Does Transgender Surgery Really Exist?

Transgender Surgery is also known as Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS). It is a surgical procedure by which a transgender person physical function and appearance of their current sexual characteristics are altered and resemble into alternative gender. This means you have a transgender surgery from Male to Female or Female to Male. In transgender people, it is a portion of a treatment for gender dysphoria. In infancy, in intersex people related genital surgeries can also be performed.

Sex Change Surgery in more clinical term is also known as sex reconstruction surgery, penecomy, vaginoplasty, or feminizing genitoplasty. The people who generally take sex reassignment surgery are referred to as transsexual which are pertaining to the sexual characteristics.

While individuals who have undergone and completed SRS are sometimes referred to as transsexed individuals, the term transsexed is not to be confused with the term transsexual, which may also refer to individuals who have not undergone SRS, yet whose anatomical sex may not match their psychological sense of personal gender identity.

Differences between trans women and trans men SRS

The array of medically indicated surgeries differs between trans women (male to female) and trans men (female to male). For trans women, genital reconstruction usually involves the surgical construction of a vagina, by means of penile inversion or the sigmoid colon neovagina technique; or, more recently, non-penile inversion techniques that provide greater resemblance to the genitals of genetic women. For trans men, genital reconstruction may involve construction of a penis through either phalloplasty or metoidioplasty. For both trans women and trans men, genital surgery may also involve other medically necessary ancillary procedures, such as orchiectomy, penectomy, mastectomy or vaginectomy.

Sex Change Surgery

Medical considerations

It might get difficult to find a reliable surgeon for people with Hepatitis C or HIV to perform SRS successfully. There are many local surgeons that perform SRS in their small private clinics. In this population, those cannot perform potential complicated surgery. Most of the surgeons charge very high fee for hepatitis C and HIV positive patients.

Quality of life and physical health

Patients of Transgender Surgery may experience changes in their physical health and quality of life, the side effects of sex steroid treatment. Hence, transgender people should be well informed of these risks before choosing to undergo SRS

Several studies tried to measure the quality of life and self-perceive physical health using different scales. Overall, transsexual people have rated their self-perceived quality of life as ‘normal’ or ‘quite good’, however, their overall score was still lower than the control group. Another study showed a similar level of quality of life in transsexual individuals and the control group. Nonetheless, a study with long-term data suggested that albeit quality of life of patients 15 years after sex reassignment surgery is similar to controls, their scores in the domains of physical and personal limitations were significantly lower. On the other hand, a research has found that quality of life of transsexual patients could be enhanced by other variables. For instance, trans men obtained a higher self-perceived health score than women because they had a higher level of testosterone than them. Trans women who had undergone face feminization surgery have reported higher satisfaction in different aspects of their quality of life, including their general physical health.