Complaint Review: Dr. Harold Reed

I contacted Dr. Reed in the fall of 2004 to inquire about SRS.  I spoke to him at length about the surgey to find out what was involved, and had my wife listen in on the conversation to make sure that there would be no miscommunication.  At that time I was seeking metoidioplasty and I was concerned about impairing the vagina too much because I was concerned about losing capacity for orgasm.  Dr. Reed assured me that the surgery would take away about 10% of the vagina.  There were pictures on his web site showing a successful metoidioplasty that looked like a small uncircumcised p***s and I told him I wanted a similar outcome.  He agreed and I sent over $2K as a deposit.

When my wife and I arrived in Miami in Jan of 05 for the surgery, Dr. Reed again explained the procedure.  This time the explanation was totally different.  He was unclear and refused to explain about the surgery.  He kept making strange statements about whether there would be anything left of my vagina, and how the surgery was going to happen.  It was not the same explanation at all but he was very condescending and made me feel like the communication was on my part.  He then had me sign a very long release of liability.  As I was trying to read it, he kept urging me to hurry up and trying to prevent me from taking my time.  He did not supply me with a copy.  The release basically banned me from suing him as far as I remember but I cannot be accurate as I only got to read it once and that was done very quickly. I felt really trapped because I had already invested almost $4k in fees to Dr. Reed, flight costs, and hotel costs.  Dr. Reed's deposits are non-refundable for any reason.

Since I had already invested so much money, my wife and I talked and decided to go forward with the surgery the next day.

I was out of it most of the time, but my wife told me about some troubling events that occurred during the surgery.  First, I kept moaning because I was in pain and he would not give me pain medication.  Finally, my wife told me to moan louder and that finally prompted him to give me another pain shot.  At that time, my wife discovered that I was bleeding profusely and told Dr. Reed.  He attempted to address the problem but stopped twice to answer the phone.  Finally, he sent her out to the drugstore to get medication to stop the bleeding.  As I was coming around, I was in an incredible amount of pain but he told her that he would not give me another pain shot because he wanted to go home to dinner and he would not be able to if he gave me another shot.  He had his assistant wheel me down to the hotel in a wheelchair and drop me off.

I spent several days in the hotel and Dr. Reed came to check on me.  I have never been in so much pain in my life.  He never prescribed any painkillers like vicodin or anything in that family.  The painkillers he prescribed were completely inadequate to genital surgery.  Every move I made hurt like crazy and there were several times when he was changing the bandages that I was screaming in pain.

After returning to my home, I had to have stitches removed from the tip of my new phallus.  This was done as an outpatient at a local clinic and was almost even more painful than my time in the hotel. 

After starting to heal, I became aware that my new phallus, created from the clitorus, was completely sideways.  The head of the clitorus which normally looks like a small p***s was to the right of my body.  I contacted Dr. Reed but he refused to speak to me on the phone, insisting that he could not tell me what had been done to my body without my returning to FL.  I scheduled a flight and returned to FL, but Dr. Reed was unable to tell me what had been done to me during surgery.  To this day, I have never had an explanation.  However, he immediately posted a disclaimer on his web site claiming that "torquing" can occur as part of this surgery.  The web site also states that this can often be corrected.  My "p***s" remains sideways.

Another problem is that my vagina is pretty much entirely gone.  I had asked Dr. Reed multiple times before surgey if the vagina would be impacted and was told multiple times that surgery would take away about 10% of the vagina.  After surgery, Dr. Reed insisted that he had meant that 10% of the vagina would be left, to which I would never have agreed. 

After surgery, I was contacted by another FTM contemplating surgey with Dr. Reed. This gentleman informed me that the picture of the uncircumcized metoidioplasty pictured on srsmiami.com was not the work of Dr. Reed but pictures of a colleague in another country performing the surgery.  There were no notes or any idication on the web site to indicate that this was not Dr. Reeds hands in the photo and not his patient.

I contacted Dr. Reed several times via email over the course of the last 5 years.  He has emails he claims he sent me but that I never received, claiming that he offered to have someone else look at my body.  I have asked for a copy of the release I signed but was told I could not have a copy unless I wanted to pay $150 for a copy of my file.  He also "offered" to allow me to come to FL and have him perform additional surgery for about $1,500.  I find this suggestion ludicrous as there is no way I would ever allow him to touch me again.  My wife to this day insists that she believes that I almost died on his operating table.  The whole time he was much more concerned with his dinner than with my body.  His overall bedside manner is horrific; he has a huge ego and when he doesn't want to address an issue he basically tries to intimidate you into not asking.  Once he has your money, his attitude is completely different than the pre-paid Dr. Reed.

I have undergone over 5 surgeries to repair strictures of the new urethra created by Dr. Reed.  The original surgery broke apart but a urologist near me was able to repair it.  I pretty much have to have surgery once per year to be able to urinate.  I am not able to be sexually active using the vagina, and sexual activity using my "phallus" is painful.  It is still twisted sideways, and there are a lot of ugly skin tabs and places where the skin was hacked away during the surgery.  Dr. Reed never could explain what he had done to me during the surgical procedure.  His attitude in emails (he has never made an attempt to call me or return calls) is basically that he doesn't care.

If I could go back and not go to FL, I would do it in a heartbeat.  This surgical produre has had permanent negative effects on every facet of my life.  I now urinate much more frequently throughout the day than I ever did, and every time I urinate I am in pain, sometimes intense and sometimes not.  The last surgey I had to correct strictures made the urethra less elastic and now urine remains in the urethra unless I hold paper under it, otherwise it will drip into my underwear.

Stay away from Harold Reed and The Reed Centre!  I don't know how many lives they have ruined in the last 5 years, but if my posting saves just one other FTM's body, then it will be worth it.  I wouldn't send my worst enemy to Dr. Reed.