What Is Facial Feminization Surgery? TikTok Star Dylan Mulvaney Breaks Down Her Procedure

Dylan Mulvaney has shared the 411 on FFS.

The TikTok star and transgender activist, who underwent facial feminization surgery in December and unveiled her "face reveal" last week, shared details of what happened during her operation and the subsequent healing process.

"The surgery itself took multiple hours," Dylan shared in a Jan. 30 TikTok. "It was the first time I was ever under anesthesia and I don't remember a thing. I had a hairline advancement, a brow bone shave, a rhinoplasty, minor cheek enhancement, a little lip lift, a jaw shave, a chin reduction and a tracheal shave."

The 26-year-old explained that while her surgical plan included those steps, not every facial feminization surgery is the same, as patients are able to pick and choose the areas they would like to have worked on.

"FFS is sort of like a choose your own adventure," Dylan noted. "You can get one of those things. You can get all of them. You can get none of them. It's really whatever you have dysphoria over."

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Looking back on her FFS choices, Dylan said, "I wanted to get everything done in one fell swoop because the recovery process is a lot."

Indeed, Dylan made it clear the healing journey was not overnight. She explained that she was sent home bandaged up with pain medicine and an order to not eat anything solid for a week. By days two, three and four, she had "some of the most insane swelling I've ever experienced in my entire life."

In the days to follow, Dylan was able to get her drains and upper lip stitch removed. And at the two week mark, which happened to be on the same day as her 26th birthday, Dylan shed her nose cast along with the staples and screws placed in her scalp—something she noted "was probably the most satisfying part because even though they didn't hurt, it still freaked me out and I felt a little bit like Frankenstein having those in."

By week three, a turning point arrived.

"I went back to the doctor, where he injected me with steroid shots to bring down some of that swelling and that was the first time that I looked at myself and thought, ‘Oh my gosh. I love what I'm seeing.'"

Now having revealed her results, Dylan shared she is obsessed—but the journey isn't over yet.

"The craziest part is that it can take up to an entire year to actually see all the swelling gone," she explained. "So over these next few months we will continue to see some changes but right now, here at the six-week mark, is a pretty strong idea of how it's gonna be."

Reflecting on the operation overall, Dylan voiced a message on her hope for FFS to be looked at in a different light.

"This is an extremely privileged procedure and I want to stress that is not just typical plastic surgery," she said. "Had I not been trans, these wouldn't have been changes that I would have sought out. But because of my gender dysphoria, I felt I need it. And I want us to all start viewing FFS as just as important as other gender-affirming health care."

She continued, "Trans people spend years saving up for these type of procedures because they are rarely covered by insurance and it truly already brought me so much peace that I hope we can all start advocating for better trans health care."

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