Transgender Teen Survival Guide

Lee says:

Yes, you’re probably seeing either peri-areolar or keyhole top surgery methods, and many top surgeons can do those procedures. 

Those two types of incision are around the nipples and don’t leave the large double incision scars, but only people with small chests are good candidates for those procedures.

Our Top surgery page has links with more info on the different types of top surgery procedures!

Lee says:

The first way to tell is if you can lift up your boob and put a pencil on the underside of your chest and it falls down and doesn’t stay in place you might be a candidate for peri or keyhole. 

Then you can also look at the Mosser Method if you’re up for a little light geometry, and that can also give you an idea if you’re a possible candidate and you can see if this confirms “The pencil test” or if it contradicts that.

Then the third way of checking is cup size- I’ve heard an A cup or smaller is ideal, but a B cup with good skin elasticity may be also okay. This post has links on measuring for bra size.

As always, those three things are just ways to guesstimate what type of top surgery you’re eligible for but everyone’s body is different so one person may “fail” one of those tests but still be a candidate so it isn’t a hard and fast rule.

So when you have a consultation with a surgeon they can recommend which procedure you can get the best results from and discuss the pros and cons of each with you, which is especially helpful if you’re right on the edge of being a good candidate. 

More info: our Top surgery page!

Lee says:

I’ve heard an A cup or smaller is ideal, but a B cup with good skin elasticity may be also okay. 

Generally, folks say if you can put a pencil on the underside of your chest and it doesn’t fall then you need double incision, and there’s the Mosser Method too if you’re up for a little light geometry. 

When you have a consultation with a surgeon, they can recommend which procedure you can get the best results from if you’re right on the line of being a good candidate.

Our Top surgery page is a good place to start your research!

Lee says:

Keyhole is usually done with people who are an A-cup or smaller, so if you have a B-cup you’re right on the line of not being able to get keyhole- it depends on your skin elasticity and what your surgeon thinks.

Our Top surgery page has links with more info on the different procedures.

Kai says:

Keyhole doesn’t resize your areola, it only cuts halfway around. Peri-areolar can resize your areola, and cuts all the way around the edge of the areola. Other than that, they’re the same, to my knowledge. the surgeon will liposuction the tissue out.

Here’s our link for top surgery info:

https://transgenderteensurvivalguide.tumblr.com/transmasctopsurgery

Lee says:

I was a C cup before my top surgery, and I ended up getting a T-incision. I think you wouldn’t get optimal results with keyhole and a C cup because there’s still a lot of breast tissue to remove even if there isn’t as much sagging, but it’s something you could discuss with your top surgeon.

Lee says:I’ve heard a small B cup with good skin elasticity can get keyhole, and so can any size smaller then that. I don’t know what a “greasy” is.

Our top surgery FAQ has links to more info if you click through all of them. https://transgenderteensurvivalguide.tumblr.com/transmasctopsurgery

Kevin says:

for the name, maybe gentle reminders or just saying it’s more comfortable or a nickname. Not sure if they’ll pick up on it.

keyhole surgery is top surgery for people to remove breast tissue. the incision is made around the nipple and the tissue is removed from there, it leaves minimal scarring but can only be done for people with very small breasts, and the nipples are not removed, resized, or repositioned. the advantage is that there is less scarring though, as there won’t be two lines from where double incision is usually performed.

!!