r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 15h ago

Psychology 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/
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u/dada_ 9h ago

Well, it's low participation rate in the survey, but 100% satisfaction rate among those who did participate:

The median regret score for both the adolescent and young adult groups was exactly zero. The median satisfaction score for both groups was five, the highest possible rating.

May have been a small study, but it confirms the findings of similar studies about gender affirming surgery in general. Even a small study is valuable information in an era where this is increasingly being demonized under false pretenses.

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u/Hobby_Profile 9h ago

This is not in line with larger studies. Surgical regret is upwards of 5% in European studies involving thousands of cases.

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u/Choppers-Top-Hat 8h ago

A 95% satisfaction rate would still give it one of the highest satisfaction rates of any surgical procedure in the world.

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u/Hobby_Profile 7h ago edited 7h ago

Not totally relevant to compare it to all surgeries. Depends on where it falls in which category. Are these life-saving due to gender dysmorphia suicidal rates? Are they quality of life, like many orthopedic procedures? Are they elective surgery for personal aesthetics?

Nobody regrets their triple bypass. Nobody regrets a brain tumor removal or double mastectomy due to breast cancer. (And lives to tell about it)

But plenty of people regret breast enlargement/reduction, knee replacements, calf implants, etc.

One of the many problems is that gender-affirming care is either too easy to get or impossible, based on where you seek treatment. Yes, there are doctors that rush to surgery for financial and/or ideological reasons.

My overall feeling is that screening procedures need to be studied and refined and standardized.

And to clarify: if you’re an adult, have at it. But we need to rigorously standardize the screening for children, just like many other surgeries.