Transgender Woman Spends $45K To Get The Face She's Always Wanted
You won't believe what she went through to get the perfect face.
Instagram Looking at herself in the mirror each morning was equivalent to a nightmare. Stef Sanjati, a 24-year-old transgender woman from Toronto, was accustomed to spending up to five hours a day applying her makeup to get the look she wanted.
"For myself, waking up and looking in the mirror is like pressing reset on your favorite game every day. Losing all progress, going backward, never reaching your potential," she said.
Wanting a face that was more feminine, Sanjati finally decided to go under the knife in 2016, sharing her graphic photos and videos of her before and after transformation.
"It's incredibly frustrating, not seeing what you see in your head in the mirror... I don't think I have uploaded an untouched photograph since before I started my transition — I nip and tuck at my face, reducing my jaw here, enlarging my cheek there... all with the goal of looking more like what we perceive as feminine."
Her Facial Feminisation Surgery cost $45,000 Canadian dollars, some of which she obtained through her GoFundMe page. In the future, she plans on getting Sexual Realignment Surgery, which varies in cost depending on the person.
Feeling extremely frustrated over the way she looked, Sanjati said that, in addition to her extensive makeup routine, she also would spend hours touching up her photos to look how she wanted to.
After her plastic surgery in December 2016, she posted that she was feeling happy about how everything had gone and was in minimal pain. She sent photos out, partly to keep over a thousand people who donated to her GoFundMe page up-to-date on her progress.
Through the page, she actually raised $32,000 in total, which covered a majority of the costs.
When talking about her surgery, Sanjati said, "Undergoing FFS and SRS would vastly improve my mental health... I would love to share the experience with all of you so that people can learn about gender confirmation surgeries and what they mean to transgender people."
Sanjati also has a genetic condition called Waardenburg Syndrome, which she opened up about in 2018. The condition has caused deafness in her left ear, bone mutations on her face, very blue eyes that are farther apart, and pigmentation of the skin and hair.
She revealed that she would often get bullied in school for it.
In 2015, Sanjati made a YouTube video addressing her face and Waardenburg Syndrome. She made the video because she had felt that the syndrome wasn't really discussed in media before. It went viral and now has over nine million views.
Sanjati said, "I'm very grateful for that video. It gave me my audience."
She has now grown to love the traits that came with having the syndrome and even made sure that her plastic surgeon wouldn't alter them at all: "I was very specific with my surgeon to not alter any of my Waardenburg syndrome features."
For Sanjati, the plastic surgery hasn’t just been about looking good — it has also been a way for her to feel comfortable in her own skin.
She revealed, "These surgeries are about feeling like you, every day, when you wake up in the morning — before cinching, pulling, and covering every inch of your body with body shapers, tape, and cosmetics. They're about recognizing yourself in the mirror and feeling like living going outside is possible, and not something to dread."
Sometimes, we need to ask for help in order to achieve our goals. And in this case, Sanjati probably got more help than she bargained for.
Shannon Ullman is a writer who focuses on traveling, culture, and online shopping. She has been featured on MSN, Huffington Post, and more. Follow her blog Lives Abroad.