The University of California San Diego wants to help its students get operations on their tops and bottoms. Therefore, the school has published a guide.
For female students who’d like their breasts removed — or a penis made from arm skin — and for males who prefer a vagina fashioned from their penis, the system will assist.
As indicated at UCSD.edu, the Student Health Insurance Plan covers the operations as well as “hormone therapy.”
Additionally encompassed by the plan:
- Vocal Training
- Electrolysis and Laser Hair Removal of Face, Neck, and Donor Site
- Tracheal Shaves
- Fertility Preservation
For male-to-female “gender-conforming facial surgery”:
- Brow Lift
- Forehead Contouring
- Malar (Cheek) Implants
- Jaw and/or Chin Re-Shaping
- Lip Shortening
- Scalp (Hairline) Advancement
- Rhinoplasty;
For female-to-male:
- Augmentation Thyroid Chondroplasty
- Chin Implant and/or Genioplasty
- Jaw Implant
Travel expense is also paid, for as many as six trips. Up to $250 for round-trip airfare will be provided.
“Precertification” is required for most of the benefits; all is explained here.
As for what “bottom” surgeries may involve, Healthline.com profiles popular procedures:
Penile inversion involves using the penile skin to form the neovagina. The labia major and minora are primarily made from scrotal tissue. This results in a sensate vagina and labia.
One main drawback is the lack of self-lubrication by the vaginal wall. Common variations include using the remaining scrotal tissue as a graft for additional vaginal depth, and using the intact mucosal urethra recovered from the penis to line part of the vagina, creating some self-lubrication.
Rectosigmoid vaginoplasty involves the use of intestinal tissue to form the vaginal wall. This technique is sometimes used in conjunction with penile inversion. Intestinal tissue helps when penile and scrotal tissue is scarce.
This method is often used for transgender women who began hormone therapy at puberty and were never exposed to testosterone.
Intestinal tissue has the added benefit of being mucosal, and therefore self-lubricating. This technique is also used to reconstruct vaginas for cisgender women who developed atypically short vaginal canals.
Phalloplasty involves using a skin graft to elongate the neopenis to 5-8 inches. The common donor sites for the skin graft are the forearm, thigh, abdomen, and upper back.
There are pros and cons to each donor site. The forearm and thigh skin have the most potential for erotic sensation after surgery. However, the back scar tends to be the least visible and allows for additional penis length.
The abdomen and thigh flaps remain connected to the body throughout surgery.
The forearm and back sites are “free flaps” that must be entirely detached and reconnected via microsurgery.
The urethra is also lengthened via donor tissue from the same site. A penile implant may be inserted in a follow-up surgery, providing the ability to maintain a full erection suitable for penetrative sex.
Here’s a video from YouTuber Cody documenting phalloplasty recovery:
As noted by The College Fix, UCSD is hardly alone in its aid. Still, it’s blazing a trail:
Nearly 115 colleges and universities help cover the medical costs for transgender students. But UC San Diego’s medical school — considered one of the best in the nation — often sets the stage for best practices that other campuses follow.
UC San Diego hosts a Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Issues. Its webpage touts UC San Diego physicians who co-lead the Center for Gender-Affirming Care at Rady’s Children Hospital, which offers pediatric transgender services.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of patients being seen,” Dr. Maja Marinkovic, professor of pediatrics at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the center’s co-director, told the UCSD News Center in 2016.
Over a short period, public education has robustly transformed. In myriad ways, universities have lately thrown their hats into rings once as far from schooling as the east from the west.
It’s an all-new world — especially, perhaps, out west. But the rest of America will surely soon catch up.
-ALEX
See more content from me:
Harvard Law Instructor Insists It’s Our ‘Civic Duty’ to Constantly ‘Accost’ Six Justices
LGBT Group Slams Social Media’s Right-Wing Bias, Demands Increased Censorship for ‘Safety’
Find all my RedState work here.
Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member