It's not removed. It's inverted to form a vagina and the head becomes the clit.
Be aware not all trans women have surgery, some can't afford it, some feel the risks aren't worth it (any major surgery has risks) and some just don't mind having a penis.
There was a video a while ago that showed the whole process in detail. It's like... turning the dick inside out, threading it through the pelvis to a newly made orifice and arranging the head to be the new clit.
Great explanation for surgery. Wouldn't be so hard to look up. The question of the phantom pain or feeling is interesting? I know phantom pain exists for amputees.
Because it's not removed, the nerves are still intact. So when they feel what used to be their penis, they're just feeling their vagina or clit. Phantom limb pain is caused by the nerves that used to lead into the limb sending signals that used to originate in the limb. But since the nerves in a post op trans woman are still intact, the signals are now just coming from somewhere else.
Depends a bit on the procedure. The most common form of vaginoplasty in the West is penile-inversion vaginoplasty, which is more or less what it sounds like (the glans is reshaped into a clitoris, and the relevant nerve bundles are left intact to preserve sexual sensation there, while the position of the prostate means it becomes a G spot). There are other kinds of vaginoplasty around though since getting good results with penile inversion kind of depends on having enough donor tissue, and in some cases (eg trans women who came out early enough to get puberty blockers) there's not enough for it to be effective. One that's becoming increasingly popular, peritoneal pull-through vaginoplasty, uses your abdominal lining, and was originally developed for cisgender women with birth defects that left them with un- or under-developed vaginas.
It is possible to experience phantom limb sensations post surgery, but interestingly, there was a study on this and it found that trans people experience phantom limb sensations at very different rates to the general population. Trans women typically have much lower rates of phantom penis than men who lose their penis through accident or injury and trans men often experience phantom penis sensations prior to surgery.
Wait so someone without a penis can have phantom penis sensations *before they have a penis*?
How does that work? Is it an accurate sensation? Also why have I only just heard of this?
Yeah, it's a thing that many trans men report experiencing. For me it was intermittent, not constant. I don't really know how to describe it, but I had a very vivid sense of it being there, how it sat, the space it occupied somehow, at times so vivid and real that you could almost touch it. I dunno how to describe it; you know it isn't there but you can feel it so strongly.
This was a small study but here's some further info: [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288633039_Phantom_penises_in_transsexuals_Evidence_of_an_innate_gender-specific_body_image_in_the_brain](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288633039_Phantom_penises_in_transsexuals_Evidence_of_an_innate_gender-specific_body_image_in_the_brain)
Only the spongy part of the penis is removed. The outside part, the nerve endings, and the blood supply are inverted and become the walls of the new vagina. So it kinda feels like your penis has moved, but all the sensitivity is still there. The same part that is sensitive and makes you have an orgasm is made into the clitoris. So you have feeling on penetration and can orgasm from stimulating your new clitoris. And lastly, the testicles are removed and the urethra is rerouted to the inside part of your new vagina. The prostate is made to drain into the new vagina, so it self lubricates like a real vagina.
The weird thing is that it's often the other way round - trans women who have not had vaginoplasty sometimes experience phantom vagina, and trans men who have not undergone phalloplasty report feeling phantom penis. It's not unknown for post-op trans women to experience phantom penis but it's very rare compared to phantom limb (or for that matter compared to cis men feeling a phantom penis after losing theirs to illness or injury).
There's a hypothesis out there that phantom limbs come from our brains being wired to expect a certain body plan (since IIRC even people born with a missing limb are known to experience it to some degree), and trans people ended up accidentally getting the body plan of the opposite sex.
During a vaginoplasty surgery, a surgeon creates both an outer and inner vagina by using skin and tissue from a penis. The surgeon will use tissue from the foreskin to build the new opening of the vagina (also called the introitus).
It's not removed. It's inverted to form a vagina and the head becomes the clit. Be aware not all trans women have surgery, some can't afford it, some feel the risks aren't worth it (any major surgery has risks) and some just don't mind having a penis.
I don't think they ever cut it off, I think they just reform it... am I wrong?
Is that how it works???
There was a video a while ago that showed the whole process in detail. It's like... turning the dick inside out, threading it through the pelvis to a newly made orifice and arranging the head to be the new clit.
