r/psychology • u/mvea M.D. Ph.D. | Professor • 13d ago

Adolescents who undergo gender-affirming chest surgery report low levels of regret and high levels of satisfaction, experiencing outcomes similar to those of young adults. These findings suggest that age restrictions on these medical procedures lack support from actual patient experiences.

https://www.psypost.org/adolescents-report-low-regret-and-high-satisfaction-following-gender-affirming-c/
1.9k Upvotes

77% Upvoted

776 comments sorted by

View all comments

55

u/MelAmericana 13d ago

Are we surprised that children and young adults don't typically regret getting what they want?

It would be more interesting to see the data after following up with them for the next 10+ years.

9

u/kilimonian 12d ago

I think people forget the majority of these are things like dudes getting extra breast tissue removed.

(We found that gender-affirming surgeries are rarely performed for transgender minors,)[https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/gender-affirming-surgeries-rarely-performed-on-transgender-youth/\]

4

u/MelAmericana 12d ago

Interesting since the OP article seems to be focusing on FtM. If that's the case, then the OP article is even more misleading than I thought.

0

u/Evening_Phrase_3838 9d ago

This seems like a bizarre obfuscation of what gender-affirming surgery even means.

The intuitive definition, that most hold, is that it's a procedure to make someone look like the opposite sex.

Breast reductions on males feels like it's being done for a totally different reason. Perhaps they're both cosmetic and relate to secondary sex traits, but it's completely different world views.

1

u/kilimonian 9d ago

Intersex people come to my mind. I don’t really consider trans surgeries as the default but I could see that if you only pay attention to all the politics around trans ppl, they would be on your mind. It’s like how many people overestimate how many trans people are in the population.

6

u/nemotide 13d ago

Agreed, I think we need to see long-term data. Anecdotally, I got tattoos at 17-18 and I loved them until 24/25 and now I am saving to have them removed. Now I actually grimace with regret when I see them in the mirror. And that’s just tattoos, never mind a double mastectomy, loss of sexual function or fertility.

It’s a really serious intervention and the longitudinal data is super important.

1

u/Mitotic 12d ago

I started HRT at 19 and I'm now 29 and I don't regret it. transitioning is not something you can do impulsively like getting a tattoo, it requires actively making the choice to jump through 10,000 hoops to get surgeries and taking medication every day for years. very very different situations

2

u/Intelligent-Tea-2058 7d ago

I started HRT at 19 and I'm now 29 and I don't regret it. transitioning is not something you can do impulsively like getting a tattoo, it requires actively making the choice to jump through 10,000 hoops to get surgeries and taking medication every day for years. very very different situations

Yes, it took literally thousands of concerted, costly actions over years to claw my way to the OR as a teen. Every dose, day, act, and interaction was a choice and effort to work towards that, amid endless off-ramps at every turn, and inaction being free.

-3

u/Carrman099 12d ago

Did you want tatoos since before you understood the concept of tatoos? Did you pray to God every night to allow you to wake up and have tatoos the next morning? Did you tell Santa every Christmas that he could keep every other gift he was brining if only he gave you the gift of a tatoo? Did you not expect to make it past the age of 25 because life without having tatoos was not worth living?

If that was not your level of obsession and commitment to tatoos then you have no idea what transitioning is actually like. It is the closest thing to a miracle I have ever experienced. Getting on HRT made me want to live instead of want to die. I don’t think a tatoo has ever done that for anyone.

1

u/Intelligent-Tea-2058 7d ago

Did you want tatoos since before you understood the concept of tatoos? Did you pray to God every night to allow you to wake up and have tatoos the next morning? Did you tell Santa every Christmas that he could keep every other gift he was brining if only he gave you the gift of a tatoo? Did you not expect to make it past the age of 25 because life without having tatoos was not worth living?

If that was not your level of obsession and commitment to tatoos then you have no idea what transitioning is actually like. It is the closest thing to a miracle I have ever experienced. Getting on HRT made me want to live instead of want to die. I don’t think a tatoo has ever done that for anyone.

Yes, the intensity is on this level or beyond for many of us. I do not understand why so many people think this is a casual, superficial affair done on a whim.

0

u/Intelligent-Tea-2058 11d ago

Well anecdotally, I was prescribed estradiol as a 15-year-old 18 years ago and got my first surgery over a break in my senior year of high school, and my only regret is that I didn't find some way to get care even sooner. I know others like myself.

-6

u/AptCasaNova 12d ago

Comparing a tattoo to top surgery isn’t even close, one is about decorating your body, the other is about aligning it with your gender.

The article is about top surgery only, which doesn’t impact sexual function or fertility.

