Three decades and hundreds of transfeminine breast augmentations show rare regret and trends toward larger implants

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Zinnia Jones

Zinnia JonesTrans women and transfeminine people seeking breast augmentation as part of medical transition face certain concerns distinct from cis women who may receive this surgery. Our anatomical baseline is very different from that of adult cis women, with a recent study finding that 7 in 10 trans women developed breasts of less than an A-cup after three years of feminizing hormone therapy, and only 58% stating that they were satisfied with their breast size.

This surgery is also in heavy demand among trans women, as around 80% either received this surgery or desired to receive it, and 85% of recipients stated they sought the surgery because of insufficient breast growth on HRT. Given anatomical differences in our upper body shape and size, the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health has published information on specific techniques and approaches to produce the best aesthetic results for post-pubertal trans women.

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Posted in Breast, Oncology, Outcomes of transition, Surgery, Transfeminine, Transgender medicine | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Early use of masculinizing steroid oxandrolone in trans boys can add 2 more inches of height compared to testosterone

Posted on May 31, 2021 by Zinnia Jones

Zinnia JonesLast year, I briefly covered an abstract by gender clinicians at Children’s Mercy Hospital describing the use of oxandrolone rather than testosterone as a part of masculinizing hormone therapy for adolescent trans boys, with the intention of both producing physical masculinization while increasing their final adult height to be more similar to that of cisgender men. This represented a new kind of treatment, as typically increasing final adult height is a matter of making certain necessary tradeoffs in hormonal management of trans youth during puberty.

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Posted in Biology of transition, Endocrinology, Gender dysphoria, Trans youth, Transgender medicine, Transmasculine | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Transmasculine adolescent fertility breakthrough: Successful egg retrieval following puberty blockers since Tanner 2 and direct continuation to testosterone

Posted on May 31, 2021 by Zinnia Jones

Zinnia JonesTrans people who choose to transition medically may wish to maintain their reproductive potential following cross-sex hormone therapy or transition surgeries that remove the testes or ovaries. Trans adolescents who medically transition with GnRH agonist puberty blockers at the onset of their undesired natal puberty, and continue on to cross-sex hormone therapy directly without interruption, are widely considered to face an obstacle of reproductive development and maturation that may result in infertility. This is distinct from effects on fertility seen in trans adults who begin taking HRT after already fully experiencing their natal puberty; both feminizing and masculinizing HRT do not reliably cause sterility in trans people whose reproductive organs have already fully matured. Adult trans women and trans men have undergone successful fertility preservation as well as experiencing intended and unintended pregnancies while continuing to take HRT.

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Posted in Biology of transition, Endocrinology, Fertility and reproduction, Trans youth, Transmasculine | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What parents don’t know: Trans youth study reveals fatal flaw at the heart of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) pseudo-diagnosis (3 of 3)

Posted on May 1, 2021 by Zinnia Jones

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

If ROGD is fundamentally unsound, what about its related claims?

Zinnia JonesLittman has not sufficiently demonstrated that a syndrome characterized by a “rapid onset” of false gender dysphoria exists as a new entity distinct from classic forms of gender dysphoria. She ignores nearly all existing research on the subject of trans youth’s gender development timelines, the feature that is supposedly key to ROGD’s difference from authentic gender dysphoria.

In light of decades of research in this area as well as more recent studies of both trans youth and their parents, what is proposed as “rapid onset gender dysphoria” based on only parental reports is most likely to be just an incomplete observation of the lengthy course of trans youth’s development that has already been studied in detail – the experience of gender dysphoria throughout childhood. Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Gender dysphoria, Hoaxes, Media, Outcomes of transition, Sociological research, Statistics and demographics, Trans youth, Transgender medicine, Transphobia and prejudice | Leave a comment

What parents don’t know: Trans youth study reveals fatal flaw at the heart of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) pseudo-diagnosis (2 of 3)

Posted on May 1, 2021 by Zinnia Jones

Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3

A recent study fills in ROGD’s missing pieces, joining trans youth and parent reports of gender milestones

Zinnia JonesSorbara et al. (2021) surveyed trans youth receiving care at a youth gender clinic as well as their parents or caregivers, asking each of them to describe the child’s (perceived) age of self-recognition as trans and age of first disclosure of their gender to others. 121 trans youth and 121 of their caregivers responded:

  • Trans youth who first presented for evaluation at 14 years or younger reported self-recognizing as trans at a median age of 9.5 years and first coming out at 12.6, a span of over 3 years. Meanwhile, this group’s caregivers reported perceiving that their child first privately self-identified as trans at age 12 and came out at age 12.4, little over four months later.
  • Similarly, trans youth who presented for treatment at age 15 or over reported identifying themselves at a median age of 12.5 years old and first coming out at 14.3, but their caregivers believed they first identified as trans at 14.3 – the same median age as their first coming out – and first came out at 14.7 years old.

The distance between parent and youth perspectives can be measured: For trans youth, what took two to three years appeared to their parents to take place over perhaps a season. The overall pattern is dramatic. While the youth self-identified as trans at 11.3 years, their caregivers said this happened at 13.

Youth reported a median time of 2 years from self-recognition to first coming out. Their caregivers perceived a median time of 0 years (as in 0.0 years). The caregivers believed that gender self-recognition and coming out were happening at the same time – an apparent rapid onset. Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Gender dysphoria, Hoaxes, Media, Outcomes of transition, Sociological research, Statistics and demographics, Trans youth, Transgender medicine, Transphobia and prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment