My surgical experience with Dr. Fang.

I have had several encounters with Dr. Fang, and none have left me with a good impression.  The simplest way to put it is, if you are considering travelling to Taiwan to have surgery with him, don't.  There are far better surgeons available in the West, or if you're specifically looking for a surgeon in Asia, you should probably consider the various surgeons in Thailand first.

My own experience with Dr. Fang began in 1997, I think it was.  I had been living in Taiwan for a year at the time, and I was getting a bit down due to my lack of progress towards SRS.  I saw a local TV (television, that is) program which featured Dr. Fang, and as soon as I could, I tracked him down and set up an appointment with him.

I initially approached the appointment with a lot of hope, but perhaps even more trepidation.  My goal at that time was to begin seeing a therapist, and to possibly begin taking hormones, so what I was really looking for was a referral, rather than any kind of immediate surgical procedure.

Well, when I finally got aroung to seeing him, he was friendly but brusque.  It was his clinic hours, I should note, which in Taiwan means seeing a long succession of patients, usually for a few minutes each, with no privacy or time to discuss anything in-depth.  This is not at all Dr. Fang's fault -- that is simply the medical system in Taiwan (other doctors I've seen since have had equally hurried clinic hours).  Nonetheless, I asked him if he could see me some other time for a more in-depth consultation.  A little testily, he agreed.

About a week later, I went to his office for the scheduled visit.  After a very long time trying to find his office (the plastic surgery department of Taipei Veterans' General Memorial Hospital, where Fang works, is very poorly laid-out), I found a secretary or medical student (they never told me who they were) and was asked to wait.  This I did.

Fang finally came in an I asked him about my situation, and what he thought I should do.  Well, let me say this now (if it hasn't already become clear) -- at that meeting, he made a very negative impression on me.

I made it clear that I wasn't aiming for SRS, or indeed for surgery of any kind, at that time.  My goals were to start therapy (psychiatric and hormonal), and to try to start electrolysis.  Fang's attitude towards this was brusque, at best.  When I asked him for a referral to an endocrinologist, he said he didn't know any, and volunteered no further information.  He actually told me hormones were nothing to worry about -- I should just go buy some birth control pills and take it myself.  This from a medical doctor, one who actually supposedly follows the Standards of Care!  When I asked him if he could then instead possibly recommend, say, a gynecologist, he grudgingly gave me the name of one at VMGH.  When I asked him about other information, he more or less grunted and volunteered nothing.  However, when I touched upon the subject of possible surgery, he opened up.  He immediately started quoting prices to me and asking when I wanted to get the surgery done, more-or-less pressuring me to get whatever possible done as soon as possible.  When I made it clear that I had neither the intention nor the means to have any kind of surgery done soon, he clammed up again.

Disappointed, I left with the meager information and bad impression he had given me.  I did begin seeing the gynecologist he recommended (and indeed I am still seeing this gynecologist now), but in general, the experience was a very negative one.

About a year later, though, I had more-or-less forgiven him for his arrogance and lack of consideration, and I was again starting to feel that I wasn't making much progress.  I was taking hormones, but Premarin alone (which was, and is, all my doctor will prescribe) wasn't having much affect at all.  A Taiwanese friend of mine was on the same regimen, but had had much better results, primarily because she had had an orchiectomy (removal of testicles) done in Japan.  I began considering this.

One day, I called Dr. Fang and asked him if he was willing to do this kind of procedure.  Naturally, he was.  The only problem was money.  The procedure is a real surgery, though a fairly simple one, and requires the usual anesthetic, hospital stay, etc., and so costs a fair amount of money to do.  However, Fang allowed me to use the Taiwanese national health insurance to pay for the vast majority of the procedure.  I weighed the dangers and expenses with the possible benefits, and finally decided to do it.  I scheduled my surgery for March of 1998.

I got a few days off work for it -- Fang had said it would be very short, and could in fact be done as an out-patient procedure if I wanted, but I wanted to err on the side of caution and stay in the hospital, just to make sure.  I checked in late one Saturday night.  I was given a gown, shown to my room and allowed to just kind of stew for the night.  Oh, and about the gown -- I should note that patients at VMGH are sex-coded as to their gown colors: pink for women, blue for men.  I asked specifically for a pink one, and the nurses on the plastic surgery ward were quite nice about it, and gave me one (though at the time, not having had any electrolysis, I wasn't too great looking).  Later, a nurse had me sign a consent form, though little or no information was given to me about the specific dangers or procedures which were inherent in my surgery.  I was expected to sign basically blind.

I slept a little fitfully -- not because of any trepidations about the surgery, but because of the loneliness of the place and because I was worried how well and how carefully Fang was going to do the surgery.

Around 10 am, a nurse came into my room and inserted an IV.  He was very nice, apparently quite experienced, though not very talkative.

Later, about noon I think it was (I must be honest, my memory of anything, much less the exact timing of events over a year ago, is hazy), another nurse or perhaps medical student came in to shave my crotch area.  It was very embarassing, though the guy who did it was quite nice and matter-of-fact.

About an hour later, Fang and a gaggle of medical students came in.  He asked me how I was feeling (fine, though a bit uneasy due to the highly professional style of all whom I'd seen), and then left.

