SPACESHIP top surgery!

This afternoon, I had a consultation with a surgeon who recommended the extended peri-areolar –or extended concentric circles– procedure for me. Like in periareolar or keyhole, an incision is made around the areola (all the way around or just half a circle, depending on the case); but in this method, there are two extra scars extending horizontally from the areola which allow extra skin to be taken out.

I was super excited to find someone who performs this surgery because I was nervous about having too much extra skin for periareolar. Although I’ve seen excellent results from peri –even on medium-sized breasts– and it’s been recommended for my chest, I only know one person who underwent this surgery in Argentina and he ended up with stretched-out areolas. I was okay with that at the time –and it’s only a possibility, not a certainty– but the extended method would avoid that risk. And you get UFO shaped scars! Fun!

There’s very little info online that I could find. I learned about the technique thanks to Travis, who has a very clear explanation video (here’s a slideshow video of his chest healing). He’s the one who calls it the “spaceship” or “London underground” surgery due to the shape of the scars.

The article “Mastectomy in Female-to-male Transsexuals” by Namba, Watanabe and Kimata explains the procedure and who it’s recommended for (warning: black-and white images of surgery being performed).

Finally, the article “Chest-Wall Contouring Surgery in Female-to-Male Transsexuals: A New Algorithm” compares the outcome of five types of mastectomy –including extended peri– performed on 92 people and concludes which type is best for each case. I love that this article includes before and after pictures (and diagrams) of each procedure, without showing anything graphic.

Two fun facts about this technique: it was invented in the 1930s and it’s called the Moguilevsky method (according to the surgeon, at least; I couldn’t find any source to point y’all to).

The downside to extended peri? The last article I linked found that it had the highest rate of complications and revisions, along with the lowest satisfaction rating. And since there are very few images available, I’m not sure what to expect.  Please let me know if you’ve heard more about this procedure; it still seems like a good option.

Edit: I found an assortment of materials from Australia, where this operation is fairly common. Here’s some pictures and a whole bunch of videos showing the results.

it had the highest revisional rate
(60 percent) and the lowest overall satisfaction rating
(3.6 of 5) by both patient and surgeon

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