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Review Article| Volume 34, ISSUE 4, P442-448, August 2021

Gender-Affirming Surgeries in Transgender and Gender Diverse Adolescent and Young Adults: A Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Primer

  • Frances Grimstad
    Correspondence
    Address correspondence to: Frances Grimstad, MD, MS, Division of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA. Phone: (617) 355-7648.
    Affiliations
    Division of Gynecology, Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Harvard Medical School, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Center for Gender Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts
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  • Elizabeth R. Boskey
    Affiliations
    Center for Gender Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts
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  • Amir Taghinia
    Affiliations
    Center for Gender Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts
    Search for articles by this author
  • Oren Ganor
    Affiliations
    Center for Gender Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts

    Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, 02115 Boston, Massachusetts
    Search for articles by this author
Published:April 11, 2021DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpag.2021.03.014

      ABSTRACT

      Transgender and gender diverse adolescent and young adults (AYA) may seek gender-affirming surgeries (GAS) as part of their gender affirmation. A number of GAS are related to reproductive and sexual health, and pediatric and adolescent gynecology (PAG) clinicians are well positioned as sexual and reproductive health experts to provide care in this area. PAG clinicians may encounter patients presenting for preoperative counseling (including discussions regarding fertility, family building, future sexual function, and choice of oophorectomy at time of hysterectomy), requesting referrals to GAS clinicians, or requiring GAS aftercare, or those seeking general sexual and reproductive health care who have a history of GAS. This article reviews presurgical considerations for AYA seeking GAS, types of GAS, their impact on pelvic, sexual, and reproductive health, and aftercare that may involve PAG providers, with the goal of helping PAG clinicians to better understand these procedures and to empower them to engage collaboratively with GAS teams. With this knowledge, reproductive health clinicians can have an integral role as skilled collaborators in the world of AYA GAS in partnership with GAS surgeons.
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