What Are My Bottom Surgery Options?

Process at Yale

• All forms of bottom surgery (vaginoplasty, metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, vaginectomy, scrotoplasty, hysterectomy, orchiectomy, etc) are covered by Yale Hospitalization/Specialty Care coverage, however, there are no surgeons at Yale Health who conduct bottom surgery. (last updated April 2023)

  • Yale Health does have a hysterectomy surgeon, although this surgeon does not also conduct vaginectomies.

• Since there are no surgeons who conduct bottom surgery at Yale Health, students will be referred to Mt. Sinai or NYU Langone.

  • Mt. Sinai — Yale Hospitalization/Specialty Coverage is partnered with Mt. Sinai, so the costs of appointments and surgery will be covered directly by Yale. You will schedule an appointment with a social worker who will ask you about your plans for post-operative care. After this appointment, you will have to schedule a medical and psychiatric evaluation with Mt. Sinai; they do not accept an evaluation from Yale Health. After completing those evaluations and being cleared, a consultation will be coordinated to discuss surgical options.

  • NYU Langone — Yale Hospitalization/Specialty Coverage is partnered with NYU Langone, so the costs of appointments and surgery will be covered directly by Yale. The wait times for NYU Langone are incredibly long; two students seeking care with them had reported requesting a consultation in May 2022 and acquiring a consultation for May 2025. The vaginoplasty surgeon, Dr. Bluebond Langner, at NYU Langone is a specialist in methods for genitals that have been impacted by the effects of puberty blockers in childhood/adolescence, which changes the techniques for vaginoplasty.

  • Other In-Network Providers — It is not certain that all providers other than Mt. Sinai and NYU are inherently out-of-network, as individuals have in the past secured up-front insurance coverage to see other surgeons. While this does seem to be possible based on prior cases, the amount of work required to navigate Yale Health's bureaucracy to secure and confirm this coverage can easily make it prohibitively difficult to do so.