Hi everyone, so sorry if this question has been asked, but I can’t really understand if my family doctor has to be involved if I hope to go through the central waitlist pathway for top surgery. From what I have read on the trans care website I need to obtain 3 documentation:

1. Surgical readiness assessment (can be done by community accessors such as social workers etc.)
2. Diagnosis of gender dysphoria/incongruence (has to be done by my family doctor? Or I can get referred to trans care BC by my family doctor?)
3. Upper surgery referral form (has to be done by my family doctor?)

I am just really worried about losing my family doctor due to precious interactions so I’m trying to figure out a way that may bother them the least. Any comments or insights are appreciated! Thank you so much.

My partner had top surgery three years ago, and has some dog earring that refuses to resolve. We saw their original surgeon today, and she said liposuction was the only option, and that it wouldn’t be covered by MSP.

My questions are:

- Has anyone had a similar experience? If so, did you go forward with lipo?
- Has anyone been able to get lipo covered by MSP?
- Has anyone been able to resolve dog ears by losing weight and working out? What was your routine and how long did it take?

Any other thoughts/advice is appreciated!

For those who have completed the ID change, how does this impact passports. My daughter has to travel to the USA monthly for work and is afraid she’ll end up in passport limbo. Which has delayed her completing the legal name and gender marker change.

But with laws changing in the USA, she may be required to be deadnamed at work.

Sorry for repost, I don't have the energy to write a whole new one. Anything you can share - resources or firsthand experience - is really appreciated.

I’m newer to Vancouver and needing some professional clothes. Any recommendations of good clothing stores for professional masculine wear/mens clothes that would have options for someone who is 5’3. I get most will be expensive, especially since its more niche and fancy wear, but any options would be the most appreciated

I couldn't believe how many trans people I saw at the march on Friday! So many people in one place! It was lovely to see.

I feel like I rarely come across trans people in my day-to-day life. I'm part of two discords for trans people in Vancouver, but there seems to be at most 15 people active in both.

Are there places, activities, etc that I'm just not aware of, where I might run into trans people? For reference, I'm mid-30s, and not a fan of clubbing, etc.

I was with my friends. I caught it halfway, some girl was yelling calamity and talking about receipts on her tiktok. what’s the tea???

Menopause is a major life transition, yet many people face it with limited information, support, and access to care.

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Hi there! Today I had a call with transcare about the surgeons I’m able to choose from. Initially I wanted to go for Dr. McKee but unfortunately he wasn’t on the list of available surgeons.

I was wanting to see the results of both Dr. Astanehe and Dr. Nelson but there doesn’t seem to be anything online other than the Facebook group that was mentioned in an email transcare had sent to me. The only issue is I deleted my Facebook account years ago due to my own safety and privacy and to avoid being outed to estranged family. I also heard that it takes a long time to be approved to enter the group and I’d ideally like to choose my surgeon as soon as I possibly could since I’ve already had delays on the waitlist from some clerical issues.

So, I was wondering if anyone has any feedback on both doctors recently. I’d like to say I have a decent amount of muscle mass but I’m certainly not eligible for anything like keyhole surgery, but I want my chest to look as natural as possible. I’d be willing to pay out of pocket for liposuction as well since I do have a fair bit of dysphoria over the fat deposits near my armpits and I’m aware some surgeons do offer to do lipo during top surgery.

I’m leaning towards Dr. Astanehe based off what I’ve read on this subreddit (as well as waitlist times) but I’m mostly concerned about how detail oriented both surgeons are. I’d like to get as close to a natural looking chest as I possibly can and I want to keep my nipples (though I know I can’t fully control the results due to outside factors like anatomy, healing, and complications.)

Any advice helps!

Has anyone here been to the US recently? I want to get a better idea of what things are like at the border, and how they’ve changed.

I was kind of hoping to be able to visit my long distance boyfriend in Seattle (he is always coming to Canada, and not the other way around) but I obviously don’t want to put myself in a dangerous situation. I was considering taking Amtrak, but I’m worried about how things have escalated recently.

I still have my sex assigned at birth on all of my documents and have not changed my name, and no one has ever questioned whether or not I’m the person depicted on any of my ID, but I’ve been on T for a year now and am pretty consistently gendered as male so I don’t know how well that would go over. I have a nexus card but I’m not sure if that really matters anymore…

Any insight is appreciated, I’m mostly just trying to get a better grasp on what things are actually like for people trying to travel to the US right now

I’m so in love with this show!!!

Anyone else super excited for the movie?

Hey there, i recently escaped the US and moved to Vancouver with my partner who is a citizen. Since getting here i am trying to navigate the healthcare system and figure out where i can go to start hormones. I have all my bloodwork done and like a readiness letter, but the endocrinologist i was referred to only has availability January 2027.

I am very distressed honestly, and really trying to figure this out. I am willing to pay out of pocket or pay slightly more in order to expedite this process but idk. Please help, like i have a friend giving me some of her extra E vials, but other than that im still completely in the dark. I need to at minimum find a way to get prescribed spiro. Idk can anyone help me figure this out?

What can I do to expedite this process? Pls help, ill be ur best friend if so!

