US de-transitioner who had her breasts removed as a teen now wants them back

An American woman who transitioned to a man in her teen and had a double mastectomy is now missing what she had as a woman and is planning to have surgery to get her breasts back.

Alia Ismail, now 28, came out as a transgender man when she was 18 and began a medical transition that saw her take hormones and have her breasts removed at 20.

But in February 2021, Alia, decided to detransition after realizing that her new identity as a trans man did not represent who she was.

‘Now, at 28, I finally feel like a woman,’ she said. ‘I’m so empowered by the struggles I’ve gone through as a woman. Being a woman is hard and you have to be resilient and strong. I am strong.’

Her first step in her detransitioning journey was to stop taking testosterone.

Alia was initially content to live as a woman without breasts, but two years on, she is frustrated being without boobs and has decided to have a fat graft transfer to create breasts.

She detests implants because of their health implications.

She plans to use a breast enhancement device to stretch her skin and have more blood flow to her breasts, which can be beneficial for the fat graft transfer surgery.

Alia explained: ‘Fat grafting is the least invasive option. I didn’t want to put anything in my body that wasn’t the most natural process. There are a lot of health concerns with implants.

She said she has moments when she wishes she never had her double mastectomy.

‘I’m here now, and all I can do is figure out how to move forward. It was a part of my path,’ she said.

‘I feel hopeful for my up-and-coming surgery. It’s something I thought deeply about for the last two and a half years, and I have come to accept that this is the best option for myself.

‘I have also accepted that if it doesn’t work then I am okay with my breasts as they are, but I am confident that this will be successful.

Alia previously said that she doesn’t regret her transition on the whole because it’s made her the person she is today.

She said: ‘It was a key time in my life of self-discovery into the person I am today.’

She admits that the cost of that discovery is steep.