Then again later, a nurse came in to take me down to the surgical ward.  I was wheeled on my gurney down to a prep area, and then to the actual theater.  But there's something I have to note about the prep area.  The whole room was full of patients waiting to be operated upon, and was not too fun to be in in the first place -- no screens or anything, just a room full of helpless humanity.  To make matters worse, though, several nurses nearby took special note of me, and stared at me quite unabashedly.  They even said, quite loudly, "It's a man!"  That was probably the most negative aspect of the whole trip for me.  It makes me angry and sad just thinking about it -- no one had ever thought to tell these people to be a little considerate, even to foreigners, and of course they couldn't have done so themselves.

But then, someone came to take me into the theater and begin the procedure itself.  I was wheeled in, and the anesthetic was started.  Fang said "hi" briefly, again.  I think he also asked me if I was having any doubts or qualms, but I wasn't.  But little else was said to me.  Fang's attitude was definitely professorial, and he treated me as an object of study rather than a person at this point.

I fell asleep, sure of my motivations but unsure of their abilities.

I awoke in a recovery room -- so far as I remember, the same room in which I was kept waiting before the surgery.  The next bit was fairly unclear, but then I remember being in my room.  I slept for a little while, was given some extremely disgusting hospital 'food' (I use the term advisedly) for lunch, and then left alone for a great while.  I read a book for a while.

One concern I had had when I went in was how long I would have to stay.  I could only request a few days vacation, and also, the room cost was the largest part of my personal expenses there, so I wanted to minimize my time there as much as possible. Therefore, I asked the nurses on the ward when I could be discharged.  They had no idea how to get in touch with Dr. Fang (another problem which needs correcting), and so asked one of Fang's teammates who happened to be floating around.  He said I could leave if I had to, but I should be very careful with the incision, etc.  I therefore left.

Fairly soon after I had the operation, I was going to the bathroom and noticed what appeared to be a lump in my scrotum.  It felt exactly the same size as a testicle!  Could they really have forgotten to do the one thing they were supposed to do?  I tried to call Dr. Fang directly as soon as I could (which ended up being several days later), and he gave me his usual brush-off over the phone (he said it could be a hematoma, but he was unsure, although I shouldn't worry too much).  I therefore went instead to his clinic hours and more-or-less demanded to be seen.  He finally assented to check me out, and gave me a cursory five-second exam.  During the exam, he persistently tried to use his terrible English on me, even though my Mandarin was much better than his English.  I finally consented to speak English with him, even though it actually caused numerous communication problems, because I didn't want to openly clash with the person who in some vague way held my health in his hands.  He concluded (correctly, I should still add) that it was merely a hematoma (a large clotting of blood which the body naturally dissolves after a while).  I felt better, though not much: why hadn't he told me about this possibility?  Why did I have to try so hard just to see him?  Why did he insist on speaking English when his ability to communicate in it hampered actual communication?

Since that time, I have never regretted the procedure itself, though I have often felt angry at my treatment there.  I have questioned myself several times if I should have had my orchiectomy, and every time I've come up with a fairly sure "yes."  It has helped my hormones to take effect much more quickly, and has helped me to reverse or at least stop other negative (for me) effects of male hormones.  My genitals in general have shrunk a fair amount, so I'm a little worried that when I finally get SRS, I may need to get a skin graft, but thi is a relatively minor consideration.  Nonetheless, throughout it all, while I've continued to feel no regrets over the orchiectomy, I have continued to feel incensed (as now) over the terrible manners and attitudes of the people I encountered during my stay at

Because of this, the experience was very negative, in several ways.  I would not recommend that anyone, especially a non-Taiwanese person, go to Dr. Fang for any sort of surgery, unless the surgery is very minor and inexpensive, and even then I would not give a recommendation without several caveats.  Specific problems that VMGH and Dr. Fang need to deal with are as follows:

• Generally terrible bedside manner on the part of all concerned.  Nearly none of the people who dealt with me in the hospital were nice or even just considerate.  They treated me as well as the average asshole on the street does, by and large.  The staff as a whole should learn to treat people as people rather than as walking diseases or dartboards.
• Very little information given to the patient.  Nothing was explained to me, save when I either begged for it or when it was something for which they could readily be sued otherwise.  The patients should instead be kept informed of everything they might possibly want to know, from how long they should stay in the hospital, to any possible post-operative complications, to the identity of people parading through their rooms.
• Dr. Fang himself needs to learn how to see people as people rather than walking sources of money.  He was brusque, grumpy, uninformative and generally intensely unhelpful during my experience.  He should further either learn to speak English well or allow patients who speak Mandarin to communicate with him through that language.  He needs to stop viewing himself as a minor deity as well.

However, if you are on the road to M2F SRS, and are very sure of your motivations and goals, I would recommend that you at least consider getting an orchiectomy first.  It has helped me in many ways, and although it has caused some small problems, it has been a big help in feeling that I am making progress.  Of course, you should only pursue orchiectomy with a good surgeon's help -- and that means no Fang Ronghuang .
 

At this point, you may want to go back to my main page or to my page about gender.