Star Wars Day, 4th of May, marks the anniversary of my HRT and I just crossed my 3rd year of being on anti-androgens and estrogen. It felt as anti-climatic as the day I started, just popping a couple of pills and carrying on with life. Which it should be of course; changes aren't dramatic and they take a long time. It is however, always interesting to put progress photos side by side to see the changes that have happened.

For me, I would say that most of the physical changes have plateaued after the first 1.5 - 2 years. Softening of skin, distribution of facial fat, enlargement of areolas and breast tissue, regrowth of hair on the crown and skin being less oily (this last one practically eliminated my acne problem, which is HUGE).

Most of the major appearance changes recently seem to be from non-HRT related actions, such as facial hair removal, shaping of my eyebrows, acne scar treatments, lots of skin care and just growing out my hair (which takes bloody long). I'm sure there are subtleties in the fat distribution of course, since HRT changes the body even to the 5th year. But what I see right now is more or less it.

Is it disappointing? Not really. While I wish with all my heart that my boba development was more...generous, the subtle changes are not to be scoffed at. I love how soft my skin feels. I smell a lot nicer. And I feel like a woman a lot more often than I did in the first 2 years. So there's no way in hell I will stop HRT. It's a large piece of the puzzle in helping me get greater congruence between who I am inside and the person I see in the mirror. I would say that only in the 3rd year have I gained greater courage to step out, live and interact as myself.