GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

There a various possibilities regarding neo-vaginas that lubricate that you may be thinking of, and may want to consider and research thoroughly.

Of greatest probable interest are the current day surgeons who some people report may be using a urethral mucosa graft around the upper part of the vaginal opening to provide lubrication. That small amount of mucosa wouldn't create a totally wet vaginal cavity, but it might be of assistance during intercourse. I do not have any first hand information on this, but I have found mention of it, but the mentions do not include any surgical details, such as the mentions at the links below regarding Dr. Bowers' work. However, you may want to inquire directly with Dr. Suporn Watanyusakul and with Dr. Marci Bowers about whether or not they are doing this.

(mentions of urethral mucosa use by Dr. Bowers)

http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/patients.html

(photos of 2004 vintage Bowers vulva with mucosa)
[not liking the cosmetics otherwise though ]
[ I sure hope that has gotten better in six years ]
http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/bowers0704.html


The other option is one that you may want to tread cautiously about before considering. That option is sigmoid colon graft vaginoplasty. That form of vaginoplasty has a long list of major risks. Those risks are not usually associated with tissue inversion vaginoplasty (1) as currently performed by the most well known surgeons. With sigmoid colon surgery a portion of the upper part of the sigmoid colon (see wikipedia):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmoid_colon

is used to become the major part of the vaginal vault. I have read reports of surgeons who retrieve the colon graft with endoscopic techniques to avoid opening up the abdominal cavity. Otherwise retrieval of the graft involves a scar for the harvesting procedure in addition to the scars associated with vaginoplasty surgery. In addition the patient has to recover from have a segment of colon removed, which would probably take a couple months of clear liquid diet at minimum.

Long term, there are numerous bigger problems with sigmoid colon graft surgery. The primary drawback with such surgery is that nobody who has historically performed it has ever developed a good technique for suturing the colon graft to the vaginal opening. Consequently most people who have had that surgery complain of ring strictures at the suture line location in the vagina where the sigmoid tissue begins. The stricturing is scar tissue that shrinks and acts like a tight rubber band noose around that part of the vagina. It must be dilated constantly to prevent it from closing off the vagina. Another major problem with sigmoid-colon vaginoplasty are reports of complaints about the odor from the mucosal secretion produced by the colon graft. To the best of my knowledge, none of the currently popular and prolific vaginoplasty surgeons does the sigmoid colon procedure. The very few surgeons doing it do not appear to have reputations for good results either. Based on reports I have read, their patients tend to be people desperate for a last resort solution as a secondary procedure after catastrophic failure of a different first procedure.

As a matter of practicality, surgeons like Suporn, Meltzer, Brassard, and Bowers are creating quite functional and realistic looking vaginas/vulvas with current tissue inversion techniques. When a little extra lubrication is needed, a squirt of KY type lube inserted deep inside the vagina with the sort of plunger used for yeast infection medications can last as long as twelve hours, based on my own personal experience. It can be inserted well in advance of sexual activity and much of it will still be present in the vagina many hours later. I actually use it every couple days at a minimum anyway because it helps to provide cleansing drainage for the vagina as a matter of regular hygiene. In any event most recipients of current tissue inversion vaginoplasty surgery by the most popular surgeons report at least some self lubrication within about a year or more and increasingly so as their vagina settles in.

There are many factors other than self-lubrication to consider about having a vagina IMO. Since exogenous lubrication is easy and painless, a self-lubricating vagina seems like a non-issue to me. It seems like people ought to be more concerned with getting a realistic and pleasing looking vulva, a functional clitoris that can provide sexual pleasure, a solid and tight pelvic floor, an adequate and elastic vaginal diameter and decent depth, although diameter and elasticity seem way more important that depth beyond five to seven inches. Since it is essential to get a vaginoplasty done right the first time around, I wouldn't risk my body on anyone other than one of the surgeons with the best reputations and who is prolific enough to have a well documented track record of success and minimal complications. A tube of KY is much less hassle than the complications created by the alternatives.

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(1) I use the term "tissue inversion vaginoplasty" because the most popular current surgeons use a combination of scrotal and penile tissue to form the vagina. The techniques these surgeons are using are NOT a "simple" penile inversion. Also, based on first hand discussions with Dr. Meltzer, he has developed specialized suturing techniques to prevent the suture seams between portions of the grafts of scrotal and penile tissue from developing into the strictures that can result in vaginal stenosis. As he described it to me a large serpentine shape of suture line is used that is able to stretch and expand even if the suture line itself become stiff with scar tissue. He also explained that using full thickness tissue with subcutaneous fat and so forth intact also helps provide a material that resists stricture and poor scar formation. Given these surgical technique developments and such surgeons' ability to use full-thickness secondary grafts if and when necessary (such as for a secondary repair vaginoplasty), that leave behind only what looks like a tummy tuck scar, surgeons like Dr. Meltzer et al do not perform, and do not recommend sigmoid colon vaginoplasty.

The presence of mucosal tissue does not guarantee sufficient self-lubrication, though.

In fact, considering the small amount of mucosal walls resulting even in the most recent methods of vaginoplasty, I wouldn't expect more than a very small amount of exudate.