BLOG & NEWS

Point of Pride is a non -profit that works to benefit trans people in need through gender-affirming support programs that empower them to live more authentically. Website: pointofpride.org “A special thank you to Dr. Hope Sherie and the team at The Cosmetic Concierge for their generous support of Point of Pride’s Annual #Transgender Surgery Fund and other programs and services that support #trans folks in need! Dr. Sherie is not only one of the leading surgery experts for a number of gender-affirming procedures but also generously gives back to the community she serves. “ – Point of Pride

Dr.Sherie recently attended the WPATH Surgery Conference in New York, NY. It was an invaluable opportunity to discuss collaboration and share experiences with accomplished colleagues like Drs. Paul Weiss and Sherman Leis. We have so much work to do in advancing gender affirming surgical options for our patients.

Early in October, Ruth Rose went on holiday to Corfu with a group of female friends she had known for years. They swam in the sea every day, making the most of the late summer sunshine. On the last morning before flying home to England, the women took one last swim and skinny-dipped so as not to have to pack their costumes away wet. Such adventures would once have been unthinkable for Rose. But the surgery she underwent at the age of 81 has opened doors she would never have thought possible. “In some ways it’s like having new hips after being told you would be condemned to arthritis for the rest of your life,” she says. “You do it, and life begins again. And that’s what happened to me. Age has nothing to do with it.” When we read about people transitioning gender, the focus is often on teenagers; in an emotive debate about access to school changing rooms and Guides camping trips, older trans people are rendered almost invisible. Yet there are more than five times as many adult as child gender identity patients in the UK. Some are now having gender reassignment surgery not just in late middle age, but well into retirement. The numbers remain tiny, but they are rising; according to the NHS, 75 people aged between 61 and 71 had gender reassignment operations in the seven years to 2015-16, and that’s not counting people who quietly transition without surgery. These trans baby boomers are now beginning to challenge received ideas not just about gender but age, and the capacity of older people to live bold, adventurous lives. “I think people need to learn quite fast that older people no longer all fit the white-haired granny stereotype,” says Jane Vass, the head of public policy at Age UK. The charity recently published advice to older people who are transitioning, covering everything from the impact on state pension ages to what to write on death certificates. “If it was ever true that older people were all the same, it’s certainly not now. And yet we still seem to respond as a society to a very narrow view of what ageing is,” adds Vass. Later life is full of changes, she points out, from the end of a career to the death of a spouse. Why wouldn’t it also be a time in which people embrace opportunities denied them in the past, before it’s too late? It’s perhaps only now that many older people feel comfortable coming out, having grown up in a time when being trans was so steeped in shame and silence that many couldn’t even put a name to what they felt. “I remember as a child thinking, am I unique? Am I strangely perverted?” says Christine Burns, the 64-year-old trans activist and author of the social history Trans Britain: Our Journey From The Shadows. It was only in the 1960s, when the Sunday People newspaper began salaciously to out trans people – most famously the Vogue model April Ashley – that she understood she was not alone. “To see those stories, egregious as they were, helped in a sense. I always say that, on that Sunday morning, I learned there was a name for people like me, but also that it was worse than I feared.” Half a century on, trans people undoubtedly still experience stigma and discrimination. Fierce debate about proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act, which could enable people to identify themselves as trans rather than going through a drawn-out process of medical and psychiatric assessment, has turned trans acceptance into a political football. But for those raised in an era when men could be arrested just for wearing women’s clothes in public, the thaw in public attitudes is still striking. “When I first came out [in the 1970s], I got reported to the police and my employer, for being in charge of a company vehicle dressed as a woman,” recalls Jenny-Anne Bishop, the chair of the support group Trans Forum, who had gender reassignment surgery at the age of 59. “Now I’m as likely to have lunch with the chief constable to discuss hate crime reporting. It’s changed that much.”

Read the article here: https://www.ftmsurgery.net/body-masculinization-surgery/

We are proud to be a Santa’s Helper Sponsor of this year’s TWIRL TO THE WORLD Holiday Party & Fundraiser Benefiting Campus Pride & Smart Start of Mecklenburg County!

We have changed the name of our unique liposculpting package for transmen to MaleMorph. Please note that Dr. Sherie’s hi-definition VASER liposuction procedures are unique to her practice. Schedule your consultation today!

Cosmetic Concierge would like to thank psychologist David Bathory for inviting Dr. Sherie to be the first guest at his Transgender Surgeon Series in Winston-Salem. Dr. Sherie had a great time talking to David’s group and getting to see some old friends as well. The event was titled “An Evening With Dr. Hope Sherie” and was the first of a series of surgeon presentations he has lined up for his Trans Support Group.

The mission of the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference (PTHC) is to educate and empower trans individuals on issues of health and well-being; educate and inform allies and health service providers; and facilitate networking, community-building, and systemic change. We strive to create an accessible and respectful environment that is inclusive of diverse gender-identities and expressions as well as inclusive of diverse opinions and ideas. Now in its fifteenth year, PTHC proudly offers a space for trans people and our allies, families, and providers to come together to re-envision what health means for trans people. Further, PTHC recognizes that accessible and quality healthcare is an integral part of self-determining our bodies and identities in the larger world. As much as possible, PTHC strives to ensure that the conference addresses the diverse needs of all people who identify as trans or beyond the binary gender system, as well as our partners, families, and allies. In addition, in an effort to increase the availability of quality, culturally-competent care for transgender communities, PTHC also provides a Professional Development track for medical providers, behavioral health professionals, and lawyers. We are committed to making the conference as inclusive and accessible as possible. Therefore, the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference charges no general conference registration fee.

