Mae Martin and Top Surgery: What Is Public, and What It Cannot Tell You

Mae Martin has spoken publicly about having top surgery, in a British GQ interview and in their Netflix special SAP. That is the part which is public because they chose to make it public. Everything else — the technique used, the clinic, the recovery notes, any complications — is private medical information and is not something this or any other site should try to piece together.

If you have arrived here because you are considering top surgery yourself, the more useful question is not what one public figure had done. It is what would be appropriate for your own anatomy, health and goals, and that is decided at individual assessment rather than by comparison.

Why one person’s experience does not predict yours

Chest surgery is planned around chest size and skin quality, nipple and areola position, skin elasticity, whether you have taken testosterone, your general health, and what result you are hoping for. Two people with the same goal can be offered different techniques, and the same technique can produce different scars and different sensation.

Public accounts also compress time. A short recovery mentioned in an interview refers to returning to work, not to full healing, which continues for months as swelling settles and scars mature.

What top surgery actually involves

Top surgery is an umbrella term. Masculinising chest surgery removes breast tissue and reshapes the chest, usually with double incision and free nipple grafts, periareolar or keyhole techniques depending on the case. Feminising top surgery uses breast implants or fat transfer. Which applies to you, and whether surgery is appropriate at all, is a clinical assessment.

Our top surgery page sets out the procedures, suitability and risks. The guide on what top surgery involves covers assessment, options and recovery in more detail, and top surgery scars explains what to expect from healing.

Questions worth asking before you book

• Which technique is proposed for you, and why that one rather than the alternatives?
• What will the scars look like, and where will they sit?
• What happens to nipple sensation, and is that predictable?
• Who is the operating surgeon, what is their registration, and which hospital will be used?
• What revision rate does the surgeon see, and what is the policy if revision is needed?
• What follow-up is arranged once you are back home?

The answers should be in a written treatment plan rather than given verbally.

Treatment with Revitalize in Turkey

Treatment arranged through Revitalize takes place in Izmir. The surgeon and the hospital are contracted providers named in your written treatment plan, so their registration and experience can be checked before you travel. See our contracted surgeons and specialists and contracted hospitals pages, the treatment process page for the stages, and the treatment guarantee page for the limited written warranty that applies.

Whether surgery is appropriate for you is a clinical decision made with you, not something that can be settled by reading about anyone else.