Dr Bart van de Ven
Maxillofacial surgeon
Personal word
I have started doing facial feminization surgery because I understood that many transwomen suffer from being recognized as a man. It makes them insecure and depressed. Therefore many transwomen consider facial feminzation surgery even more important than their sex-change surgery as the impact on their lives is bigger.
As I find it very rewarding to help other people I have decided to spend a big part of my life working with transwomen. Facial feminization surgery really changes lives, even mine. It deals with the recognition of individuals in the way the really are. Just like every human being a transsexual wishes to be seen how they truly are.
Facial feminization surgery is challenging and difficult. It is a fairly young type of surgery so there is still a lot of work to do in developing the propre treatment strategy for each patient. To achieve good and natural results the surgeon needs craftmanship, knowledge of technology as well as art (feeling of esthetics beyond the existing rules) and he needs to be a perfectionist (continuous self-critique and evaluation).
In facial feminization surgery the goal should be to respect the personal characteristics of a face as much as possible and at the same time change the masculine characterics into feminine ones, this to ‘set free’ the true feminine version of the patient. The wish of a patient not to change certain facial features, because they belong to the family or she thinks it is her characteristic feature, is important to me.
My approach consists of a combination of bone reduction techniques, frequently combined with a facelift and almost always lipofilling, as a finishing touch. The results of lipofilling depend to a large extend on the skills of the surgeon and the technique used. But the right technique in the right hands gives excellent results that are very long, if not everlasting.
Dr Bart van de Ven,
Maxillofacial surgeon, specialised in facial feminization surgery
Curriculum Vitae
Degrees:
- Dentistry
- Medicin
- Maxillofacial surgery
For his specialization, he worked in the department for oral and maxillo-facial surgery at the Utrecht academic hospital for two years, in general surgery in Arnhem and Utrecht (Diakonessenhuis) for three years, spent 8 months working in plastic and reconstructive surgery and the Maastricht academic hospital, and 2 years in the Mund, Kiefer und plastische Gesichtschirurgie (oral, maxillo-facial and plastic facial surgery) department at the Academic hospital in Aachen, Germany.
From 1999 till 2008 he was a member of the medical staff of the Beatrix hospital in Gorinchem, the Netherlands.
In 2001 he founded the Cleftsurgery Organisation. This organisation provides free surgeries to cleft lip and palate patients in developing countries. Over the years Dr van de Ven has performed several hundreds of free surgeries in Kenya, Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia. In 2008 he was first author of the book ‘Cleft Lip Surgery, a practical Guide’ that has been published in English and Spanish.
From March 2008 he was director of Agave Clinic, international center for advanced maxillofacial, plastic and reconstructive surgery. Unfortunately the Clinic had to be closed down due to difficult economic times in Spain.
He rebuilt his practice in Belgium in a beautiful Clinic in Ghent (Coupure Centre/EMC2).
He has two children, Anne and Peppino, and lives in Antwerp.
info@facialfeminization.eu