A transgender actress who fears she will struggle to land female stage roles because of her manly jawline is fund-raising for ‘feminisation’ facial surgery.
Striking Amelia Hindle, who has gender dysphoria, says she needs £15,000 for surgery to make her jawline more feminine but which is not covered on the NHS.
The procedure to re-define her jawline and nose is not covered by the NHS as it is deemed cosmetic surgery.
But the 23-year-old, born Joseph Damon Hindle, says it would transform her life.
Amelia, who works as a ghoul at Blackpool Tower Dungeon, Lancs., said: “I understand for a lot of trans people the genital surgery for them is most important, but people see my face every day – not many people see what’s in my pants.
“I’m uncomfortable having male genitalia but I’m far more uncomfortable with my stronger nose and my masculine jawline.”
Amelia, whose earlier theatre roles in her career were as males as she did not come out until 2017, has been on the NHS waiting list to undergo lower surgery for three years.
It is not expected to take place until at least 2021-22.
She first went to her GP in early May of 2017 and was diagnosed as having gender dysphoria – when a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity.
Amelia’s struggles began at just 12-years-old when she started to wonder if she was born in the wrong body.
But she thought it was a phase and didn’t put a name to her experience until she began to research gender dysphoria at age 15.
She struggled to talk about it, which impacted her ability to socialise, but it also hindered her career as an actress.
Ameila, from Preston, Lancs., said: “It has slowed me down and I feel if I wasn’t trans I’d have got into drama school.
“I’m also often type-casted in transgender roles.
“In some ways it can be good as it makes you more memorable and people are interested in you but it can also impede you.
“That’s one of the reasons why the facial surgery is so important to me.
“My face is my tool and if it passed more as typically feminine then I could fly under the radar and land female roles.”
Her experience has also had a devastating emotional effect.
She said: “I was permanently acting to cover it up. I was burnt out a lot and felt inferior and embarrassed.”
But at 20, she mustered the courage to come out as transgendered and sought medical help.
Amelia has now had three appointments, and says if she is lucky she may be able to have genital surgery in 2022.
Amelia has already started to see a private specialist to receive hormones to speed the process up.
“I’m lucky in comparison to many transgendered people because my family is largely supportive, even if they don’t really understand it,” she said.
“No-one has disowned me or become angry, and my sibling is very supportive and open-minded. They even convinced me to seek medical help.”
But having the facial surgery could transform her confidence, she believes, and help her “come out of her cocoon” and “become a happy and positive young woman.”
The problem, however, is that the NHS is not funded enough to consider the facial surgery non-cosmetic.
“I don’t think they believe it themselves that it is purely a cosmetic procedure,” she said.
“These professionals know what gender dysphoria is but I don’t blame the NHS because they are woefully underfunded, and it is more expensive to have the facial surgery.
“So as frustrating as it is I can see why they do that.
“However, I think there needs to be more education in schools, the media and medical world, as even some GPs don’t know how to treat the condition.
“There are some misconceptions and trans people just need to be normalised.
“We’ve sometimes been treated as a joke by people.”
To make a donation, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/millies-gender-treatment