As a surgical technique, FTM Phalloplasty has come a long way since it was first performed in the 1940s. What must it have been like for that first Phalloplasty patient to undergo the surgery, without any peer support, Facebook groups or academic studies to quell fears and uncertainty? Without a doubt, he must have been a determined and courageous man. So, who was he? For this final day of LGBT History Month, take a few minutes to learn about trans trailblazer Michael Dillon and the origins of Phalloplasty.
Laurence Michael Dillon (May 1, 1915 – May 15, 1962) was a British physician who despite being born female-bodied sincerely felt that he was a man. In 1939, he sought treatment with Dr. George Foss, who provided Dillon with oral testosterone tablets. (It is believed that Dillon was the first FTM transsexual to use testosterone therapy.)
While in the hospital for a head injury, Dillon connected with a plastic surgeon, a rare specialty at the time, who performed a double mastectomy for him. (It’s quite likely that Dillon was also the first FTM Top Surgery patient.) This surgeon put him in touch with Dr. Harold Gillies, who performed Phalloplasty surgery for injured soldiers of WWII.
In 1946, Gillies agreed to perform phalloplasty for Dillon, and from 1946 to 1949 Gillies performed at least 13 surgeries on Dillon. This method of Phalloplasty became known as the Gillies Technique.
While Gilllies was the first to use the procedure for a transsexual patient, his method has its roots in an earlier type of Phalloplasty developed by Dr. Bogoraz (sometimes spelled “Bogoras.”) Bogoraz’ bipedicled abdominal tubed flap Phalloplasty was based on the use of a single abdominal tube and was a multi-stage technique requiring secondary construction of the neo-urethra. The technique was improved on by Dr. McIndoe and Dr. Maltz before Dr. Gillies popularized it.
The Gillies Technique was simply a flap of abdominal skin rolled into a tube, with urethral extension being another section of skin to create a “tube within a tube.” This type of Abdominal Phalloplasty was the standard for many years before the first pedicled and free flap Phalloplasty techniques emerged in the 70s and early 80s, and Abdominal Phalloplasty is still performed today by surgeons in the UK and the U.S. The popular Radial Forearm Flap Phalloplasty also has its roots in the Gillies Technique: the “tube within a tube” approach was incorporated into the Chang-design and Gottlieb-design RFF Phalloplasty methods in the 80s.
Unwanted press attention to his aristocratic background led Dillon to flee to India where he immersed himself in Buddhist studies. He then moved on to Ladakh, where he was ordained a novice monk and took the name Lobzang Jivaka. He devoted his time to Buddhism and writing, and published four books on Buddhism, including The Life of Milarepa about the famous 11th century Tibetan yogi. In 1962, his health started to fail and he died in a hospital in India at age 47.
You can learn more about Michael Dillon in Pagan Kennedy’s 2007 book, The First Man-Made Man, in the newly published, From a Girl to a Man: How Laura Became Michael by Liz Hodgkinson, and in the groundbreaking anthology, Hung Jury: Testimonies of Genital Surgery by Transsexual Men.
“Where the mind cannot be made to fit the body, the body should be made to fit, approximately at any rate, to the mind.” – Michael Dillon, Self: A Study in Endocrinology and Ethics (1946)
