 In contrast to these warm touches, “an air of stern purpose informed the fourth floor, for these were the operating quarters.”

Contact with the outside world was initially discouraged for patients during the early days of their recovery from sex-reassignment surgery.When patients were able to move about postoperatively, and later when going to Burou's office to have their bandages changed, the clinic became a place where patients often had the opportunity to meet other transsexuals from various countries.British writer Jan Morris recalls