Transgender is being used more and more as an umbrella term for anyone who presents or lives, even part of the time, as the gender they were not born as. When the person undergoes surgical/medical/hormonal/other physical procedures to effect that change, that's where the term transsexual is more fitting.

"Cross-dresser" is generally used instead of "transvestite," and that tends to be a little narrower of a descriptive term, more about the dressing itself and less about living as the opposite gender. It's gotten a little fuzzy.

In tend to just say "trans" and leave it at the prefix.

NEVER "tranny." That's the eqivalent of gay slurs (and, like some gay slurs, some trans people have reclaimed "tranny," but it's not cool for a cisgender person to do do).

I am sometimes amazed at my life.

And then there's genderqueer, gender fluid, dual gender, third gender -- it can get complicated. But so can gender for some people.

Tep, possibly a steroidal cream if your doctor concurs? Those can heal spots that just want to stay aggressively pissed off with my fragile skin.

I say this as the girl who looked like she was sporting a black eye last night from allergy inflammation. It's ... getting better. I am resorting to teabags once I can stand to have against the skin. Fucking tree sex.

Basically I would ask your doctor specifically for something to make the skin feel better and then something to heal. They might not be the same thing. But just waiting and seeing is clearly not the answer. I wish your goolie calm, unabraded skin and happiness. Um, in the not porny way. ... In the porny way too once it's comfy though.

My doctor prescribed a steroid cream but said to not use it until the Giant Gaping Abyss heals. (I may have paraphrased there.) Generally, that's because steroids can interfere with wound healing. I'm tempted to start it, though, and just not put it directly on the wound, but around it.

Steph, you can develop a sensitivity, even an allergy to the polymixin in Neosporin. It's actually three drugs in one cream, I'm told, and I'm allergic to two of them, polymixin giving me blistering rash in minutes. Try Bacitracin. It's the one AB ointment I can use, and it usually helps.

There's a reason I don't want my food touching on my plate, or to use packaged combined "spice mixes" or blended scents in a candle or incense. Or, you know, scotch. There may be one ingredient my body/nose/skin/stomach rejects, sometimes violently. I'll combine my own ingredients, using things I know are safe for me.

On me, polymixin will make an open sore ten times worse in minutes. YPMV.

Teppy, that is just lousy. I would call the doctor - 2 months seems like too long to me.

I have some painful sores and irritation and keeping the area as dry as possible does seem to help healing. That means several changes of underwear a day, using a hair dryer on cool when you're home and using fragrance-free corn-starch based powder. It seems to me that creams just seem to keep things wetter. It is absolutely No Fun.

And there are lots of other options in between. Some men want to be feminine, and have breast implants but keep their penis.

We know an individual who was born male, lives as a man, identifies as man 100% of the time, yet has a female personna (with clothes, makeup, etc.) who is the person who goes to parties, because he desperately wants to be humiliated by a femdom, and the humiliation is meant to consist of being forced to dress as a woman.

We've known this person for a couple of years, and I always thought he was trans. Until this past weekend, when he was bewailing his lack of a partner and that NO woman would EVER accept a man dressed as a woman. I got a little pissed, because, hello, I'm living proof that ain't true, and then I tried to reassure him that there are women who have trans partners and it's not a problem.

Which is when he corrected me and told me about the humiliation thing. Now. Given that everyone has different things that get them off, I know some people not only juggle geese, but are into humiliation. I don't get it (understatement), but as long as I'm not a part of it, rock on.

That said, as a feminist, I am deeply offended by the idea that being dressed as a woman is a humiliation. A lot of people don't agree, citing "masculinity," blah blah blah, but you know? Don't. Care. You want to do it? Fine. Just don't expect me to be on board with how my life, and the appearance thereof, is a humiliation. No way.

Beverly, you know, if I use neopsporin too long, I get itchy (on any body part). I bet I do have a sensitivity to one of the components.

Dry seems to be the consensus. I don't even know if I own a blow dryer. But I bet there are at least 3 in the attic.

That said, as a feminist, I am deeply offended by the idea that being dressed as a woman is a humiliation.

That's kind of my issue with men who dress as Gorean slave women. It's all sorts of gender appropriation and bullshit.

Then again, it's also Gor, so bullshit radar is going off all over the place.

My eyes have already done rolled with the Gor shit, and there ain't no more rolling left in me when it comes to them. Ick.