What Exactly Does It Mean to Undergo a Transgender Transition?

Since Bruce Jenner revealed on national TV that he is a transgender woman, there has been a lot of talk about what transitioning really entails. Will Bruce restart a hormone regimen? Will he take on a new name? Will there be surgery involved? Honestly, we had some questions about the process ourselves! So we called up Dr. Jeffrey Spiegel, a facial plastic surgeon in Boston who has done over a thousand procedures for his transgender clients to help clarify these queries. So whether you are thinking about transitioning, know a transgender person, or are just curious about Bruce, you'll have the right information to be an ally!

First a vocabulary lesson is required. Transgender is more about gender identity than sexual orientation. It refers to who you are, not who you are attracted to. So, a transgender woman is someone who was born a man but identifies as a woman inside (such as Bruce). It also works in the opposite way: a transgender man is a female-born person who identifies as a man (Chaz Bono, for example). A transgender person might wear different clothes, experiment with grooming routines, take hormones, and undergo surgery to make his or her outer appearance match his or her gender identity.

"A transgender woman knows she's a woman surely as you know you are a woman," Dr. Spiegel told me. "The problem a transgender woman has is that you don't see she's a woman. So the main goal is to make her facial appearance match her sense of self."

Every transgender person's journey is different. However, facial feminization surgery is typically one of the first considerations for someone looking to make a change. FFS is a group of procedures that can erase masculine features such as a strong jaw, prominent Adam's apple, or receding hairline. If all these procedures are done at once, it could take up to 10 hours on the operating table and cost up to $50,000. Continue reading to get the full spectrum of surgeries available to someone looking to undergo the male-to-female transition. While all of these are not required, each procedure serves to make a transgender woman feel more comfortable in her skin.

Note: For the purposes of this story, we will refer to Bruce Jenner as "he" since that is the pronoun he requested during his interview with Diane Sawyer.

from POPSUGAR Beauty