The renowned surgeons who helped Caitlyn Jenner with her physical
transformation last March were honored to be chosen and are thrilled
with the outcome, they told the Daily News Tuesday.
“She’s extremely happy with the results, and we are too,” Dr. Gary J.
Alter said, referring to the gold medal winner formerly known as Bruce
and co-surgeon Dr. Harrison H. Lee.
“I thought she looked absolutely beautiful,” the doctor said of Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover unveiled last week.
“She healed fabulously. She was a very quick healer,” he
said.
Before After
Alter, who also has a Park Avenue office in Manhattan, declined to get
specific about Jenner’s exact procedures but said he handled “some body
work” while Dr. Lee performed the facial feminization in Beverly Hills
on March 15.
“The surgery took all day,” he said. “We knew it would be a long
procedure and everything was planned ahead of time, and we’re very
fortunate that everything has gone very well."
Dr. Lee said it was “stressful” when he considered the global attention paid to his patient.
"I entered (the surgery) with some trepidation of course. I figured it
was gonna be very challenging because of her celebrity status and the
fact that she's going to finally expose herself for (who) she is, and
it'll be one of the most judged faces on the planet,” he told The News.
He agreed she healed like the “Olympic champion she is.”
Generally speaking, transgender facial feminization involves both soft
and bony tissues and can include raising the eyebrows, a nose job,
altering the bony structure of the face and increasing lip size, he
said.
Body work can include breast implants, liposuction and fat injections
or implants in the buttocks, he said, again declining to confirm
Jenner’s specific procedures.
Vanity Fair’s 22-page cover story featuring breathtaking Annie
Leibovitz photos confirmed Jenner, 65, had breast augmentation along
with facial feminization during the March visit.
The 1976 Olympic decathlon champ and star of “Keeping Up with the
Kardashians” revealed in a recent 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer that
she has always identified as a woman but kept it a closely guarded
secret.
The stunning Vanity Fair cover introduced Jenner as the woman she’s
wanted to be for decades and included the headline, “Call Me Caitlyn.”
Alter said he spoke to Jenner Tuesday and could hear the joy in her voice.
“I just talked to Caitlyn today. We discussed general things, but she’s
just very happy with her life right now,” he said. “She's extremely
pleased with her transition. She's getting along with her life in the
manner that she's always dreamed."
Dr. Alter said it’s been a professional privilege to work with her.
“It was an honor,” he said of his involvement in the surgery. “This is a
cultural milestone for transgender patients. This enables other
transgender patients to be better accepted and enables society to better
understand what they go through.”
He said Jenner “understands the responsibility she has” to tell her
story and has become a “beacon” for others struggling with their gender
identity.
“She has just been a tremendous asset for the transgender community,
building better understanding of what transgender people go through
psychologically, the difficulty of living with this secret – one of the
ultimate secrets you can keep,” he said.
The internationally known doctor who often teams up with Dr. Lee for
transgender procedures said Jenner will have follow-up appointments to
check on her results but that “it’s up to her” to have more work done.
The Vanity Fair article said Jenner did not have genital surgery.
Dr. Alter described transgender face and body procedures as landmarks on a very personal path that keeps unfolding.
"She was Caitlyn long before the surgery, so basically this is only one
aspect of her transition. This just makes it easier for her to be
accepted in society and to feel better about herself,” he said.
“Basically it's more of a complement to her entire process."
No comments:
Post a Comment