so it's supposed to be in your policy doc but mine doesn't actually explain it (or literally anything else about trans healthcare) there. I was actually afraid for a while that they'd just deny me ALL trans-related stuff as a consequence. kaiser perm has a trans health coordinator you have to work with to set up care with their doctors and she explained it to me as part of setting me up with a therapist so I can start the process for bottom surgery, endo, etc., when I called to get that process started.
from the docs I've looked at, kaiser is the only non-employer specific insurance provider that covers ffs? or at least I haven't seen a single other one that covers anything other than hormones, bottom surgery, and hair-removal for the purpose of getting bottom surgery done. they also cover facial hair removal and voice therapy and updated my medical records so my doctors know my name and pronouns before I even meet them -- I got super, super lucky and it feels so humanizing to get this very basic level of respect. it's bullshit that this isn't a baseline for trans healthcare but I still feel grateful as I know how hard and expensive this is otherwise.
electrolysis is so, so painful :angery: and they'll only cover like 10 sessions a year (which for me will only get a patch of skin the size of my chin).
I did laser for six sessions, but its not a permanent solution. I get bad trichotillomania after like 10 hours post shave and can spend forever fucking with my face.
Have you gotten any tattoos before? Ive heard the pain is comparable, but would like more comparisons
yea, I did 12 laser sessions right when I started transitioning and it thinned things out but my skin is too dark for it to finish the job.
so I think I'm a bit weird as my skin is much, much more sensitive overall than any other part of my body. so I can get piercings without any issues but I suspect tattoos would be awful for me. so electrolysis is extremely painful for me. it easily hits a 9/10 on the pain scale after all the pain management stuff (lidocaine, tylenol, ibuprofen). codeine brought it down to an 8 which was manageable for me but it's bad enough that it's very nearly traumatizing (I'm having a fear reaction just remembering the experience) and I had to stop when I ran out of codeine. to compare, the generally accepted consensus is that more painful piercings are a 5/10 and that's about where my daith piercings came in for me. so I know I'm not just blowing the experience out of proportion. I have no clue why my skin is so much more sensitive but it very consistently is.
so I say all that to say that your experience probably won't be similar unless you have a similar problem. I hope that helps some!
so it's supposed to be in your policy doc but mine doesn't actually explain it (or literally anything else about trans healthcare) there. I was actually afraid for a while that they'd just deny me ALL trans-related stuff as a consequence. kaiser perm has a trans health coordinator you have to work with to set up care with their doctors and she explained it to me as part of setting me up with a therapist so I can start the process for bottom surgery, endo, etc., when I called to get that process started.
from the docs I've looked at, kaiser is the only non-employer specific insurance provider that covers ffs? or at least I haven't seen a single other one that covers anything other than hormones, bottom surgery, and hair-removal for the purpose of getting bottom surgery done. they also cover facial hair removal and voice therapy and updated my medical records so my doctors know my name and pronouns before I even meet them -- I got super, super lucky and it feels so humanizing to get this very basic level of respect. it's bullshit that this isn't a baseline for trans healthcare but I still feel grateful as I know how hard and expensive this is otherwise.
hope that helps!
Thats super awesome! I suck at finding this kind of stuff. Heres hoping mine is somewhat similar.
yeah, I'm rooting for you!
Aaaaand its cosmetic :jokah:
fuck that bullshit. I'm sorry!
One of these days... If i can just do hair removal that will fix like 90% of my issues
electrolysis is so, so painful :angery: and they'll only cover like 10 sessions a year (which for me will only get a patch of skin the size of my chin).
I did laser for six sessions, but its not a permanent solution. I get bad trichotillomania after like 10 hours post shave and can spend forever fucking with my face.
Have you gotten any tattoos before? Ive heard the pain is comparable, but would like more comparisons
yea, I did 12 laser sessions right when I started transitioning and it thinned things out but my skin is too dark for it to finish the job.
so I think I'm a bit weird as my skin is much, much more sensitive overall than any other part of my body. so I can get piercings without any issues but I suspect tattoos would be awful for me. so electrolysis is extremely painful for me. it easily hits a 9/10 on the pain scale after all the pain management stuff (lidocaine, tylenol, ibuprofen). codeine brought it down to an 8 which was manageable for me but it's bad enough that it's very nearly traumatizing (I'm having a fear reaction just remembering the experience) and I had to stop when I ran out of codeine. to compare, the generally accepted consensus is that more painful piercings are a 5/10 and that's about where my daith piercings came in for me. so I know I'm not just blowing the experience out of proportion. I have no clue why my skin is so much more sensitive but it very consistently is.
so I say all that to say that your experience probably won't be similar unless you have a similar problem. I hope that helps some!