre- and post-surgery guidelines with my specific surgeon in mind, Dr. McKee, as well as my specific procedure: double incision mastectomy without free nipple graphs. Other healthcare plans and other surgeons may have different requirements, and I tried to indicate where instructions might be unique to Dr. McKee's process.
I also included a number of recommendations garnered from the anecdotal advice of past patients. These recommendations may or may not be empirically supported so if you have any doubts, consult with your doctor rather than assuming anything.
Pssssst if you are someone who was AFAB and is looking for real-person connection or support, the group FTM/NON-B/AFAB British Columbia is a lovely and safe private Facebook group with great humans, tons of top surgery photos, and good advice on testosterone therapy. You can also message me on my Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and I'd be happy to connect you with whatever kind of support you are looking for!
Pssssst x2 I can't speak to anything AMAB-related personally but I am definitely still able to connect you with folks who can!
Pssssst x3 if you are looking for other health-related resources in BC, check out my other page-in-progress (it is very much still a work in progress and not all the pages are filled in, but if there's specific info you're looking for and you can't find it, contact me and I can try to recommend some resources): ‣
It me. Credits to Alice Zhang 2020
My name is Em and I am a nonbinary person who starting taking steps to affirm my gender in 2019. I started testosterone in April 2019, and then underwent top surgery on August 26, 2020. Throughout the process of pursuing access to gender-affirming care, I spent a lot of time looking into the advice and experiences of other patients. I had to do a lot of research to ensure I was fully prepared for the consultation for testosterone therapy, and the procedure and recovery process for top surgery. Seeking gender-affirming care requires a lot of self-advocacy on the part of the patient, which can be emotionally taxing especially for folks whose wellbeing and daily functioning is compromised due to the social and emotional burdens associated with dealing with cispatriarchal societal fuckery. I know not everybody has the time or emotional capacity to do extensive research, so I decided it would be a good idea to compile everything I was learning so that others can find it all in one place.
An hour or so after waking up from the anesthesia!