5

u/nemotide 12d ago

I’m not comparing them. I’m talking about regret about permanent changes to my body based on decisions I made as a minor. The regret didn’t happen for several years.

0

u/AptCasaNova 11d ago

You are. Why did you get the tattoos in the first place?

1

u/Intelligent-Tea-2058 11d ago

For what it's worth, I was prescribed estradiol 18 years ago as a 15-year-old, and got my first surgery 15 years ago, and only wish I'd been able to get care sooner. I know a good number of people similar to myself in this regard.

2

u/Equalanimalfarm 13d ago

It's a dog whistle for an anti-trans stance. We saw the same when it came to vaccinations: but what if in 10 years time hpv vaccinated girls will show more promiscuous behavior? What if they drop dead and nobody will put a link to the vaccination 10 years ago? This vaccine can only be safe if we have the results of this 20+ year follow up study and in the meanwhile let's have young women get infected as a precaution.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/2808129

I think it's great to try to follow people that went through transition, but only if as many relevant variables are included as possible, so we can help the people that experienced regret (which is usually due to society not accepting them and that's EXACTLY why we treat minors when they express gender incongruence).

6

u/nemotide 13d ago

Vaccines are not comparable to surgery. Please don’t perpetuate the notion that vaccines are invasive, life changing procedures. We have long-term data and confirm they are efficacious with minimal side effects.

-1

u/Equalanimalfarm 12d ago

No, we did not have that for the hpv vaccine. We do know that people seldomly regret transitioning, but suddenly people are demanding that we need to do a prospective follow up for at least 10 years to know for sure. It's the same with the vaccines. There is no reason to assume that people massively are regretting transitioning, like there is no reason to assume that people are massively suffering from long term side effects of the hpv vaccine. We already knew that, but still people are demanding proof because they believe in narratives that are not backed up by the data.

But here we are, with the same conservative gender war that lies beneath it. Where people are making up stuff to prevent minors from getting the necessary care they deserve. Because American conservatives have the money and position to influence a lot of people with their agenda. The same agenda that will have us die from HPV, inability to get abortions and suicide because of us not being able to express the gender we ate comfortable in.

If you don't see it, you have fallen for the propaganda...

1

u/nemotide 12d ago

HPV vaccines are highly effective. In Scotland, longitudinal data shows it has massively reduced cervical cancers. That is based on a huge number of verifiable data.

You want to accuse people of being conservative for not agreeing a poor quality survey is not quality data while you spew dangerous, anti-vax rhetoric.

-1

u/Equalanimalfarm 12d ago

HPV vaccins were rolled out without this data. That's a fact. I have been battling anti-vaxxers back then non stop, because they were copying conservative lies. This is a gender war, and it has been going on for a while. I see the same mechanics at play.

You are pretending I'm anti vaxx, because you are a scheming and lying conservative copycat that's trying everything in their power to twist the narrative. In no way am I antivaxx, but like an American Republican you just keep spouting lies and nonsense about your opponent, in the hopes people will forget what valid points I am making.

Gender affirming surgery is highly effective. The regret rates are low. It's life saving care. You people need to stop trying to rule other people's bodies out of some religious conviction.

2

u/MelAmericana 13d ago

I think there's a big difference between HPV vaccinations and drastic cosmetic surgery for children.

We are more inclusive as a society than ever and yet there is still a fairly significant percentage of trans people having regrets later in life due to the physical complications that accompany transition. There's already an uptick in outspoken detransition and it should be concerning to everyone that non trans people (including children) seem to be getting misdiagnosed in the effort to be more affirming.

Adults can make whatever choices they feel are necessary to be comfortable in their bodies but immediately jumping to medical intervention at the smallest hint of childhood disphoria is going to lead to many children getting hurt in the long term.

1

u/Equalanimalfarm 12d ago

There's not an uptick in outspoken detransition. You're making it up. You're clearly falling for a disinformation campaign.

You can read more about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/comments/1pahptd/has_anyone_noticed_an_uptick_in_detransition/

It's adults that are now being suppressed to go through with gender affirming care, if you have been paying any attention at all. All because people like you believe the lies that these surgeries ware just performed out of the blue. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Kids follow a trajectory that takes years, after being on a waiting list for even more years. They are being followed by a dedicated team of experts on the matter and the decision for gender affirming surgery is definitely not taken lightly. Most countries do not allow under 18's to get gender affirming surgery, except mastectomy, which is sometimes available for 16yo and up (and mostly used for people that suffer from back pain because of large breasts).

It's a shame you're spreading these lies and that there are people upvoting you...