I was born deaf and and use sign language.
Dr. Crane is my first choice. I have not made any appts yet.
I want to keep my original equipment. I want to get phalloplasty for STP reason. I think I would have to go with RFA.

I am scheduled for Phalloplasty consultation with Dr. Crane in this early Spring. I want to get radial flap forearm first, but I think that I have to go on with ALT. I am Deaf-born and sign a lot in ASL with my both hands. I am not sure, if RFF has some disadvantages to my hand. However, RFA has the best erogenous sensation than ALT. I wonder, if RFF has less complication than ALT? Anyone is signing with ASL after RFF surgery? Also, I will get electrolysis on my donor site soon. I have to wait until my consultation with Dr. Crane.

Thank you

Hey all ,

I am set to have phallo with Crane in Jan 2015, 4 years post top hysto and previous meta. I am being fully covered by Kaiser of California, the max I would have to pay towards my surgery is $2,250 and thats before I deduct any expenses for normal care during the year so it will end up being less than that over all. I have been pretty settle on RFF phalloplasty for many reason and the advantages that it brings but as time passes I think I am weighing in more on ALT now. Dr Cranes first 10 patients I know half of if not more personally so it has been great to be able to go to the hospital see things and watch these guys recover and report things like sensation and complication ratios. All the ALT guys and RFF guys I know have not had any issues as far as sensation is concerned, in fact many were overly surprised by the fact that they had sensation so very early off!

I was deterred at first by the fact that there we no real warnings that his 1 stage ALT incorporated a incision line on the bottom and top of the phallus. But after doing some more research and having two more friends go through a 3 stage ALT phallo that has no incision on the top side of the phallus I am looking more into ALT at this point. I have always been keen on my thighs but I do have to be realistic in the fact that my thighs ARE less visible and less hairier than my forearms. I am semi-stealth (90% of daily interactions people do not know, 9% is internet being out, 1% family and friends knowing) so needless to say my fiancees family DOES NOT know so I am now rethinking the constant questions of "well what happened to your arm?". Rethinking this is leading me to rethink ALT as that leaves me with no one but myself and my spouse consistently aware of what has happened to my thighs under my clothes.

There are also things I worry about such as firmness in regards to ALT vs forearm. One reason I would do a 3 stage over the 2 stage is girth. I do not want an extra thick penis. As well it gives me time to do even more electrolysis IF need be between stage one and stage two which are 6 months apart. Thanks to Kaiser the electrolysis is practically free!

I will try to get more guys who have went to crane to join the forum and speak out a bit.

Hey all ,

I am set to have phallo with Crane in Jan 2015, 4 years post top hysto and previous meta. I am being fully covered by Kaiser of California, the max I would have to pay towards my surgery is $2,250 and thats before I deduct any expenses for normal care during the year so it will end up being less than that over all. I have been pretty settle on RFF phalloplasty for many reason and the advantages that it brings but as time passes I think I am weighing in more on ALT now. Dr Cranes first 10 patients I know half of if not more personally so it has been great to be able to go to the hospital see things and watch these guys recover and report things like sensation and complication ratios. All the ALT guys and RFF guys I know have not had any issues as far as sensation is concerned, in fact many were overly surprised by the fact that they had sensation so very early off!

I was deterred at first by the fact that there we no real warnings that his 1 stage ALT incorporated a incision line on the bottom and top of the phallus. But after doing some more research and having two more friends go through a 3 stage ALT phallo that has no incision on the top side of the phallus I am looking more into ALT at this point. I have always been keen on my thighs but I do have to be realistic in the fact that my thighs ARE less visible and less hairier than my forearms. I am semi-stealth (90% of daily interactions people do not know, 9% is internet being out, 1% family and friends knowing) so needless to say my fiancees family DOES NOT know so I am now rethinking the constant questions of "well what happened to your arm?". Rethinking this is leading me to rethink ALT as that leaves me with no one but myself and my spouse consistently aware of what has happened to my thighs under my clothes.

There are also things I worry about such as firmness in regards to ALT vs forearm. One reason I would do a 3 stage over the 2 stage is girth. I do not want an extra thick penis. As well it gives me time to do even more electrolysis IF need be between stage one and stage two which are 6 months apart. Thanks to Kaiser the electrolysis is practically free!

I will try to get more guys who have went to crane to join the forum and speak out a bit.

