The man who's had TWO sex changes: Walt Heyer shares his experience as a transgender

At 42-years-old, Walt Heyer was, by all accounts, a happily married man with two children.

But it was then he decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery to become a woman - a decision he would later say had a 'tremendous, destructive process' on his life. He reverted back to being a man just eight years later.

Sex change: Walt is pictured here in 1984, one year after he underwent surgery to become 'Laura Jensen'

Now, at 74, Walt, from Los Angeles, tells MailOnline he should never have been allowed to have the sex change in the first place. 

And he claims hundreds of others are making the same mistake because surgeons are not properly evaluating their motives to change gender.

He was delighted at being a female at first, having felt trapped in the wrong body since he was five years old.

Reversal: This is Walt in 2007, following his decision to revert back to being a man - eight years after his initial surgery

But the Californian said these feelings of elation soon gave way to much darker feelings: 'Immediately after the procedure, you're in a state of euphoria because you battle it for so long.

'You think this is wonderful and fabulous and you think your life's going to be good and then as time goes on, there's this funny little thing that happens in life. It's called reality.'

Happy life: Walt was a happily married man at 42, and with two children, when he decided to undergo a sex 

change