In 1915, in the quiet English town of Folkestone, a child named Laura Maud Dillon was born into a world that had no language for who he truly was. Decades before “transgender” entered common vocabulary, Michael Dillon would chart a path no one had walked before. His story is one of intelligence, courage, and a relentless need to live truthfully, even when the world had no framework for understanding it.
A Mind Ahead of Its Time
Dillon studied at Oxford, where he was known for his sharp mind and athleticism, but beneath that promising exterior lay a constant unease. The expectations placed on him as a woman never fit. After university, while working in a garage, he began quietly seeking medical help to align his body with how he felt inside.
This was the late 1930s, a time when hormone therapy was still experimental and taboo. Yet Dillon managed to find a doctor willing to help. He started taking testosterone, becoming one of the first people ever to do so, that we know of. His features changed, his confidence grew, and he began living as Michael Dillon.
The First Known Falloplasty
In the 1940s, Dillon underwent what is considered the world’s first falloplasty performed on a trans man. It was a groundbreaking series of surgeries to construct a penis using tissue from his own body.
A falloplasty is a complex gender-affirming procedure that allows trans men and transmasculine people to have a penis, or phallus, that aligns with their gender identity. The process often involves several stages and can take many months to complete. Surgeons create the phallus by taking skin, fat, and sometimes muscle from another part of the body, such as the forearm, thigh, or abdomen. This tissue is carefully shaped into a natural-looking penis and connected to nerves and blood vessels to allow sensation and circulation.
Later stages can include urethral lengthening, so that urination is possible while standing, and the insertion of erectile or testicular implants. Each step is tailored to the individual’s wishes and body. The procedure is deeply personal and can bring a profound sense of comfort and wholeness to those who choose it.
For Dillon, this was far more than a medical milestone. It was the physical realization of the self he had always known.
The operations were performed by Sir Harold Gillies, a pioneering plastic surgeon who had developed his skills treating soldiers wounded in World War I. Together, Dillon and Gillies pushed the boundaries of medicine, creating a future that neither could fully imagine yet both believed in.
Medicine Meets Identity
Michael went on to become a physician himself, practicing in Ireland and later publishing a book titled Self: A Study in Ethics and Endocrinology in 1946. In it, he explored the moral and psychological dimensions of gender, arguing that trans people deserved medical care and respect.
He wrote, “It is not for society to dictate what an individual’s sex should be, but for the individual to live according to their own nature.” That line alone situates Dillon not just as a medical pioneer but as one of the earliest thinkers to articulate the right to gender autonomy.
A Quiet Legacy
Later in life, Dillon withdrew from public view, eventually moving to India and becoming a Buddhist monk. He died in 1962, largely forgotten by mainstream history. Yet today, his life reads like the first chapter in a story that continues to unfold, a story about the right to shape one’s own body and destiny.
Michael Dillon’s legacy is a reminder that visibility and innovation often begin with quiet bravery. His choices made space for the countless people who came after him to transition safely and openly.
From History to Today
At UNTAG, we carry that same belief in body autonomy forward. The right to feel at home in your body is not just medical. It is personal, everyday, and deeply human. Products like our Penis Packer are part of that story, designed to bring comfort, confidence, and affirmation to trans and gender-diverse people who, like Dillon, want to feel whole on their own terms.
Michael Dillon walked so that many of us could simply exist. His courage continues in every person who looks in the mirror and finally sees themselves.
