Hello, I live in West Virginia which is practically a dead zone for those seeking to transition. No doctor is willing to advertise that they do ftm top surgery so I am coming to you and your followers for help in finding a doctor. They would need to be located in or around southern West Virginia which is where I live, I am absolutely willing to travel to different states but preferably below 5 hours away. Please, any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Lee says:
If your insurance plan doesn’t have specific policy exclusions in coverage for gender affirming surgical procedures, you can start right off the bat and ask them who they cover for gender-affirming surgery.
And if your insurance plan covers treatment for gender dysphoria but doesn’t have any surgeons in-network who can do top surgery, you can apply for a single-case agreement to have an out-of-network surgeon covered at in-network costs for you.
If they do explicitly say they don’t cover transitioning in their plan, you still can try contacting your insurance anyway and ask them if they have any surgeons in-network who perform double mastectomies.
Then you can reach out and contact each of the individual surgeons they list and ask them if they have performed top surgery for transgender patients before. If they have, you can see if there’s a way to get your surgery coded as a breast reduction (even though it isn’t) for insurance reasons. Or pay out of pocket, or switch insurances to a plan that will cover the procedure with that surgeon.
Our Top surgery page has some general info on finding a surgeon including a link to a “surgeon map”, and the Facebook group Top Surgery Support (removal/reduction) has some discussion between the members on the best surgeons that are in nearby states to West Virginia, so you can see their advice if you join the group and use the search function.
I’ve heard that Dr. Michael Spindel performs top surgery and he is located in Huntington, West Virginia.
Followers, does anyone live in southern West Virginia and have any surgeon recommendations for anon?