Help Jacquie get gender-affirming facial surgery!

Thank you for your help and consideration; it means the world to me. Please donate what you can. I have facial feminization surgery scheduled in December 2023. I need this procedure to give me peace of mind and relieve the gender dysphoria I feel. Health insurance refuses to cover this procedure, so to pay for it without going into debt, I’ll need every resource I have – and that includes your help. With all of my savings, $17K from my immediate family, and $5K from my girlfriend Margo, I still have $30,000 left to go.

Thank you again! Please consider sharing this link. The additional help would mean a lot to me.

=== Read more ===

Story time.

When I think of my life as a transgender woman over the past five years, I think of it as a time of rigorous self-improvement and self-love. Though every decision I've made has come with consequences and costs, my life has changed dramatically for the better, because every decision was made with my true best interests and best self at heart. I don't feel my words can do justice to how much happier I am in my life and in my body than I was in 2018.

To use a tired cliche, transition is a journey, not a destination — and my journey continues. Since I transitioned after testosterone puberty was completed, some of my physical features simply won't improve with hormone treatments alone, and will require surgery. After years of therapy, years of hormonal transition, years of patience, years of bargaining and grappling with self-acceptance — these features still bother me and cause me gender dysphoria.

Gender dysphoria is the distress I feel from the mismatch between my female gender identity, and some of the physical features I retain as a result of being assigned male at birth. Fixing these features will go a long way to help me feel at home and at peace in my body — to truly feel that the person I see in the mirror is the real me, the way I am supposed to be.

That's where facial feminization surgery (FFS) comes in. FFS actually refers to a group of individual surgical procedures. Several procedures are often performed at the same time, but with one goal: to feminize a trans woman's face and reduce her gender dysphoria. I think FFS is best thought of as a reconstructive surgery — it fixes features that resulted from going through the wrong puberty. Puberty was a time in my life when I had no control over the changes in my body and my life. Parts of my face still act as reminders of puberty. I never got a chance to avoid these changes but I can undo some of them.

After a major transition surgery in 2022, I had a difficult realization that it would not be my last surgery, even if it was the only one to be covered by insurance. I am 36, I am five years into transition, and two years into a successful career — and I need to get this surgery behind me so I can finally move on with my life.

I have already attended consultations and selected a surgeon, and I have surgery scheduled with Dr. Vartan Mardirossian in December 2023. If you are able to help me with a contribution, I will appreciate it more than I can express.

These are my "before" photos: my bare face without the advantages of hair and makeup. It's a humbling experience to take photos of yourself so you can send them to a surgeon and your loved ones and say "please help."

Below are some before and after pictures of a patient who went to my surgeon. I hope to achieve what she did — looking like myself, but better.

Many people are not very familiar with FFS, so I encourage you to read the questions below, and message me with other questions if you're curious.

What are you going to look like when it's done?

I can't really know for sure! Most surgeons don't do any kind of computer simulation — and if they do, it's not reliable, it's only a guess.

I can tell you that I trust the surgeon to deliver the results I need. And I can tell you that if you know me by now, you can trust that I know what I need. I intend to look like myself. Myself, but better. Myself, but with the problem areas fixed.

Does health insurance cover FFS?

No — not mine. And not most insurance plans in the United States. Insurance does not cover claims that are considered medically necessary by physicians, or by consensus of professional medical organizations. They cover only those claims that are mandated by law. No law in NY state mandates coverage for FFS, so insurance companies are allowed to deny such claims as "cosmetic."

But is it cosmetic?

Studies show that FFS is very effective in treating gender dysphoria. Trans women overwhelmingly report happiness and improved quality of life. I see the change in my friends who've had it, and it's truly amazing watching them grow into themselves.

When trans women seeking surgery are surveyed, and asked which surgery is their top priority — facial feminization surgery overwhelmingly leads all other surgeries, including breast augmentation and genital surgery. WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health is the utmost authority on transition healthcare, and their membership of over 2700 medical practitioners sets the standards for what is medically necessary — and they agree facial feminization surgery is an effective and necessary treatment for gender dysphoria.

So, there is no one definition of cosmetic. I ask you to consider:

Is this cosmetic to me?

I experience a chronic, persistent discomfort from the facial features I formed as a result of testosterone puberty. Maybe my strongest example is this: I still can't put my hair up and look at myself in the mirror. Years of transition, with all that entails — the therapy, the patience, the grappling with self-acceptance — have made me more sure than ever that this is something I need to be fully at peace with myself. FFS is not an effort to look like someone else, or to look more beautiful — it is to look more like the real me. I want to fix the problem areas so that my face makes sense to me.

I want to smile for photos unencumbered. I want to stop worrying if sitting under this lighting is bringing out my worst features. I want to put my hair up. And I will spend whatever it costs to achieve this.

So is $30,000 what FFS will cost you?

Sticker price is $55,000. The $30K goal is the portion I need help with.

Dr. Mardirossian is not the most expensive surgeon I consulted with, but he is my #1 choice. He's world-class and I trust him to take good care of me.

I can't beat around the bush; this surgery will cost me a lot of money. Everything is coming out of my own pocket — not only the surgeon, but the hospital and anesthetic fees. I will also have to travel to Virginia. I am exhausting all the funding I have available to me. I have been carefully saving my own money for over a year. I have put away some money that was contributed by my immediate family, and by my girlfriend Margo. I'm choosing my health and well-being over home ownership. The GoFundMe goal of $30,000 reflects what's left to pay. This will come from a combination of the following:

Any amount you can contribute will allow me to borrow less from the credit union, and put this expense behind me sooner, and pay less interest. It will also earn my undying gratitude.

If you have read this far, thank you so so much. I appreciate you. Would you please consider forwarding this link to two people who might believe in my cause? Even by sending one email with this link, you could change a life. Seriously.

Thank you! ❤