Transgender describes a variety of identities in which an individual’s gender identity is different from expected based on the sex assigned at birth. In the United States, it is estimated that over 1 million adults and 150,000 youth identify as transgender, with increasing numbers being seen in healthcare and surgical settings. These numbers will continue…
Vancouver General Hospital has had, for approximately 5 years, a number of individual specialists working together in the care of transsexual patients. For the past year, a formal multidisciplinary clinic has been in operation. In March, 1986, the provincial medical plan recognized the Gender Dysphoria Clinic by agreeing to fund gender reassignment surgery for patients…
If sexology—the science of sex—came into being sometime in the nineteenth century, then how did statesmen, scientists, and everyday people make meaning out of sex before that point? In The Natural History of Sexuality in Early America, Greta LaFleur demonstrates that eighteenth-century natural history—the study of organic life in its environment—actually provided the intellectual foundations…
The visibility of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals in society has lagged behind that of sexual minorities (e.g., gay, lesbian, and bisexual). As a result, the focus on unique issues, including health care, for these individuals has also lagged behind—this is particularly true in mental health. The gender minority stress and resilience model demonstrates…
Sorbara et al, in their report “Mental Health and Timing of Gender-Affirming Care” in this issue of Pediatrics, focus on the interesting matter of age of clinical presentation for gender-affirming medical interventions and its association with mental health in transgender youth. Because experiencing puberty is often stressful for gender-nonconforming youth, puberty suppression as a reversible…
Background: There is an unknown percentage of transgender and gender non-confirming individuals who undergo gender-affirmation surgeries (GAS) that experiences regret. Regret could lead to physical and mental morbidity and questions the appropriateness of these procedures in selected patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of regret in transgender individuals who underwent…
Adolescent and young adult (AYA) transgender healthcare and research have expanded rapidly in the United States and abroad, but the affects of gender-affirming social, hormonal, or surgical care on overall health remain unclear. Gender diverse identities, also termed nonbinary, have often been neglected in favor of (male/female) binary identities, even in the context of transgender…
Twenty female transsexuals were assessed for sexual reassignment surgery in Singapore. This gives a prevalence of 1 in 36,000 for females aged 15 and above. The aged ranged from 18 to 31 with the mean at 24.9 years. Fifteen had received secondary education and 19 were employed. there was no history of serious anti-social behaviour.…
Although there are millions of transgender people in the world, a lack of information exists about their health issues. This issue has consequences for the medical field, which only has a nascent understanding of how to identify and meet this population’s health-related needs. Social media sites like Twitter provide new opportunities for transgender people to…
Locally there is a large transgender (trans) population. As part of a health inequalities initiative in 2012 a bespoke sexual health service for trans patients (Clinic-T) was set up. This included HCP training.