FAQs

I am a trans person coming for surgery prep. What can I expect?

Fantastic! I’m glad you’ve found us. This is a service that is unique to Bluebird, and we pride ourselves on doing it very well.

For our clients preparing for vaginoplasty we clear just the area of skin that may end up inside of you post surgery. That is: the perineum, the scrotal skin, around the shaft of the penis, and just two fingers outside this area. It is a small triangle right at the centre of your pubic region.

Results are similar to other body areas and vary depending on hair and skin colour, hair texture and density. While this may seem like an intense area treat, the session is short and for most folks, manageable.

Like other areas, 6-8 sessions, at about 6 week intervals, bring us to the best results. But if we don’t have that much time prior to your surgery date, we will simply do what we can in the time we have.

**It is important to note that neither GRS Montreal or WCH Toronto require any hair removal prior to vaginoplasty. At both clinics the surgeons use hair removal methods during the procedure that are very good. Ninety percent of vaginoplasties done at these clinics are done on clients with no prior hair removal. So this is not a required procedure.

However, in spite of this, some women would simply prefer to avoid this complication altogether. For clients who choose to, we are able to substantially reduce the amount of hair they have going into surgery, and therefore reduce the possibility of complications coming out of surgery.

At both GRS and WCH, it is recommended that there be 3 month’s time between your last hair removal session and your surgery date. So once you have a date, we’ll count back from there.

For our clients preparing for phalloplasty, that is: clearing the left forearm or thigh, or the area around the top of the vaginal opening, we generally do four aggressive laser sessions, removing just the coarsest, darkest hair, and then move them on quickly to electrolysis to take care of what remains. Because 100% clearance is typically required prior to surgery, finishing the hair removal process with electrolysis will be necessary.

Because of the higher T levels in these clients, 50-70% reduction is what we expect with laser with the remaining hair taken care of with electrolysis.

Also read: What’s the diff between laser and electrolysis? And: Why do I keep reading that electrolysis is the only permanent hair removal method!?