An infographic with text and sketched diagrams titled "Worldbuilding with top surgery scars." Written by 6480 @6480.bsky.social "share + use for inspiration" Starts with a drawing of a trans guy with scars pointing diagonally upwards to his collarbones. Text: "This is Jirawat. He comes from a culture entirely separate from our modern one, with its own tradition of medicine. Medical practice in his culture focusese on promoting the natural flow of life energy through the body and towards the head. Beacuse of this, surgical scars like his are preferentially designed to point towards the head, to not disrupt the flow of energy. If needed, a design like this can be adapted for someone with a larger chest just by adding an additional cut or extending the scar further under the arm." (Diagram of same scars with additional cut.) Two sketches of centuries-old mastectomy scars. "Mastectomies have been performed for breast cancer for hundreds of years, often leaving scars like these ones (left). Over time, surgical practices were refined to create a more pleasing end result, and mastectomies for transmasculine people became more well known. While the current typical "top surgery" scar is designed to accentuate the curve of the pecs, this is by no means the only option. Thinking about the design of your character's scars can help you better understand both them and the culture they come from—or make their design truly unique! Depending on the surgical technology available, options like nipple grafts may not be reliable or even come to mind. Is transmasc surgery well known in your world, or does your character have to go to a surgeon who's only treated patients with breast cancer? Surgeries have to be designed and tested—is your character the test case, or an average patient?" There are many sketches of unusual chest scar designs, including vertical scars, spirals, autopsy-scar inspired designs, multi-pronged scars, and one that looks like a bad injury.
Modern top surgery is generally designed to fit the shape of the pecs. But is this the only option?
I made this graphic, "Worldbuilding With Top Surgery Scars", to imagine what transmasculine surgery could look like in a world apart from ours.
Please feel free to share and use for inspiration!
