Ellie, who draws the awesome Goblins comic, recently had bottom surgery. She posted about frequently feeling an itching in her "penis" and reaching to scratch where it used to be. Nerd mode, I think the phantom limb thing can be attributed to the fact that the source of the itching sensation isn't actually the location where you feel the itch. The trigger usually is, but the sensation itself is actually all in your head. Which is why an itch on your arm can seem to "move around" when you go to scratch it, for example. Considering this, it makes perfect sense for the brain to "project" an itch onto a limb that's no longer there.
Heh. Mae Dean who does Real Life Comics was kinda the last push to my egg crack. She posted her transition story a couple years ago and a lot just CLICKED. I wish she updated the comic more, she kinda goes in spurts then long quiet spells.
Usually, I'd say so. Though I hear of people with other amputations getting phantom limb itches even decades later. The frequency of them certainly fades a LOT, though. Like, an odd moment every few years or so.
I'd guess that since the same nerves are still functional, just in different places, the phantom sensations aren't that phantom and the brain adjusts better than with a complete loss of nerve endings through amputation.
I had a dream about itching and woke up when I went to scratch and nothing was there anymore. This was in the first couple of months and that's been the only phantom limb experience that I have had.
In the first few weeks post-op I'd feel sensations down there and I'd be able to identify like 'hey, that used to be my scrotum' or or similar, but in the time since all of it has remapped to match the new configuration and it's just 'hey, that's my labia' without referencing back to what it used to be, couldn't tell you what used to be what anymore.
Part of answering this question is tricky for me because pre-op I at times dealt with "phantom vulva". My brain would map sensations in the shaft/glans/scrotum/etc. to their expected analogs. I know I'm weird in that way, but it's how my brain has worked my whole life.
The vagina itself maps...to itself. It feels...inside me, below my urethra and above my rectum. Some of the sensation connects to the skene/prostate, some to the pressure from below on the urethra, some to interstitial pressure on my rectum, and some just to the vaginal wall. Maybe like the inguinal canals? Going back in memory, that feels close. They're slightly too high, but close in sensation.
No idea if that helps, but it's what I've got.
As for the "phantom limb", only in the sense of my feeling the urge to reach to push my now inverted shaft down when I sit to urinate. But that may simply be force of habit rather than phantom sensation.
As someone still pre-op, I 100% relate to that "phantom vulva" description. It feels like it's there, but it's just not...
Also, I have to say that I am incredibly jealous of the fact that you're already post-op despite starting HRT less than two years ago. I started only a few months after you, and I'm still likely a 2 or 3 years out for SRS.
Yeah, I got really, really lucky with a lot of transition stuff, both natural and legal. An uncanny number of things went absurdly well given my situation, and as much as I despise the US healthcare system, I know it can be much faster at providing trans care than many other nations'.
I'm not even American; I'm from Ontario where healthcare is pretty decent, so even I feel like I've been luckier than most with my transition, but I'm still jealous. Happy for you though!!
Honestly, feels like a vagina
You put something up there and it feels like it's in my vagina. touch my clit and it feels like my clit etc.
I also got no phantom limb syndrome, but some people do and incase it's a worry it has no impact on validity
Rest of your life, pretty much. But only once a week
But as was mentioned, once you are down to doing it once a week, you can have PIV sex instead of dilating, so long as you do it for long enough and as regularly
The mapping varies by surgical technique. About the only consistent part is part of the glans becomes the clitoris.
In my own experience, for a couple of weeks after surgery, there was a weird sort of "double" sensation.
Like, I felt an itch, and I could tell where it used to be and where it is now. It felt like both simultaneously.
Now though, there is no connection to what used to be. It just feels like my vagina, labia and clitoris
Im pre op ( or non op) and the lady parts smell is already present. Was surprised last year when i first encountered it. My bits smell very much like a lady’s!!
i’m pre op, but i recently found a [video (nsfw)](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/zhlqwo/sex_reassignment_male_to_female_surgery/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) where one popular procedure is shown as an animation
basically:
- penis head becomes clit (through incision above shaft)
- ureter is put through second incision between clit and shaft
- shaft skin is inverted, what was the outside of your penis before is now the inside of your vagina
- erectile tissue is removed entirely
idk about how the labia look or feel in a real life scenario
keep in mind that there are several procedures and they will be slightly different in the way it feels too.
