Amber, thank you very much for your thoughtful response! I value your experience and appreciate that you have shared it!
Tbh, I always felt like my dissatisfactions about certain aspects of my looks were in a weird gray area, given that secondary sex characteristics were involved. When your intimate anatomy is deformed (in my case, my breasts) and you're growing facial hair (which is not-always-but-often pathological in cis women and, thus, far more often associated with men), it feels a bit unlike run-of-the-mill dysmorphia. For instance, I really disliked my thighs when I was younger also, but that wasn't a feeling of "I am female, but my body doesn't match my gender;" that was more clearly dysmorphic. By contrast, having facial hair and having breasts that looked partially missing (well, one breast was more blatantly affected than the other, at least) — this did feel more like "I am female, but my body doesn't match my gender."
To be clear, I'm not insisting that my experience was directly equivalent to the trans experience. I'm just explaining why standard-issue "dysmorphia" never exactly felt like it fit my situation, particularly where secondary sexual characteristics were involved. (And when my reproductive system started acting up for a while and couldn't even menstruate as often as would've been healthy... mamma mia, that just added to all the insecurities about my body not being feminine "enough.") All this to say... it's sad how many different ways there are to be physically dissatisfied with oneself. :-/
In any case, that's fantastic that you didn't have to alter your nose! Rhinoplasty is indeed uncomfortable for a long time after, and there's an extended risk (like, for months) of the nose job being "undone" by injury, since so much soft tissue is involved. When I was writing this, remembering my surgeon's comment about my "very nice nose for a man," I had a look at some clinic websites who were offering FFS to read more about what the series of procedures usually entails; that was where I got the "nose job" info from. But I appreciate hearing more about FFS from someone with first-hand experience! In fact, I checked out your most recent story about your FFS journey, and I'm sorry about your ordeal with the screw! I hope everything heals perfectly, and I'm glad you've had access to gender-affirming care. You are a beautiful lady, and I wish you much joy in your radiance. 💜