The Mecklenburg Psychology Association (MPA) invited Cosmetic Concierge to participate in the “Trans 101” panel presentation to their members. The discussions were enlightening and we believe this kind of interdisciplinary activity is the key to offering world class services to the whole Charlotte community.

Our Charlotte neighbors are truly “Dispensing Hope” by providing prescription medications and medical supplies to the 360,000 uninsured citizens of NC! Thank you NC MedAssist, Novant Health, and all other sponsors for hosting this luncheon. 8% of the uninsured citizens in America live in North Carolina. Until changes are made to medicare laws, we will continue to try and care for one another in the meantime. The Cosmetic Concierge team is dedicated to giving professional care to ALL patients by providing flexible payment plans/options, community giveback initiatives, and truly caring about each individual we meet.

Recently the staff of Cosmetic Concierge took time out to volunteer at the NC MedAssist monthly OTC (over the counter) give-away. We helped with the give away and we also saw people for free “lumps and bumps” consultations to look at lesions and give advice. We will be offering follow-up care to the folks we saw today who would benefit from biopsies or minor procedures. We love our team and our Charlotte community, and always enjoy the chance to give back.  For more information on NC MedAssist and these great events you can visit their website .

Dr. Hope Sherie, Practice Manager Noelle Thomas and Nurse Brynn Green will be participating in the pop up clinics at LGBT in the South Conference this Saturday, March 19th at Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville, NC. Dr. Hope Sherie will be giving presentations at 10 am and 2 pm and she will be doing free consultations after the presentations.

I was happy to see Jeff Taylor’s article in Qnotes exploring breast cancer risk and the transgender community. He makes an important point that we all, cis and trans men and women, have breast tissue which extends to the clavicles (collar bones) and into the axillae (underarms) and is retained after mastectomies in cis women and chest reconstructions in transmen. During ten years as a general surgeon I coordinated the surgeries and oncological care for cis women with breast cancer, as well as 3 cis men with the disease. Now, as a cosmetic surgeon performing “Top Surgeries” for transmen and transwomen, I am often the first physician who discusses transgender breast cancer screening with my clients. This is likely because, as Mr. Taylor notes, there are no guidelines for their primary care physicians to follow. Given the current lack of research, I give my patients the following recommendations based on my own experience and our current knowledge of this disease: Transmen who have not had chest reconstruction, and transwomen on HRT should follow the same guidelines for breast cancer screening as cis women. These guidelines are evolving; but basically get your first mammogram at 40-50 years old and then annually. This may be continued annually, or reduced to every other year, after the age of 55. Transwomen on HRT whose anatomy makes mammograms difficult should follow the guidelines above substituting MRIs for mammograms. Transmen who have had chest reconstruction, cis men, and transwomen who are not on HRT, should have an annual physical exam by a medical professional which includes palpation (careful feeling) of the chest and underarms beginning at 40-50 years old. A CT or MRI should be obtained if, on self-exam or professional physical exam, any lumps, tenderness, nipple discharge, or other abnormalities are found. If there is a lump on palpation, CT, or MRI it should be further investigated by a needle or excisional biopsy. The original article can be read here: Qnotes Breast Cancer Article. As always, I am happy to answer patient questions about this or other surgical issues in consultation at our private office and surgery center in South End Charlotte.

The history of cosmetic surgery goes as far back as 2000 B.C. In India and Egypt. In 600 B.C., the Indian doctor Acharya Sushrut published the Sushruta Samhita, a collection of medical texts about plastic surgery, the first of its kind. In ancient Egypt, reeds were used after nose reconstructions to keep the nostrils open as the nose healed. In another part of the world, Roman physicians practiced their own nascent forms of cosmetic surgery during the first century. With a culture that highly valued the physique and beauty of the natural human body, ancient Roman surgeons worked to restore the severely deformed bodies and faces of former gladiators. Roman medical writer Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote “De Medicina,” which outlined techniques for breast reduction and reconstruction of the ears, lips and noses – another important early text for cosmetic surgery. After the fall of Rome at the end of the third century A.D., developments in cosmetic surgery stalled for several hundred years as the spread of Christianity forbade surgical changes to the body (as dictated by Pope Innocent III) during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

You were worried going into surgery. A few helpful friends shared horror stories of their own cosmetic surgery experiences or, better yet, sent you links to the latest “fake surgeon operating out of a garage” story. But now a couple of days have passed, and you’re doing OK. In fact, you’re wondering what all the fuss was about. You’re getting around without help, piddling in the kitchen, and thinking that maybe a few yoga stretches wouldn’t hurt anything. You’re pretty sore, but you’re handling it. In fact, you’re kind of feeling like a warrior woman in an armor of foam & velcro compression garments that would make your average Victorian princess cry for mercy. No doubt about it. You are the same resilient, independent badass you always have been. Then it happens. Maybe you’re maneuvering into the shower, or reaching for something you’ve dropped, or you’re just alone for the first time after surgery when the waterworks start. You’re crying and you have no idea why, but you suddenly feel deeply, existentially sad. We’ve known for some time that up to 75% of people experience post-surgical depression. But, cosmetic surgeons rarely discuss it with their patients beforehand. The good news is that it is temporary, nearly always resolving within 6 months. The causes are multifactorial and may include the effects of anesthetics, antibiotics and narcotics, altered sleep and digestion, and the physical changes, however positive, which can leave you feeling disoriented. I also suspect that the quiet time necessary for healing causes us to face feelings about ourselves and our lives normally masked by our day to day busy-ness. My best advice? Accept your feelings as a normal response to a big transition. Reach out to your friends, gently exercise (a long walk is an amazing tool), and consider speaking to a counselor…after all, you’re already taking time off!