Electrolysis is mainly used to remove facial hair, but it is effective on your entire body, including the genital area. Most surgeons who perform sex reassignment surgery (SRS) strongly recommend having genital electrolysis performed beforehand. Please note: the anal area is not treated.
Genital electrolysis is performed prior to SRS to prevent problems from developing in the new vagina. In most patients, the area between the anus and part of the scrotum will be used to create the back wall of the vagina. The area from the scrotum to the base of the penis will also be used to create the vagina. For most patients who require a skin graft for vaginoplasty, skin from the scrotum is used.
The main reason for having the hair removed in that area is that there is a high risk of infection of the hair follicles. This risk may be even higher due to the friction you experience against that part of the skin during dilation, but also during sex, for example. And because the skin is no longer visible after the operation, because it is folded inward, it cannot be removed later.
Many SRS surgeons emphasize that patients should undergo genital hair removal prior to SRS because it greatly affects the surgery and its outcome. Some may advise against an SRS if there is still hair in the area used for the neo-vagina.
Although we have a laser machine at 2pass Clinic, we strongly recommend that you opt for electrolysis. Laser has been proven not to be permanent, and since genital hair removal usually cannot be performed after surgery, in our opinion there is no room to experiment with unproven technology.
Note: Many surgeons use a “scraping” technique during surgery, where they scrape away the hair follicles, but results show that this is ineffective and can even make recovery more difficult (e.g. ingrown hairs). We recommend that you rely on electrolysis.
Vaginoplasty, which uses Penile Inversion, is the most common technique for gender reassignment surgery.
Electrolysis
How much hair needs to be removed
As we have explained, the illustrated area is the only area that will be used to construct the vagina and therefore the only area where it is mandatory to have the hair removed. If you have a lot of hair around this area, some hair growth near the vagina can be expected. This isn't a problem, it just depends on what you prefer. If you want to have more hair removed, you are free to do so for aesthetic reasons.
So on average we need about 20 hours to depilate the genital area (this will cost about 2000 euros if you choose to do it with local anesthesia) and on average the total time frame for this would be about 1 year.
Read more about aftercare.