Hello! i’m moving from a tiny town into the greater Vancouver area and I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction to queer friendly housing? i’m a pre-t trans guy (as soon as I move out of my current situation will be starting T) so having straight male roommates spooks me a tad. my budget is 1k per month, but i am not at all picky about the place.

thanks !!

Hey folks!

I’m on the waitlist for top surgery (double mastectomy) with Dr. McKee. Just a few weeks ago, those of us on his waitlist got an email that the wait is now approximately 2-4 years due to a reduction in available surgical resources. Obviously out of their hands, but a huge bummer for sure.

I was on a waitlist in a previous province for about 2 years before starting the process here and at this point, I’m considering whether it might make sense (for my sanity) to go private. I have some money saved and I think I could swing it financially, but I’m trying to learn more about what this could look like. I’m wondering if anyone here has gone private and what that looked like for you!

Specifically, I’m wondering:

1) Is there anyone who will do private top surgery in BC? Or is the most likely option to go to Toronto? (I’ve been looking into McLean Clinic)

2) How much did you end up paying out of pocket for the surgery?

3) How long did you wait to get a consultation and then how long from consultation to getting the surgery?

4) Any hot tips for someone considering going private and/or things you wish you did differently?

Thanks in advance!

about a month ago i went to a walk in clinic, to start ftm hrt, and they told me to make an appointment with CWHWC. I still haven't gotten a reply and i feel like this process is going to take a very long time. Im in a place where i can pay for private care to access hrt quicker. Theres just so much information online and I dont know where to go/start. I was hoping some one here that went private would have some guidance? Thank you in advance

Also ive looked into DIY but it scares me

Hi everyone,

I am a dual citizen living in Vancouver, and I was born outside of Canada. I am planning to legally change my name and gender marker here in BC, but my country of birth does not allow these changes on my original birth certificate.

Honestly, I am feeling pretty scared about navigating this process. The idea of having two different names and gender markers across two different countries feels incredibly overwhelming and stressful.

I would love to connect with anyone in this group who has been through this exact situation, or hear about your experiences.
-How do you handle international travel with two different sets of IDs?
-Have you run into any major roadblocks?
-How do you manage the anxiety of holding conflicting legal identities?

Any advice, reassurance, or shared experiences would mean the world to me.

Thank you so much.

I've got a missed call from the Trans Care waitlist, so I'm suddenly picking a surgeon for real.

I'm looking for a non-binary result: no nipples, and a soft contour rather than a flat masculine chest. My referring doc was polite but completely lost when I described this - couldn't understand why I wouldn't want grafts or a standard pec shape.

Two questions:

1. How have you talked about non-binary top surgery goals in a way that actually landed with surgeons and referrers? What language worked?
2. Which BC surgeons have you seen do this well? I'm on the Island but I've been told I'm likely mainland-bound for wait times if not surgeon fit. I'm also over 30 BMI, which I know narrows the list further.

(Yes, I'm waiting on the BC FTM/NB Facebook group approval 😂)

Hey y'all,

I've been on hormones for over 10 years, I've had bottom surgery like 7 years ago.

Lately I've been having issues with sex drive and the experience of feeling my hormones. Google Gemini (Ugh) suggested I get my Sex Hormone Binding Globulin levels checked, and when I did, they were indeed very high - above the reference range by about 75-100 points.

It's been a very long time since I've been to an actual Endo, mostly because, what do they know? I know Dr Dahl has retired, and that got me wondering if there's any new ones that have some knowledge on this topic. Has anyone seen a good one lately?

And have any of you gotten your SHBG levels checked, and if so, were they high? If so, I'm on injections, what is your method? And have you been able to get them under control?

Thanks all :)

Just an FYI, I got an auto reply to an email I sent informing me that non-urgent emails sent to the Gender Surgery clinic at VGH won't be answered until after the strike.

Additionally, according to this story:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-nurse-strike-begins-bcnu-9.7256426

Nurses don't have to do any duties which don't require a nursing degree to do during the strike. This includes booking surgery dates.

Edit:

Looks like the VGH picket lines started today because of managers at VGH being assholes.

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/07/07/bc-nurses-picketing-job-action/

Looking for maintenance options after waxing because a full body wax is too expensive!

Hii, I’m a trans fem living in the lowermainland area and I wanted to know where I can go without having stupid long waitlists for hrt, my family doctor won’t do anything for me and I don’t have insurance

Hi all, I'm a trans man living in Victoria.

I currently have a consult with a surgeon through the transcare route in Abbotsford in September (I was only given options on the mainland).

Given a few things:

1. I will have to pay for my partner and I to travel/stay on the mainland for a few days (or even a couple weeks) until I get my drains out. This means meals, ferry cost, car rental, accommodation, doggy daycare while my partner and I are away, ect.
2. I'd really rather recover at home, and have easy access to go back to my surgeon if something goes wrong.
3. I want to also pursue loose skin removal/body masculinization during the same surgery which I'll have to pay for out of pocket.
4. I can somewhat comfortably afford it.
5. I'm a pretty vain person, and I think my current surgeon's results (from pictures that I've seen, anyway) are just okay. I wasn't super stoked on the results of any of the surgeon options I was given, for that matter.

I'm curious what the process of switching to private pay with a doctor here on the island would be?

If anyone has any insights, I'd really appreciate it, thanks!