My name is Layla, I am 23 years old, and I am a trans woman.

For as long as I can remember, I never truly liked myself or my body. I grew up with very low self-esteem, always feeling disconnected from who I was. Three years ago, I finally understood myself as a trans person — and from that moment on, gender dysphoria began to consume me from the inside out.

I started comparing myself constantly to other women and feeling broken for not being like them. Little by little, I pulled away from my friends, stopped going out, and my life was never the same again. I no longer felt free. I spent an entire year carrying all of this alone, being slowly worn down by the crushing depression that gender dysphoria can cause, while trying to understand if this was truly who I was and what I wanted for my life.

Eventually, I made the decision to start hormone therapy in hopes of easing the dysphoria. That year was extremely painful — I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror for even a second without desperately searching for changes. After a year on hormones, I finally began to feel a little better with myself.

But even then, I remained trapped.

I continued to feel uncomfortable in my own body, still isolating myself from others because I couldn’t recognize myself in the mirror. Even when some men showed romantic interest in me, I couldn’t move forward — because I still hated what I saw reflected back at me. Hormones can work miracles, but they can’t do everything. Some things require surgery.

I am writing this today to ask for help.

Help to feel a little better with something that never truly ends — something that corrodes me from the inside like acid and haunts me at night. I am seeking support to undergo facial feminization surgery, vocal feminization, and gender reassignment surgery.

I am not asking for help for vanity or aesthetics. I am asking for help to feel more comfortable in my own body, to regain a sense of freedom, and to finally be able to live a normal life — one where I can exist without constant pain, fear, and self-rejection.

Any support, sharing, or contribution means more than words can express. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for helping me move closer to a life where I can finally feel at peace with myself.