An Honest Approach to Solve my Gender Dysphoria

In march 2021 I had facial feminization surgery at 2pass Clinic. The surgery was performed by Dr. Bart van de Ven and during the surgery he was assisted by an anesthetist and two nurses. I am super satisfied with the results and the surgery changed my life in a very positive way. The moment I decided to transition, I knew I wanted to have facial surgery. I went through puberty without taking estrogen or testosterone blockers and it left my face with some pretty masculine features. My jaw and brow bone especially made my face appear masculine. I tried embracing myself without undergoing surgery for a while, but I kept feeling stuck and not feeling authentic. Heavy make-up and laser hair removal simply cannot erase bone structure. Also, I really wanted to feel comfortable with my non makeup face too. I wanted my plain face to resemble me the way I feel, so I can look feminine doing groceries on a lazy sunday when I just got out of bed. From early on the results from Dr. Bart looked astonishing to me. On the internet lots of photo- and video content can be found showing his results. At times it almost looked too good to be true. I therefore decided to plan a consultation and I got in contact with people who already had their surgery done at 2pass Clinic. Dr. Bart comes across as someone who really loves his job and takes the whole matter of helping his clients super seriously. He is straightforward and honest in his approach and not the type of doctor trying to sell you anything. Of course surgery costs money, but his efforts are solely focused on feminizing your face. Because of his experience, I decided to not have any specific wishes and go with his judgement. After the consultation I received edited photos, giving an impression of what he thought the surgery could do for me. He suggested improving my hairline, brow bone reduction and brow lift, rhinoplasty and jaw and chin reduction/reshaping. A liplift was an extra optional procedure for me, but I eventually decided to go without this procedure. I gave myself some time to evaluate and after a couple of weeks I planned the surgery. After the surgery I stayed in the clinic’s guesthouse for a week. The 2pass Clinic staff really helped and supported me during my stay and made the whole experience a lot easier. During my stay I met with other patients too, so I never had to feel alone or unattended. The first days of recovery were pretty tough, but after three days my recovery started to accelerate. After a week I turned back home with a bruised face slightly colored in blue and yellow. Life goes on and so I went grocery shopping the next day. Everywhere I was referred to as a woman. I still had a lot of “unswelling” to do, but apparently the people I met had no doubts about my appearance. The swelling slowly disappeared in the weeks after and I regained strength. I tried to resume normal life as quickly as possible, but I did take a break from work for a couple of weeks. I am glad I did, because at times I felt pretty tired. Also, I wanted to keep the stitches in my hairline clean and I was afraid at work the wound might get infected. Eventually an infection did occur just above my right eye underneath my skin. I got in touch with Dr. Bart about this and during the consultation he suggested a followup surgery. During the followup surgery he also made a small correction to my nose and my jaw. I only had to pay for my stay, but the surgery itself involved no additional costs. Last month I had my final checkup and so I decided to write this review about my experience. I purposely wanted to wait with this effort until I was fully recovered. The surgery made my life a whole lot easier and it immensely decreased my gender dysphoria. In the last months I really had to get used to my reflection, because I was so used to it looking masculine. I guess it took my brain some time to adjust to my reshaped face, but it is simply enjoyable to be happily surprised every time I see it feminine looking. My face still looks like me, just the female version of it. A friend of mine said I look like a sister of my “pre-surgery appearance”. I feel more confident now and I stopped bothering about my appearance so much. I feel like I just don't have to anymore. Sure, I still have “above the female average” sized feet and hands etc, but I have come to a point in my transition where I am moving on with life. The facial feminization surgery performed by Dr. Bart and his team helped me in getting to this point. So, I took my time to write this review carefully and I hope 2pass Clinic will be able to help more people struggling with their facial appearance in the future. I also did a quick video Q&A with Dr. Bart during my final consultation, so with time you can probably see the results of my surgery on the 2pass Clinic website or YouTube channel. My name is Taylor and in the Q&A Dr. Bart also mentions the followup surgery I had.