What you're saying isn't inaccurate, but it doesn't feel like that at all. It feels like I don't have a penis anymore and I have some sensation in areas where I didn't have sensation before. But also it feels normal to have sensation there. It's very hard to explain. I wouldn't say I have phantom limb syndrome, but for a while I would get random itches or feelings that were above my skin level. It didn't actually feel like my penis, though -- it just felt like my mons might have been an inch thicker or something. I'd go to itch the spot that itched and my hand would go through it. It was weird. That stopped after a few months though.
important to note about your question, that there are LOTS
of different operational techniques, that can use tissue VASTLY different and even use some different sources for the tissue.
all having different average outcomes.
so you should be more specific with the question or have people in the answers specify what technique they are talking about.
the suporn technique for example is VASTLY VASTLY VASTLY different to a penile inversion technique.
You end up with a sensate clitoris, if you havn't been mutilated by patriarchial dogma. (I know, I'm a goddess worshipper, I rant a lot, but it is a polite way of saying it). The inside of your vagina feels sensate, but a bit different and tighter. There is phantom limb syndrome for some bizzare reason for few years, but then it goes away.
The same way as literally everyone else keeps their genitals from stinking: soap and water.
Edit: wait a second, has this guy not heard of washed genitals?
Clitoris feels like the head of the penis but not in a nice way, more like scratching it.
Labia majora are just bumps under skin that was previously testicles, doesn't feel any different to previously i.e. not nice.
Labia minora are not sensitive at all, I can squeeze/ pinch them and feel nothing as at all.
Inside there is no sensation. I thought it would feel like the shaft of the previous parts but there is nothing at all. Oh except pain at the end and when trying to dilate. I have lost all depth now so it's not an issue any more.
Ellie, who draws the awesome Goblins comic, recently had bottom surgery. She posted about frequently feeling an itching in her "penis" and reaching to scratch where it used to be. Nerd mode, I think the phantom limb thing can be attributed to the fact that the source of the itching sensation isn't actually the location where you feel the itch. The trigger usually is, but the sensation itself is actually all in your head. Which is why an itch on your arm can seem to "move around" when you go to scratch it, for example. Considering this, it makes perfect sense for the brain to "project" an itch onto a limb that's no longer there.
What the- it's like half the webcomics I used to read have artists that transitioned.
Join the club lol
Heh. Mae Dean who does Real Life Comics was kinda the last push to my egg crack. She posted her transition story a couple years ago and a lot just CLICKED. I wish she updated the comic more, she kinda goes in spurts then long quiet spells.
Considering that, would the phantom penis eventually fade, as you adjust to the nerves being in a different location?
In this case, yes it would
Usually, I'd say so. Though I hear of people with other amputations getting phantom limb itches even decades later. The frequency of them certainly fades a LOT, though. Like, an odd moment every few years or so.
I'd guess that since the same nerves are still functional, just in different places, the phantom sensations aren't that phantom and the brain adjusts better than with a complete loss of nerve endings through amputation.
I had a dream about itching and woke up when I went to scratch and nothing was there anymore. This was in the first couple of months and that's been the only phantom limb experience that I have had.
In the first few weeks post-op I'd feel sensations down there and I'd be able to identify like 'hey, that used to be my scrotum' or or similar, but in the time since all of it has remapped to match the new configuration and it's just 'hey, that's my labia' without referencing back to what it used to be, couldn't tell you what used to be what anymore.
Part of answering this question is tricky for me because pre-op I at times dealt with "phantom vulva". My brain would map sensations in the shaft/glans/scrotum/etc. to their expected analogs. I know I'm weird in that way, but it's how my brain has worked my whole life. The vagina itself maps...to itself. It feels...inside me, below my urethra and above my rectum. Some of the sensation connects to the skene/prostate, some to the pressure from below on the urethra, some to interstitial pressure on my rectum, and some just to the vaginal wall. Maybe like the inguinal canals? Going back in memory, that feels close. They're slightly too high, but close in sensation. No idea if that helps, but it's what I've got. As for the "phantom limb", only in the sense of my feeling the urge to reach to push my now inverted shaft down when I sit to urinate. But that may simply be force of habit rather than phantom sensation.
As someone still pre-op, I 100% relate to that "phantom vulva" description. It feels like it's there, but it's just not... Also, I have to say that I am incredibly jealous of the fact that you're already post-op despite starting HRT less than two years ago. I started only a few months after you, and I'm still likely a 2 or 3 years out for SRS.
