Top surgery: Difference between revisions

Some transgender and/or nonbinary people do not want to have nipples. They can choose to have their nipples removed, possibly as part of a breast reduction, mastectomy, or masculine chest reconstruction. This can create a smooth chest with no nipples.<ref name="White2012">{{Cite web |title=Neither Man Nor Woman: Meet the Agender |last=White |first=Rachel R. |work=The Cut |date=20 August 2012 |access-date=28 August 2021 |url= https://www.thecut.com/2012/08/neither-man-nor-woman-meet-the-agender.html}}</ref><ref name="OBrien-Lavender">{{Cite web |title=Ex-transgender man now wants to live as sexless ALIEN and has had nipples removed |last1=O'Brien |first1=Danielle |last2=Lavender |first2=Jane |work=The Mirror |date=2 March 2019 |access-date=28 August 2021 |url= https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/ex-transgender-man-now-wants-14071689}}</ref> Other people who got a mastectomy or masculine chest reconstruction did not value nipple sensation, but wanted to look like they have nipples, so they chose to have their nipples removed during that mastectomy or masculine chest reconstruction, with the plan that later they would get [[nipple tattooing]], to create the appearance of nipples. If a mastectomy or masculine chest reconstruction is nipple free, then this can involve fewer incisions and scars, which can make recovery a little bit easier. For people who are at a higher risk of losing a nipple after surgery if it is grafted back on, such as smokers, going nipple free gets rid of the risk of the possibility of worse scarring if the patient happens to lose a nipple after surgery.

One point of confusion involved in this is that surgeons-- and patients who describe their experiences with having surgery, such as on sites like TransBucket-- use the phrase "no nipple grafts" to mean two different things. They can use "no nipple grafts" to mean someone who chose to have their nipples removed and not grafted back on. Or they can use "no nipple grafts" to mean a mastectomy or masculine chest reconstruction in which the nipples were kept, and stayed attached to the body the whole time, instead of being removed and grafted back on.