Traveling for Surgery with The Gender Confirmation Center

Because it’s not possible for all folks in the transgender, non-binary and gender expansive community to find a local plastic surgeon, Dr. Mosser works with patients across the nation and around the world. If you’re an out-of-town patient considering surgery, we’d be happy to help you plan a stay in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We want to ensure you have accessibility to reasonably priced lodging while you’re in the Bay Area. In addition to affordable housing during your stay, it’s equally important to find trans and non-binary sensitive environments to ensure the most comfortable and healing recovery. We’ve worked with our Director of Community Engagement to find the best options for your stay.

A Pre-Check List for Out-of-Town Patients

To ensure a smooth process, there are few things you should do in advance of your procedure.

Ask questions – Dr. Mosser offers virtual consultations using a combination of phone calls or video conferencing and photographs. Before undertaking any additional planning, make sure that you feel comfortable with all of the details. Dr. Mosser is happy to answer any questions you may have regarding your surgery.

Disclose all current medications – Certain prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and supplements will hinder healing and should be discontinued prior to surgery. Dr. Mosser will be able to determine which medications should be temporarily discontinued.

Complete all required preoperative evaluations and blood tests – In most cases you should be able to complete these steps from a distance at a lab in your home city.

Book your flight– It’s usually okay to fly in just 1-2 days prior to surgery. When looking for flights try Southwest Airlines first as they sometimes offer ‘get away deals’, where flights are at a much lower rate than other commercial companies. Their flights won’t come up on Google search, so you’d need to visit their website independently to see what their rates are.

When booking your return flight keep in mind you’ll need to stay in San Francisco for at least 10 days following surgery before you can fly home. It’s important to inform our staff of where you choose to stay so that Dr. Mosser can follow-up with you by telephone.

Our staff would be happy to assist you with your travel accommodations.

Airports- When you’re looking for flights be sure to look at Oakland International Airport as well as San Francisco Airport. The prices for airplane tickets vary and sometimes you can get a better deal at one airport over the other.  The Bay Area Rapid Transport (BART) runs from both airports and can drop you off at designated BART stations. Where ever your lodging will be located, ensuring that it’s near a BART station will cut down on your transportation costs while you’re in the area.

Transportation- Dr. Mosser’s office is conveniently located just a few blocks from the Montgomery BART station. Wherever you’re staying in the bay area you can utilize the BART to get to his office (or St. Francis Hospital) by getting off at the ‘Montgomery BART station’ in Downtown Union Square.  Prior to your arrival in the Bay Area you’ll want to download a transportation app on your smartphone such as Lyft or Uber. You can utilize Lyft and Uber to get you to BART stations (if you’re not staying within walking distance to one). I suggest for folks to take a LYFT or Uber with whoever is accompanying them after their surgery. This allows the person caring for you to fully attend to you. Utilizing the BART and transportation apps will cut down your costs tremendously.

Lodging Accommodations

We understand that surgery is a big expenditure both emotionally and financially. Below is an extensive list of affordable options to choose from. Disclaimer: The prices listed for lodging accommodations on this page are averages. There may be some fluctuations in price, so please confirm details at the linked websites provided. We realize as all identities differ and so do your accommodation preferences. The Bay Area has a large queer, trans, and non-binary community. Due to this there is a possibility you will be able to find a place to stay in a shared community for free or discounted cost fairly close to Dr. Mosser’s. Our Director of Community Engagement Charity helps with placing folks in the appropriate spaces based on their needs. The list below starts from ‘possibly free’ meaning some folks may be able to host you without a charge and then moves up accordingly.

