Gender-Affirming Surgery Services

As part of NYU Langone’s comprehensive transgender health services, our surgical team provides reconstructive care that centers your vision for aligning your body and anatomy to your gender identity.

We offer surgical procedures to meet the needs of transgender and nonbinary people, and help you prepare for surgery. Our team includes highly skilled and experienced plastic and reconstructive surgeons, urologists, otolaryngologists, and gynecologists who are leaders in gender-affirming surgery. Together, we perform more than 800 gender-affirming surgical procedures per year. Our collaborative approach ensures you receive the highest standard of surgical care. And all of our surgeries are performed at Kimmel Pavilion, where our patient rooms are single-bedded for your privacy.

For people preparing for genital surgery, you are able to meet with your plastic surgeon and urologist together to answer all of your questions and develop the treatment plan best suited to your goals. We collaborate with experts in endocrinology, physical rehabilitation, psychiatry, psychology, and reproductive endocrinology and provide referrals when needed.

Our mission is to care for the whole person, and each surgical plan is unique and tailored to meet your individual goals. We are recognized by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader, which recognizes our commitment to providing high-quality, individualized care for all.

Facial Surgery

Our experts in craniofacial surgery perform facial gender-affirming surgery, also known as facial feminization or facial masculinization surgery. These procedures include the following:

• brow lift
• cheek augmentation
• chin reshaping, also known as genioplasty
• chondrolaryngoplasty, also known as tracheal shave, to reduce of the prominence of the Adam’s apple at the front of the throat
• frontal bone and brow contouring
• hairline advancement
• jaw reduction
• lip lift
• rhinoplasty to restructure the nose

Chest and Torso Surgery

We perform gender-affirming mastectomy, also called top surgery or chest masculinization. There are several surgical options to create a flat chest and reposition and reduce the nipple and areola area.

We also perform breast augmentation, also called breast feminization, where implants are added to create larger breasts.

Reproductive Procedures and Fertility Preservation

Our gynecologists and urologists perform the following reproductive organ procedures:

• orchiectomy to remove the testicles
• hysterectomy to remove the uterus, which may include oophorectomy to remove ovaries if desired

Our doctors provide fertility-preserving interventions, such as egg or sperm harvesting and egg freezing, through NYU Langone Fertility Center.

Genital Surgery

Genital surgery, also known as bottom surgery, is used to create the desired genital anatomy.

When possible, our reconstructive plastic surgeons and urologic surgeons use the robotic da Vinci surgical system. We are one of the country’s only gender-affirming surgery programs that performs robotic surgery for these procedures. Robotic surgery provides surgeons with greater visibility and reach in the narrow cavity of the pelvis, which allows these procedures to be performed with greater safety and precision.

Vaginoplasty and Related Procedures

Vaginoplasty includes creation of a clitoris, labia majora, and labia minora, removal of the testicles and erectile tissue, and shortening of the urethra. A vaginal canal is created between the rectum and prostate. A robotic approach is especially helpful in the creation of the vaginal canal because it allows us to use a peritoneal flap, sometimes called peritoneal pull-through or the Davydov procedure, to achieve greater vaginal depth.

As leaders in this procedure, we have published detailed information about robotic peritoneal flap vaginoplasty surgery.

View a video that describes this procedure in detail. Please note that this video is graphic.

Phalloplasty

Surgery to create a penis is a multiple step process that is unique for each person and based on their desired outcome.

Phalloplasty uses skin from another location on the body, such as the forearm or thigh, to make a penis. Your surgeons use microsurgery techniques to connect blood vessels and nerves that allow for blood flow to and sensation in the penis.

Urethral lengthening, which creates a longer urine channel through the penis, is possible. Our surgeons perform this procedure along with vaginectomy to remove the vagina.

You may also choose to have scrotoplasty to create a scrotum. Once the initial reconstruction is complete you can also choose to have erectile devices and testicular implants.

Recovery After Gender-Affirming Surgery

After surgery, our physical therapists at Rusk Rehabilitation work with you to help soften scars, strengthen the pelvic floor following bottom surgery, and regain motion and strength after chest surgery.

Our social worker also connects you with services that support you during recovery and as you move into life after gender-affirming surgery.

Our Gender-Affirming Surgery Team

Our gender-affirming surgery team provides care for transgender and nonbinary people. For appointments, please contact each doctor directly.

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

• Rachel Bluebond-Langner, MD
• Oriana D. Cohen MD
• Jamie P. Levine, MD
• Eduardo D. Rodriguez, MD, DDS

Gynecology

• Christopher N. Eswar, MD
• Lauren E. Stewart, MD
• Ruth A. Tessler, MD

Urology

• Bobby B. Najari, MD
• Lee C. Zhao, MD