Title says it all - I've been wanting to have them removed since the early 2000s but just don't have the nerve. Has anyone here had it done and feel like sharing/answering questions?

Edit: here are my main questions, anyone else feel free to jump in with your own:

Was it difficult finding a place to do it?

How was the recovery?

Did/do you have extra skin now or did/do you plan on having it removed? Or did they remove it with the testicles?

If in the US, what did the prices for any procedures come to, roughly?

Do you have to take any medication since having it done?

Edit2: Thank you all for answering, I've learned a lot and want them off of me more than ever!

What questions do you have?

I have and I don't miss them, what sort of things do you wonder about?

Thanks for responding and being open to share!

Was it difficult finding a place to do it?

How was the recovery?

Did/do you have extra skin now or did/do you plan on having it removed? Or did they remove it with the testicles?

If in the US, what did the prices for any procedures come to, roughly?

Do you have to take any medication since having it done?

Thanks for responding! I'm now realizing I should have just put my questions in the post..

Was it difficult finding a place to do it?

How was the recovery?

Did/do you have extra skin now or did/do you plan on having it removed? Or did they remove it with the testicles?

If in the US, what did the prices for any procedures come to, roughly?

Do you have to take any medication since having it done?

I had vaginoplasty so there is no extra skin.
It was in the US. The initial recovery was roughly 8 weeks.
I had insurance cover part of it, out of pocket i paid between $10k-$12k USD.
I was on estrogen HRT before and after the procedure. There were no additional long term medications as a result of the surgery.

For an orchidectomy I've known a few different people who had one. Some while waiting for further gender affirming surgery others not. The recovery time is a couple days and it was easy and quick to schedule. Wait times for orchidectomies are much shorter. I think it depends on how they do the surgery whether or not there is extra skin. I believe the scrotum does shrink over time either way. This can be a factor if you want to pursue further procedures down the line. It won't prevent them, just can change what techniques will work.
not sure on orchidectomy price but it should be much lower than vaginoplasty since there's no hospital stay involved.

I think generally WPATH8 guidelines call for being on HRT for about 6 months prior to any sort of gender affirming surgery so if you are not on HRT (and perhaps don't want to be?) that may be a factor as well.

Was it difficult finding a place to do it?

No. My doctor recommended a urologist. A two week wait for consultation and scheduled the surgery for a month later.

How was the recovery?

Very easy and quick. Mild "phantom testicle" pain (actually the cords recovering).

Did/do you have extra skin now or did/do you plan on having it removed? Or did they remove it with the testicles?

They left my scrotum intact, but its default state is much smaller without anything weighing it down.

If in the US, what did the prices for any procedures come to, roughly?

It was covered by insurance. I believe the total bill to insurance was about $30k, and I only paid up to my out-of-pocket maximum. Without insurance, I've heard they charge less, but I don't know what that'd be exactly.

Do you have to take any medication since having it done?

I just had mine removed like 3 months ago. I'll answer your questions in order.

I asked my doctor about it and he recommended me some in network surgeons, so finding a place to do it was easy.

For recovery I remember laying in bed for like 4 days before I got a bit more active. I could manage pain just fine with otc meds. A lot of my pain I think was nerve pain, which I felt moreso in my inner upper thighs rather than my groin and I found that using an ice pack helped a lot. I felt a lot better after just one week, but I did still have to take it easy with activity for about 6 to 8 weeks.

I do have extra skin. If you want to get a vaginoplasty in the future, you should leave it since they will use that skin. I imagine that you could get it removed if you want though.

Mine was around $24,000 without insurance. I'm on my parents insurance still, and my Mom had a surgery that maxed it out, so I was very fortunately fully covered and paid nothing. The surgery itself was $20,000 but then you have things like anesthesia, getting the letters, the consult, and pre and post op appointments.

After the procedure they gave me pain meds and a laxative. Didn't really need the pain meds and I used the laxative for like a week. I also have stopped my T blocker since, which is nice.

A lot of stronger pain meds cause constipation so the laxative can be for that side effect. Avoiding bearing down aka poo pushing can be recommended to reduce stress on the surgery site. I had two hernia operations to learn this. I'm a cis male but one of my testes is giving me a bit of grief so I expect I'll need to evict it at some point.

In the US, difficulty in finding a place/surgeon will depend on the state you are in and perhaps your insurance.
You can claim bilateral testicular pain as the reason that you want orchiectomy to try to game the system, but many urologists will counsel you towards cord denervation for pain if so.

Recovery is a few weeks. No bike riding or riding lawnmowers for 4 weeks. You may get 5-7 days of narcotic pain medications, but most are typically on Tylenol/ibuprofen before then. Ice packs can help as needed.

Incision is usually through the midline of the scrotum (the raphe), and surgery should leave the entirety of the scrotum in place for future vaginoplasty should you so desire. As others have said, given enough time the scrotum will atrophy/shrink without testicles to stretch it.

Most urologists will follow WPATH guidelines for pre-surgery evaluation, so check those out.

i haven't had mine yet, but my partner had her bofaectomy almost two years ago.

• it wasn't difficult finding a place to do it, though we do live just a few hours from san francisco, and i've had friends fly across the country to get bottom surgery there.
• recovery was not too bad, all told. it's a one day procedure that left her uncomfortable, but perfectly lucid on the ride home, so in some ways, it was less disruptive than getting her wisdom teeth out a few years before. she did have to stay off her motorcycle for like a month though, which sucked.
• idk if taking the skin is an option, but she still has it. if you're considering a vaginoplasty down the road, you'll want the material around, as it opens up a lot of options. that said, without anything to weigh it down, it shrinks quite a lot on its own.
• it was entirely covered by Medi-Cal for us. I think she had to get signed off for it by a couple different doctors. The only costs to us were in the transportation aspect. Maybe a few hundred bucks in gas, road snacks, and ice packs.
• she took ibuprofin for pain for a few days afterwards, but no significant long term changes to her meds were needed. that said, if you aren't already on some form of hrt, you ought to be afterwards, lest your bones wither away.