Thanks for sharing this info with us.
I am not lucky enough to have insurance, but i do have a 401k I can draw on to cover the costs.
Any more info is always great to hear from those that have come before. My main concern is the crazy scarring of the penis from pictures i have seen, some look ...well...[edited]...Does dr Crane have any photos of his work?

Thanks for sharing this info with us.
I am not lucky enough to have insurance, but i do have a 401k I can draw on to cover the costs.
Any more info is always great to hear from those that have come before. My main concern is the crazy scarring of the penis from pictures i have seen, some look ...well...[edited]...Does dr Crane have any photos of his work?

One word to the wise, when talking about surgical results remember they are someones body be considerate of what you may say as that person maybe the person to respond but if you offend someone you may lose the chance to gain valuable information...Secondly you have to also realize a lot of pics floating on the net openly are withing the first 12 months of healing majority are are within the first 3-6 months post op where everything is still swollen and healing. gauging off these results as "completed" is a horrible thing to do its like psyching ones self out of something in order to validate certain fears or disagreements. I encourage folks to seek out photos of penis' after 3 or more years of healing you will be very amazed by how much different those same scars look. Think about how apparent some top surgery incisions can be within the first year and then years later they are almost transparent if not so fully. Remember folks, healing can take years so dont judge right away. I can say I have seen results where scars looked wildly painful and then 18 months later there is not a trace of any incisions. I have had meta and you can not find any incisions at all even if your with your face in my crotch lol, but immediately post op you would have been like WHOA! Having this approach also aids in realistic expectations once you awake from surgery.

But to answer your question yes Dr Crane has tons of photos of ALT and RFF, not sure of anyone who has gone for MLD as of yet. If you join the yahoo phalloplasty groups you will find pictures of phallo and he has pictures of his meta on the meta groups on yahoo as well. If you also schedule an in office consult ($150) you can get a wide slide show of photos of all his surgeries and I believe ones hes helped on as well.

So I randomly found this thread again and thought I would give an update. I had forearm phallo with Dr. Crane on May 21, 2014, meaning I am six months post-op now. I am so happy with my result! I was worried that I would always be getting comments on my arm scar, and I did right after I got home and everything looked fresh, but once it healed people didn't seem to notice anymore. I have full mobility and strength back in my hand/wrist, and have had for some time now.

I don't have insurance and paid out-of-pocket, so I don't have any advice in that aspect. It was $75,000 US, plus I asked for a mons resection to flatten out the area (he said I didn't need it but I thought it would look better, and I'm glad I did), which added another $5,000. That was for forearm phallo, urethral lengthening, scrotoplasty, vaginoplasty, mons lipo, 5 days in hospital, anesthesia, 3 follow-up appointments with Dr. Crane, and a follow-up appointment with Dr. Safa (the microsurgeon).

I'm not posting photos online because that is something very personal and private, but I am *very* happy with my results. Any of the doctors/nurses who have seen me at home have been very impressed (two of them didn't even know I was trans until I told them, even as they were looking at it!). I had some hair removal done on my arm prior to surgery but I didn't get done as much as I'd like, so I'm continuing that now and my electrologist always comments on what a great job my surgeon did and that she would have never known if I hadn't told her.

I know that everyone heals differently and has a different experience, but I certainly don't have any "crazy scarring". I have one line that runs along the length of my penis, on the underside. There was a scar going around the base of the penis that was much more obvious after surgery, but now it's barely visible (and would be covered if you kept any pubic hair). And lastly there's a scar from a groin incision, which is about 3 inches long, running from my penis and upwards along the groin crease. It's the only one that's visible (and barely), and looks very similar to a scar you'd have from an inguinal hernia repair - it's not obviously related to the penis.

I know that I will definitely want testicular implants, but I'm on the fence about getting an erectile pump yet. It would be nice to have but I'm worried about infection/erosion, needing more surgeries and maybe getting more scarring, and/or causing damage to things inside. I'm so happy with how things turned out that I'm scared of getting greedy and wrecking it. Does anybody have experience with having a pump placed yet?

I'd be happy to talk more about things and show pictures of my arm through e-mail.

So I randomly found this thread again and thought I would give an update. I had forearm phallo with Dr. Crane on May 21, 2014, meaning I am six months post-op now. I am so happy with my result! I was worried that I would always be getting comments on my arm scar, and I did right after I got home and everything looked fresh, but once it healed people didn't seem to notice anymore. I have full mobility and strength back in my hand/wrist, and have had for some time now.