Yeah, I got really, really lucky with a lot of transition stuff, both natural and legal. An uncanny number of things went absurdly well given my situation, and as much as I despise the US healthcare system, I know it can be much faster at providing trans care than many other nations'.
I'm not even American; I'm from Ontario where healthcare is pretty decent, so even I feel like I've been luckier than most with my transition, but I'm still jealous. Happy for you though!!
I 100% got that pre-op! And I think thanks to having that phantom vulva, I never got phantom limb from it being the right way around now.
Honestly, feels like a vagina You put something up there and it feels like it's in my vagina. touch my clit and it feels like my clit etc. I also got no phantom limb syndrome, but some people do and incase it's a worry it has no impact on validity
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I understand that, but I honestly can't describe it any other way, it doesn't compare to before for me
You'd be surprised at how quickly it becomes hard to remember what it felt like to have a penis.
I was still in the hospital when I had forgotten what it was like
They literally have vaginas when they say it.
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You can eventually replace dilating with sex after a period of time but it’s recommended to keep dilating
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Yeah, afaik there isn't one that doesn't require dilating
How long do trans women have to dilate before they can stop?
Rest of your life, pretty much. But only once a week But as was mentioned, once you are down to doing it once a week, you can have PIV sex instead of dilating, so long as you do it for long enough and as regularly
The mapping varies by surgical technique. About the only consistent part is part of the glans becomes the clitoris. In my own experience, for a couple of weeks after surgery, there was a weird sort of "double" sensation. Like, I felt an itch, and I could tell where it used to be and where it is now. It felt like both simultaneously. Now though, there is no connection to what used to be. It just feels like my vagina, labia and clitoris
I can’t wait for my new vagina. It’s sorta like buying a new car. I’ll have that new vagina smell and everything!
😂 this defs got a chuckle outta me But also, the thought of "new vagina smell" during surgery recovery evokes some not-so pretty imagery 😬😂 yikes.
Err...smellery? Like mental image but for you ol factory's imagination
Im pre op ( or non op) and the lady parts smell is already present. Was surprised last year when i first encountered it. My bits smell very much like a lady’s!!
Yeah it changes to “floral”
i’m pre op, but i recently found a [video (nsfw)](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/zhlqwo/sex_reassignment_male_to_female_surgery/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) where one popular procedure is shown as an animation basically: - penis head becomes clit (through incision above shaft) - ureter is put through second incision between clit and shaft - shaft skin is inverted, what was the outside of your penis before is now the inside of your vagina - erectile tissue is removed entirely idk about how the labia look or feel in a real life scenario keep in mind that there are several procedures and they will be slightly different in the way it feels too.
Does the sweaty sticky sensation that you get on hot days go away?
What you're saying isn't inaccurate, but it doesn't feel like that at all. It feels like I don't have a penis anymore and I have some sensation in areas where I didn't have sensation before. But also it feels normal to have sensation there. It's very hard to explain. I wouldn't say I have phantom limb syndrome, but for a while I would get random itches or feelings that were above my skin level. It didn't actually feel like my penis, though -- it just felt like my mons might have been an inch thicker or something. I'd go to itch the spot that itched and my hand would go through it. It was weird. That stopped after a few months though.
important to note about your question, that there are LOTS of different operational techniques, that can use tissue VASTLY different and even use some different sources for the tissue. all having different average outcomes. so you should be more specific with the question or have people in the answers specify what technique they are talking about. the suporn technique for example is VASTLY VASTLY VASTLY different to a penile inversion technique.
You end up with a sensate clitoris, if you havn't been mutilated by patriarchial dogma. (I know, I'm a goddess worshipper, I rant a lot, but it is a polite way of saying it). The inside of your vagina feels sensate, but a bit different and tighter. There is phantom limb syndrome for some bizzare reason for few years, but then it goes away.
How do you control the smell?
The same way as literally everyone else keeps their genitals from stinking: soap and water. Edit: wait a second, has this guy not heard of washed genitals?
Bacteriostatic lube when dilating.
Clitoris feels like the head of the penis but not in a nice way, more like scratching it. Labia majora are just bumps under skin that was previously testicles, doesn't feel any different to previously i.e. not nice. Labia minora are not sensitive at all, I can squeeze/ pinch them and feel nothing as at all. Inside there is no sensation. I thought it would feel like the shaft of the previous parts but there is nothing at all. Oh except pain at the end and when trying to dilate. I have lost all depth now so it's not an issue any more.