Sex Change Steps, Facial Feminization Surgery

Introduction: As a pre-dental student (and TS) I thought I might be able to add my two cents to the internet resources on surgery for transsexual women.

The Problem: Males have wider mouths than females. Horizontally, the male mouth has about 10 to 15 mm more length from left to right. This is one of the greatest differences in the faces of the sexes. Most TS women have this larger mouth, even the most feminine-looking and even after hormones and FFS.

The Reason: As anyone familiar with facial feminization surgery (FFS) is aware, the male jaws are wider and the chin blunter, but thats not the end of the story. The jaws’ function is to support the teeth, which are also different in the male. The teeth are arranged like a horse shoe. As you would expect, the male horse shoe is wider (from a frontal view), just like the jaws. You can think of the female teeth as a ‘U’ shape, and the male’s as a ‘C’.

These pics will help you visualize ideas in my essay

1a. This is what I mean when I refer to a facial profile. The portion from just under the nose to just above the chin is the oral profile. Notice how the line of her mouth has very little length (measured from left to right) – it is very small.

In this way, its an excellent example of a typical female mouth. Next, notice that her oral profile is generally flat, though more convex at the lips (the most attractive type of profile). But notice how the chin extends outwards past the mouth. That makes this actually a concave oral profile.

She would not be a good candidate for Tooth Span Reduction, as it would increase the concavity. If your profile looks like hers, neither are you.

1b. Whoopi Goldberg’s profile next to a caucasian profile illustrates the oral convexity of African American profiles, like many other non-caucasians. This type of mouth would greatly benefit from Tooth Span Reduction, as an added bonus is flattening of the profile. Another example is Carol Burnett.

2a. In this girl, notice that even though the nose is quite large and could be called masculine, the very small lips make it impossible to mistake this face for male. 2b. Her profile after a rhinoplasty.

3a. A computerized graphic of a female head. It is a caricature/cartoon, which is good for our purposes as it exaggerates the female characteristics. Notice how even though she is bald, she is unmistakably female by her small mouth, subtle jaw, and thin chin.

If you want, cover up the eyes and nose and try to see the image as male. Its impossible. This bald head proves that the lower facial region, based on the mandibular bone, is the primar

y difference between male and female heads.

Next cover up the jaws and chin and try to see her as male. Impossible. Thus you can see how important mouth size is. 3b. At right is a grid of her computer design. Notice how as with pic #1, the profile of the mouth line is very small. 3c. Below is the same character with hair.

4. Another Japanese cartoon. This woman has bigger, squarer jaws, but her small mouth still marks her as female. Again, cover up the upper-face region. In her profile, see once again the small mouth line.