Metoidioplasty
A different transmasculine genital procedure, often shortened to meta.
Metoidioplasty is a genital procedure undertaken by some trans men and transmasculine people, and an alternative to phalloplasty rather than a lesser version of it. It is commonly shortened to meta.
The two are frequently compared, and the comparison people actually make concerns recovery, number of stages and what each is designed to do. Which suits any individual is a clinical matter and is decided with a surgeon.
It appears in this glossary because it is a word people encounter without explanation, in conversation and on waiting lists, and because the shorthand meta is opaque unless someone tells you.
The etiquette is identical to every other entry in this section. It describes a procedure, not a person, and it is not something anyone owes a stranger.
For the medicine, a surgeon or a trans health service.
Metoidioplasty is not a smaller phalloplasty
It is regularly described as the lesser or cheaper choice, which imports a ranking that the people choosing between them do not use.
They are different procedures designed around different priorities. People choose on recovery, stages and what they want, not on a scale of completeness.
Saying it well
Say this
- Metoidioplasty, usually shortened to meta.
- One of two main options, not a lesser one.
- He had meta.
- That is between him and his surgeon.
Not this
- So it is the cheap option
- Why not the real one?
- Have you had meta or phallo?
- Which one did you get?
Questions people actually ask
What is metoidioplasty?
A genital procedure undertaken by some trans men and transmasculine people, commonly shortened to meta.
How does it compare to phalloplasty?
They are different procedures with different recovery, stages and aims. Neither is a lesser version of the other.
What does meta mean in this context?
The common shorthand for metoidioplasty.
Where does clinical information belong?
With a surgeon or a trans health service.