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SRS is an acronym for Sexual Assignment surgery. But it can go by other names as well. Names such as gender reassignment surgery, gender confirmation surgery, or genital reconstruction surgery. The process is when a transgenders appearance and their sexual organs are changed. Regardless of the surgery, there is information needed for when removing hair before or after SRS surgery (SRS hair removal). We all know that people love to remove hair from their genital or bikini area. But when people have surgery around this area, they must be careful because they can injure or bruise the area even more. Or maybe certain methods might not work as well as they would’ve prior to the surgery nor would they work effectively after surgery.
Disclaimer: Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this Website. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, go to the emergency department, or call 911 immediately.Reliance on any information provided by HairRemovalZone.com is solely at your own risk.
Hair removal before your SRS procedure
You’ll find many surgeons that will recommend that their patient remove hair from the genitals prior to the SRS procedure. It’s important to note that genital hair removal before the procedure isn’t mandatory. In fact, this recommendation varies depending on the surgeon and their preferences.
The recommended procedure is genital electrolysis. They recommend this because when the skin is cut and used for forming a vagina it might have hair follicles on it. Then once your new vagina is formed, hair can grow in it. This may be embarrassing to you.
In some cases, probably depending on the surgeon the need for post-hair removal methods being used is thrown out the door completely. This happens because the surgeon will scrape and cauterize the skin and remove any hair follicles he/she comes across. This happens right as the surgery takes place.
Hair will be removed from the penile shaft and around its base. Hair will also be removed from the scrotum and perineum.
What can you expect to go through before SRS if you are having a hair removal procedure done?
If you plan to go through this procedure, you can expect to go through about 5 – 8 cycles of genital electrolysis and if you go for the laser hair removal, you can expect 3 – 5 sessions. This should happen 3 weeks before GRS (genital reassignment surgery).
In general, the complete hair removal process should take half a year (6months) but some may take up to a whole year, but most will get it done sooner than planned. The three-week time period is to allow your body to heal and recover prior to SRS surgery.
But the majority of SRS surgeons may tell you to complete your genital electrolysis 1 – 6 weeks prior to the surgery. Even 8 weeks may be recommended. This is just to make sure your body has time to heal if or when a complication arises, and it can take a few weeks to clear up.
The technician performing the electrolysis may need to get a letter or phone call from your doctor. The doctor will have to tell the electrologist “my patient will need genital electrolysis as preparation for their upcoming SRS.”
Quick note: The information is mostly for male to female SRS surgeries. The difference between these two types of surgeries is the level of difficulty and level of success. Male to female SRS surgeries are more successful and are easier for the surgeries to perform.
Which is better for hair removal before SRS, laser hair removal or electrolysis?
Laser hair removal is less painful than its electrolysis counterpart and doesn’t take as much time. If you can get hold of a good physician that knows what their doing, with the right laser it can have a permanent effect on darker hair than electrolysis would.
Getting electrolysis (genital electrolysis) on the genitals may hurt a lot more than having any facial work done. So, you might have to take extra steps to reduce your pain. Also lasers haven’t been proven to provide patients with permanent hair removal.
Why some surgeons won’t even remove hair before SRS?
Some surgeons may find it difficult on giving their patients correct instructions on what hair should be taken out.
Should the hair around the penis be taken out?
Should the hair around the scrotal sac be removed?
Some won’t know for sure what to remove until they are actually in the surgery performing the procedure.
Also another reason is because both electrolysis and laser hair removal can inflame the skin causing a bad reaction and giving the skin a tough and elastic feel. Surgeons love using skin to graft the new genitalia, so, that new skin has to be thin and manageable.
Some surgeons may take a risk and give their patient an option. Most likely you’ll come across surgeons that’ll suggest you remove hair from the perineal area. You can find this area between the anus and scrotum. Since this area can be grafted and used to form the vagina, if you have a lot of hair around this area, you can expect some hair growth near your vagina.
Other important things current patients or future patients should know about the SRS procedure and removing hair before the procedure.
- Surgeons who perform the SRS may recommend electrolysis to you because some patients may report that their new vaginas have hair, in and around it. This unwanted hair makes the patient concerned for the look and functionality of their new vagina
- The treatment will be done in high settings. There may be some light scarring but that light scarring doesn’t matter as much for the genital area
- Your hygiene must be on point. Not subpar. And if you are close to the surgery date. Then you must have your hygiene on a good level. There may be risks of skin infections from the genital electrolysis.
- So you can use a special type of soap. Something like Betadine liquid soap. You can start using it the day of the surgery, like right before. Even after your surgery is finished, you can use the Betadine soap for a few weeks after
- Say you want to wait for the SRS surgery to take place and then get genital electrolysis. You can do that, but the treatment would be easier pre-surgery. After surgery, the way everything is shaped will make it very difficult to perform the electrolysis in certain areas. Some cases it is impossible
- At times an SRS surgeon may need skin grafts from other parts of the body such as the hip or abdomen in order to create a vagina and labia minora/majora. If you were to clear all that hair from your scrotum or penis’s base before your SRS surgery, it will reduce your surgeons need for either hip or abdomen skin graft
- Emla cream (numbing agent) can be patchy in my experience. One spot it will numb the other spots it won’t. Everyone’s pain tolerances are different. Some will be able to handle it others not so much
- Some doctors will want hair removed from certain areas that would be formed as part of the inside of your labia, but not on the parts that form the vagina
- Say you don’t get any hair removal before your SRS surgery. Surgeons will work around that and scrape the hair follicles off from the graft site before they use it. But doing the electrolysis beforehand ensures that the follicles will most likely be destroyed before that graft becomes a part of your vagina
- Genital SRS may cost you a lot. You might have to pay for every hour that you are on the operating table
Genital electrolysis is a lengthy procedure. As I wrote about before, it can take up to a year of time to complete, sometimes even longer.
The reason it may take so long depends on the persons hair density. But here is a little descriptive time frame you can reference to
- 1st session, 6 weeks of reset
- 2nd session, be prepared to spend at least 6 hours doing the session, 6 weeks of rest
- 3rd session, this session should be a little less. It should be about 4 hours. Then 6 weeks of rest
- 4th session, now its down to two hours you should spend on this procedure. Then 6 weeks of rest
- 5th session, now its 1 hour. Almost finished. Then 6 weeks of rest
- 6th session, half hour. No more 6 weeks, only 1 week of rest.
Quick note: the lasers used for removing hair from the genitals aren’t proven to be permanent. And there is no significant data detailing that the lasers are permanent.
Be sure to consult with your surgeon on any questions or concerns you may have.