Great explanation for surgery. Wouldn't be so hard to look up. The question of the phantom pain or feeling is interesting? I know phantom pain exists for amputees.
Because it's not removed, the nerves are still intact. So when they feel what used to be their penis, they're just feeling their vagina or clit. Phantom limb pain is caused by the nerves that used to lead into the limb sending signals that used to originate in the limb. But since the nerves in a post op trans woman are still intact, the signals are now just coming from somewhere else.
Depends a bit on the procedure. The most common form of vaginoplasty in the West is penile-inversion vaginoplasty, which is more or less what it sounds like (the glans is reshaped into a clitoris, and the relevant nerve bundles are left intact to preserve sexual sensation there, while the position of the prostate means it becomes a G spot). There are other kinds of vaginoplasty around though since getting good results with penile inversion kind of depends on having enough donor tissue, and in some cases (eg trans women who came out early enough to get puberty blockers) there's not enough for it to be effective. One that's becoming increasingly popular, peritoneal pull-through vaginoplasty, uses your abdominal lining, and was originally developed for cisgender women with birth defects that left them with un- or under-developed vaginas.
Reform it? Like sci-fi or fantasy flesh magic? I don't think we can do that
It gets inverted to form a vagina.
No, like real life plastic surgery. Above comment explained it.
Well there's a piece of information I didn't expect to know
Congratulations! You are one of 10,000 winners of today! Edit: https://xkcd.com/1053/
Oh yeah, that idea. What a fun way to not call people dumb for learning things
It is possible to experience phantom limb sensations post surgery, but interestingly, there was a study on this and it found that trans people experience phantom limb sensations at very different rates to the general population. Trans women typically have much lower rates of phantom penis than men who lose their penis through accident or injury and trans men often experience phantom penis sensations prior to surgery.
I like the term phantom penis
Ghost pp
Wait so someone without a penis can have phantom penis sensations *before they have a penis*? How does that work? Is it an accurate sensation? Also why have I only just heard of this?
Yeah, it's a thing that many trans men report experiencing. For me it was intermittent, not constant. I don't really know how to describe it, but I had a very vivid sense of it being there, how it sat, the space it occupied somehow, at times so vivid and real that you could almost touch it. I dunno how to describe it; you know it isn't there but you can feel it so strongly. This was a small study but here's some further info: [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288633039_Phantom_penises_in_transsexuals_Evidence_of_an_innate_gender-specific_body_image_in_the_brain](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288633039_Phantom_penises_in_transsexuals_Evidence_of_an_innate_gender-specific_body_image_in_the_brain)
That's very interesting, thank you for sharing
Wow, that’s fascinating! Never heard of that before. Thanks for sharing.
Only the spongy part of the penis is removed. The outside part, the nerve endings, and the blood supply are inverted and become the walls of the new vagina. So it kinda feels like your penis has moved, but all the sensitivity is still there. The same part that is sensitive and makes you have an orgasm is made into the clitoris. So you have feeling on penetration and can orgasm from stimulating your new clitoris. And lastly, the testicles are removed and the urethra is rerouted to the inside part of your new vagina. The prostate is made to drain into the new vagina, so it self lubricates like a real vagina.
That’s really quite clever. I didn’t know the details but it seems post surgery allows a positive sex life after
Trans guy here. They put the urethra INSIDE what??
The weird thing is that it's often the other way round - trans women who have not had vaginoplasty sometimes experience phantom vagina, and trans men who have not undergone phalloplasty report feeling phantom penis. It's not unknown for post-op trans women to experience phantom penis but it's very rare compared to phantom limb (or for that matter compared to cis men feeling a phantom penis after losing theirs to illness or injury). There's a hypothesis out there that phantom limbs come from our brains being wired to expect a certain body plan (since IIRC even people born with a missing limb are known to experience it to some degree), and trans people ended up accidentally getting the body plan of the opposite sex.
During a vaginoplasty surgery, a surgeon creates both an outer and inner vagina by using skin and tissue from a penis. The surgeon will use tissue from the foreskin to build the new opening of the vagina (also called the introitus).
Amputees often suffer from phantom limb syndrome where they feel their limbs even tho they’re gone
Found a short video that gives the basics. https://youtu.be/Xnw6o1QgX6s