I don't have insurance and paid out-of-pocket, so I don't have any advice in that aspect. It was $75,000 US, plus I asked for a mons resection to flatten out the area (he said I didn't need it but I thought it would look better, and I'm glad I did), which added another $5,000. That was for forearm phallo, urethral lengthening, scrotoplasty, vaginoplasty, mons lipo, 5 days in hospital, anesthesia, 3 follow-up appointments with Dr. Crane, and a follow-up appointment with Dr. Safa (the microsurgeon).

I'm not posting photos online because that is something very personal and private, but I am *very* happy with my results. Any of the doctors/nurses who have seen me at home have been very impressed (two of them didn't even know I was trans until I told them, even as they were looking at it!). I had some hair removal done on my arm prior to surgery but I didn't get done as much as I'd like, so I'm continuing that now and my electrologist always comments on what a great job my surgeon did and that she would have never known if I hadn't told her.

I know that everyone heals differently and has a different experience, but I certainly don't have any "crazy scarring". I have one line that runs along the length of my penis, on the underside. There was a scar going around the base of the penis that was much more obvious after surgery, but now it's barely visible (and would be covered if you kept any pubic hair). And lastly there's a scar from a groin incision, which is about 3 inches long, running from my penis and upwards along the groin crease. It's the only one that's visible (and barely), and looks very similar to a scar you'd have from an inguinal hernia repair - it's not obviously related to the penis.

I know that I will definitely want testicular implants, but I'm on the fence about getting an erectile pump yet. It would be nice to have but I'm worried about infection/erosion, needing more surgeries and maybe getting more scarring, and/or causing damage to things inside. I'm so happy with how things turned out that I'm scared of getting greedy and wrecking it. Does anybody have experience with having a pump placed yet?

I'd be happy to talk more about things and show pictures of my arm through e-mail.

Hey man congrats on having surgery. Instead of Jan u ended up having phallo about 82 days ago with Crane. I had ALT and am totally happy with everything as well. At almost 3 months out things look amazing even my thigh and of course no one even sees it so makes things that much better my. When people see my penis they just think I'm uncircumcised which is cool with me. I have another stage in June for the detailed glansplasty and to place my testicles since he removed the ones I had from my meta and he recreated my entire scrotum.

I'd also like to say join the Brownstein&Crane Surgical Yahoo Group there are post forearm guys that you maybe interested in speaking to. I'm the owner of the group and posted photos there as its a place where crane is recommending guys who come in for consults and those post op to connect for healing support. crane asked me himself to put that group together it's awesome how amazing he is. Not just as a surgeon but as a human being period point blank

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Oh yea you may need that

I had phalloplasty surgery with Dr. Crane on February 3, 2014. I also had testicular and penile implant surgery on April 30, 2015. Both him and his staff provided exceptional care. Dr. Crane is incredible. The best advice I can give to people who are about to receive this surgery is don't doubt. With post op, there might be mild complications or many concerns you may start to feel. But don't. Dr. Crane will solve everything. Be confident. I had doubts post op during the healing process, Dr. Crane kept reassuring me that it gets better. And it does. I'm happy as hell with my results. This is a very skilled surgeon. The nurses were also phenomenal. Always caring and understanding of my needs with quick responses. They are always right there for you to make you as comfortable as possible.

I had phalloplasty surgery with Dr. Crane on February 3, 2014. I also had testicular and penile implant surgery on April 30, 2015. Both him and his staff provided exceptional care. Dr. Crane is incredible. The best advice I can give to people who are about to receive this surgery is don't doubt. With post op, there might be mild complications or many concerns you may start to feel. But don't. Dr. Crane will solve everything. Be confident. I had doubts post op during the healing process, Dr. Crane kept reassuring me that it gets better. And it does. I'm happy as hell with my results. This is a very skilled surgeon. The nurses were also phenomenal. Always caring and understanding of my needs with quick responses. They are always right there for you to make you as comfortable as possible.

Which penile implant did you go with?

Wow! No posts since 2014!?!
Are guys going to different sites for information?
I'm scheduled for Aug 1st with Dr. Chen. He's been with Dr. Crane since 2016.
Anybody had surgery with him?

Yes, most online phallo conversations are happening in private spaces: predominantly Facebook groups and mailing lists. Tumblr and Reddit are also popular for public info sharing.

Good luck with your upcoming surgery!