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Medical options for transgender people

This site is about the social, legal, and medical parts of a gender transition. Transgender and gender diverse people may choose some or all of these things. For those who want to make a medical transition, these are the choices.

This page is for adults. There is a separate page on medical options for young people who are not adults yet.

In 2018, Cornell University’s Center for the Study of Inequality released a comprehensive literature review finding that gender transition, including hormones and surgery, “improves the well-being of transgender people.” Nathaniel Frank, the project’s director, said that “a consensus like this is rare in social science.”

Models of care

Some healthcare providers use different models of care. You need to know what model they use. The best one is the informed consent model.

Psychotherapy

People in our community often have therapy to talk about their thoughts.

Voice therapy

Some people can change their voices with voice practice. Others get voice therapy with a speech-language specialist. Some choose voice surgery after the other ways do not work.

Prosthetics

A prosthetic is a medical device you put on the outside of your body to make it work better or look better. For some people, prosthetics can be a big part of transition.

Prosthetics for feminization include:

Prosthetics for masculinization include:

Hair removal

Our community, especially trans + women and transfeminine people, may want temporary or permanent hair removal. This can include removal of hair before surgery on a surgical site or a donor site.

Hair loss

Our community, especially trans + women and transfeminine people, may wish to manage or restore hair loss, especially thinning or loss of scalp hair. Some trans + men and transmasculine people may also wish to do this. Some gender diverse people may also do this.

Reproduction

People in our community must think about their reproductive options before they start hormones or have surgery on their reproductive organs. Hormones and surgery may change your body so you can not make children.

Diet and exercise

Many people in our community find that changes in diet and exercise can help with their medical transition.

Hormones

Many people use hormones and hormone blockers to change their bodies as part of a gender transition.

Surgery

Some people in our community want surgery to change their bodies. This kind of surgery has many names. Many people call it gender confirmation surgery. We can get these kinds of surgery:

Face surgery

Some people choose facial gender confirmation surgery for their head and neck as part of a gender transition.

Voice surgery

Some people want to make their voice sound higher or lower. If they are not able to do so with voice practice or voice therapy. some choose voice gender confirmation surgery as part of a gender transition.

Top surgery

Some people choose surgery for their chest area as part of a gender transition. This is called top gender confirmation surgery.

Bottom surgery

Some people choose surgery for their hips, waist, and genitals as part of a gender transition. This is called bottom gender confirmation surgery.

For women and transfeminine people

Some of the bottom surgery choices for women and transfeminine people are:

† These genital surgeries will change your body so you can not make children.

  • † Orchiectomy (castration or removal of testicles)
  •  Vaginoplasty (creation of a vagina)
  •  Vulvoplasty (creation of a vulva without a vagina)
  • Labiaplasty (creation of labia majora and labia minora)
  • Liposuction and fat transfer
  • Gluteal augmentation (buttock implant)
  • Hip and thigh augmentation

For men and transmasculine people

Some of the bottom surgery choices for men and transmasculine people are:

† These genital surgeries will change your body so you can not make children.

For gender diverse people

Gender diverse people may want some of these choices. In some cases, they may want new mixes of these. For more, see: Gender diverse surgeries.

Disclaimer: This is medical talk, not medical advice. Some of this may not apply to you. It is presented without warranty. It may contain errors or omissions. You must do your own research.