Phalloplasty
Surgical construction of a penis. One of several bottom surgeries.
Phalloplasty is the surgical construction of a penis, using tissue taken from elsewhere on the body. In a trans context it is one of the procedures under the umbrella term bottom surgery, undertaken by some trans men and transmasculine people.
It is usually described as a series of stages rather than a single operation, and the specifics vary considerably between techniques and between surgeons.
It is also performed for reasons unrelated to being trans, including after injury or cancer.
What belongs in a glossary is the meaning of the word and the reminder that it describes a procedure, not a person. Someone who has had it is not more of a man than someone who has not, and either way it is not a conversation anyone is owed.
For anything clinical, a surgeon or a trans health service is the place.
The procedure does not settle anything about someone's gender
Bottom surgery generally, and this term in particular, is treated as the thing that makes a trans man a man. He was one before the appointment.
The interest that drives the question is usually not medical, which is why the technical vocabulary does not make it more acceptable.
Saying it well
Say this
- Phalloplasty is one of the options.
- He had surgery.
- Which procedure is not something I discuss.
- A clinical question for a clinician.
Not this
- Have you had phalloplasty?
- Does it work properly?
- Is it real?
- How big?
Questions people actually ask
What is phalloplasty?
The surgical construction of a penis, using tissue from elsewhere on the body.
Is it one operation?
It is usually described as a series of stages, with specifics varying between techniques and surgeons.
Is it only for trans people?
No. It is also performed after injury or cancer.
Is it appropriate to ask about it?
No. It is a question about someone's body.