Trans

Trans YouTuber Ryan Cassata on top surgery scars, recovery and how it saved his life

Feb 06 2019
Written by Amy Ashenden

Transgender YouTuber Ryan Cassata reveals his chest after top surgery (PinkNews)

Trans YouTuber Ryan Cassata on top surgery recovery tips (PinkNews)

Transgender YouTuber Ryan Cassata has opened up about his top surgery scars, tips for recovery and how it saved his life.

Cassata, a trans man, found top surgery to be key to dealing with the gender dysphoria he was experiencing. He said, for him, it was a “do or die thing.”

“Top surgery is important to many people because it relieves a horrible thing called gender dysphoria,” he told PinkNews.

However, he warned that it is not for everyone and that you should be sure it’s the right step for you.

“If you’re worried about or considering top surgery, I would say definitely explore,” he advised.

“It’s a surgery you should only get if you’re 100 percent certain about it—I think that about any surgery.”

Do you have to be on testosterone to get top surgery?

“The biggest myth that I always get is—and I thought this too—that I’m not on testosterone, so I was like: ‘Is my breast tissue going to grow back?’” Cassata told PinkNews.

“That was my first question but the doctor said: ‘No way, we remove like 96 or 97 percent of the breast tissue so it’s impossible for it to grow back.’

“Now it’s been seven years and I’ve had no regrowth at all.”

What are the different types of top surgery?

Cassata had “a double mastectomy so the doctor removed my breast tissue and made my chest flat.”

He described it as “the reconstruction of a stereotypically-looking female chest to a stereotypically-looking male chest.”

Again, he advised exploring all the options available.

“Talk to many doctors, look at people’s results on Instagram, talk to people, explore and only get it if you’re 100 percent sure,” he said.

Top surgery: Before and after

For Cassata, undergoing top surgery allowed him to pass as a trans man and be able to be himself in relationships, making a huge difference to his mental health.

“I had extreme gender dysphoria so before I got top surgery everything was difficult, from putting on a shirt in the morning to giving someone a hug,” he explained.

“It wasn’t even a decision, it was something that I had to do in order to survive.

“Since I got top surgery my life completely shifted. I was able to dress more like myself, have romantic relationships, everything became more comfortable for me.”