Community Based Free/Low Cost Options

• Bay Area Queer Exchange- The BAQE is a Facebook Group that you will need to request access to prior to being able to use. This forum is an incredibly diverse community, with folks of all different intersections, gender identities, sexual orientation, abilities etc. Your first step would be to request access to the group. The second step would be to introduce you’re self with your name, pronouns and need. Example; “My name’s Kai, I use he/him pronouns and I’m having Top Surgery in San Francisco on January 4^th. I’m looking for a place to stay from January 2^nd (when I fly in) until January 12th. If anyone is able to help out please let me know. Thank You!”. This group isn’t used specifically for housing, but a lot of people in need have been able to get assistance for a variety of things.
• Trans and Intersex Housing: SF Bay Area– This is a Facebook Group as well. It’s mostly used for trans and intersex folks to find permanent housing. But in addition to posting on the BAQE I encourage you to cross post on this group.
• QTPOC (Queer Trans Person of Color) Housing Bay Area California– If you are a trans person of color this is a sanctioned safe space for folks who identify as such. The other 2 online groups mentioned before this are also very safe, but this is another alternative for you.

Lower Cost

• TransHeartline is a trans led and operated post-op care/lodging facility. The space is small so look into this option first, their website explains everything.
• Air BnB: Airbnb can be a great option for you as they have shared housing options in addition to entire places. The cheapest options on Air bnb are for Oakland and not San Francisco. Oakland is just across the bridge from San Francisco and you can travel to and from easily via the BART. We’re starting a project to find trans and non-binary folks who have their places listed on Air BnB. You can usually find shared spaces with a private room as low as $40, and higher ends of $70. For the cheaper ones be sure to look at the location as they may be far away and require more traveling costs
• USA Hostels: There are low rate hostels located in San Francisco. We can only recommend the location and price and haven’t had any feedback from anyone staying there.

Medium Cost, LGBTQ Friendly, all located within 3 Miles of Dr. Mosser’s office:

• Metro Hotel: Starting at $107 a night.
• Willow Inn: Starting at $130.
• The Parker Guest House: Starting at $189.
• Inn on Castro: Starting at $135.

Higher Cost, also close to Dr. Mosser’s office:

• Grand Hyatt San Francisco– Rates start at about $300 per night and the Grand Hyatt is conveniently located just a few of blocks away from Dr. Mosser’s office. To learn more, visit their website at hyatt.com
• Grand Marriott Union Square– Also just a few blocks down the street from our office, the Grand Marriott offers rooms that start under $300 per night. Learn more about booking on their website.
• Sir Francis Drake– Located within a block of Dr. Mosser’s office, the Sir Francis Drake Hotel offers all of our patients special booking rates. To find out more, you can contact our office or visit their website.

 Let’s Make A Vacation Out Of It!

Our office is close to popular destinations if you’re traveling to San Francisco and would like to make a vacation out of this experience! Please see below for a list of popular destinations to checkout while you’re here and how far they are away from our office.  However, remember that after surgery you cannot walk faster than a slow stroll, and you can’t exert yourself with stair or hill climbing for 3 weeks after surgery:

• Golden Gate Bridge: 6 miles
• The Painted Ladies: 2 miles
• Alcatraz Island: 1.5 miles
• Union Square: Our office is IN Union Square
• Chinatown: .5 miles
• Palace of Fine Arts: 3 miles
• The Castro: 4 miles

Traveling Timeline

Because most pre-operative steps can be completed virtually, you will only need to fly into San Francisco 1-2 days in advance of your procedure. MTF/N breast augmentation and FTM/N chest reconstruction are outpatient procedures, which means you will need to have appropriate accommodations in place that same day.

Though it’s unlikely that you will be able to stay in town for all of your follow-up visits, Dr. Mosser requires that all of his patients stay in town for at least 6-7 days after surgery so that he can effectively monitor your progress and address any side effects, complications or concerns in person.

Some airlines have special guidelines regarding patients who have recently undergone surgery. Dr. Mosser can provide a TSA letter so that you can get through security without any trouble with regards to arm position limitations.

Contact Our Office for Additional Travel Details

A lot of planning and preparation goes into surgical procedures. If you have additional questions, or if you are feeling overwhelmed with all the necessary planning details, our staff would be happy to assist you. Please feel free to contact our office at 415-780-1515. You can also email Charity Rose, our Director of Community Engagement at: charity@genderconfirmation.com