A trans woman has revealed her horrific ordeal when she suffered internal injuries on her journey home after undergoing gender reassignment surgery in Turkey – leaving her in need of emergency NHS treatment.
Shona traveled from her home in Lancashire to Izmir to complete her transition.
It was a success until she had to go home with a piece of surgical equipment still in place, she claims.
After the operation, Shona traveled home to the Blackpool area through three airports – Izmir, Istanbul and Manchester.
She says she ordered assistance on all three, but no one was there to help her around the airport with her bags or up and down the stairs on the two planes she needed to get home.
This meant Shona carried her suitcases across the airports while her dilator – a plastic or silicone device used to prevent shrinkage after male-to-female surgery – was inserted.
Shona traveled from her home in Lancashire to Izmir to have sex reassignment surgery that would give the male-born trans woman a vaginal opening
As part of the operation, Shona had to have a dilator inserted – a plastic or silicone device used to prevent shrinkage after male-to-female surgery –
Shona, who is married to a woman with children, took to TikTok to describe her ordeal to her 11,000 followers.
She said she flew to Turkey on February 2 to undergo surgery, but felt compelled to speak out against rumors that the operation had been botched.
Shona said: ‘A lot of people assume my surgery went wrong in Izmir, but it went according to plan.
‘But on the way home I had ordered assistance through the three different airports, starting in Izmir itself.’
She said she arrived at each airport in turn to find that no one was there as planned to carry her cases and make boarding and exiting planes as simple as possible in her vulnerable state.
She said she was exhausted by the time she reached Manchester, telling her followers: ‘There was no assistance and I had to go through passport control, lift my bags off the belt and push them to the train station.
“Then I took a train to Preston and had to carry my cases up and down stairs myself. I then got a taxi and was met by my wife at the front door.
‘The whole time I went I had my dilator inside me which has caused damage to the new left labia.’
Shona added: ‘I’ve seen a doctor and they’ve referred me to St George’s Hospital in London to try and fix the problem.
‘There were no problems before I had to walk with this dilator inside me.
‘I don’t want people to judge me for what happened, it’s now about healing and getting better.
‘The infection is now almost gone, I’m off oxygen now for a while, although I’m struggling to breathe.
‘I’m on my way there and the antibiotics are working. Now I just need to get to St George’s and get the wound fixed.’
In an earlier video posted to TikTok, Shona told how she was rushed to hospital after returning home from Turkey when her temperature rose.
She said: ‘Last night I had to be rushed into A&E at Blackpool Vic (Blackpool Victoria Hospital) due to a high temperature and no food for a few days.
‘It turned out that my labia had become infected and needed debridement. The doctor takes me down to clean it all out, but the hole is still open.
‘Other than that everything is fine and these things happen. I won’t be the first and I won’t be the last person this has happened to.
However, she was not meant to leave with the device inside her, and despite ordering medical attention, Shona says she was forced to carry her luggage herself on the journey home, which ended up causing serious internal damage
She said she now plans to return Shona to Turkey today for further surgery to repair the damage
‘The infection was caused because I had the dilator inside me which caused skin damage.’
After sex reassignment surgery, patients must use a dilator to prevent a process known as ‘stenosis’ – shortening or narrowing of the new vaginal cavity.
The London Transgender Clinic – one of the UK’s leading private hospitals – advises patients: ‘The stretching effect of vaginal dilation can prevent wound contraction, in addition to providing optimal elasticity of the vaginal walls to accommodate penetration.
‘Without adequate and consistent dilation, the skin inside the vagina will shrink and contract, which can ultimately lead to shortening and/or narrowing of the vaginal canal; this is known as stenosis.’
Shona has revealed that she will return to Turkey today for further surgery to repair the damage.
She said work carried out at an NHS hospital had removed too much healthy skin, so surgeons in Izmir would work to repair the damage.
Shona told her followers in an updated TikTok: ‘They took too much healthy skin on my wound so unfortunately I now have to go back to Turkey where they will take me back to theater again to repair the damage and keep me there for a week on bed rest.
“I want assistance again at Manchester airport, they have confirmed it and made sure it is on the list when I get there.”
She thanked her followers for their support and said: ‘You guys have been a huge part of my journey and it’s been great to have you there.’