Experts question long-term effects of breast mutilation surgery on quality of life of transgender youth

By bellecarter // 2022-11-21

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A recent study claimed that young girls who underwent breast amputations or mastectomies while transitioning into males have improved their quality of life. But experts strongly criticized the research, calling the follow-up period used in the study as not reliable. Conducted by researchers from Northwestern Medicine and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study involved two groups of patients aged 13 to 24, where one group had their healthy breasts amputated as a procedure for gender-affirming care. The other group did not go through with the mutilation. The team reported that the group that had undergone breast amputation suffered from less chest dysphoria than the control group that did not. They got this feedback three months after the surgeries. "Top surgery is associated with improved chest dysphoria, gender incongruence and body image satisfaction in this age group," the study concluded. However, gender medicine experts questioned the research because three months is too short to assess the real effects of this radical procedure in healthy children and young adults. "I don't think it should shape clinical care because three months after an operation, people can easily feel happy because complications haven't happened yet," Stella O'Malley, a psychotherapist and founder of Genspect, told Fox News. "What we need to know is how they feel after a year, how they feel after five years, and how they feel after 10 years. Then you've got something statistically significant, and you've got some serious data that you can actually shape your clinical care around," she added. "The affirmative model is only 10 years old, so we don't have any long-term data. We don't know what the impact of a mastectomy is on a 14-year-old. We don't know what they're like when they're 24 because there isn't any data to show us."

Teen detransitioner regrets double mastectomy, sues doctors

Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old former female-to-male (FTM) detransitioner, said she regretted having her breasts amputated a year after undergoing double mastectomy. She is now suing her gender-affirming doctors for medical malpractice. (Related: Detransitioner Chloe Cole to sue doctors who forced her to undergo "gender-affirming" procedures.) According to her intent to sue notice, Cole underwent harmful transgender treatment between the ages of 13 and 17, which constitutes a breach of the standard of care. She took puberty blockers and off-label cross-sex hormone treatment and went through a double mastectomy when she was just 15. "I was only a kid. I didn't really have the mental faculties or the life experience to be able to really understand what I was doing to myself. And they didn't even give me a full picture of what might happen to me," Cole told Fox News. According to Cole, she was given the impression she would be happier by transitioning and becoming her real self. She admitted to being initially happy after having her healthy breasts cut off. However, when she got to the end of the transition process, she discovered it wasn't the solution she had been promised it would be. "Not only did I have some comorbid mental health issues, but I also started to develop some over the course of my transition. After two years of testosterone, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and I struggled with suicidal ideation," she said. But if she had participated in the above-mentioned study, she would have been considered one of the success stories. "Historically, when people who have had gender-affirming surgeries have been surveyed, they're very happy and there are very few who regret it. And these are studies generally with adults," said California-based psychologist Dr. Erica Anderson, who has also transitioned herself. But her concern is that if young persons do not get all the support that ideally they should have and they rushed through the process, they don't process these life-altering decisions in a mature and properly assessed way. Visit MedicalViolence.com for more news related to child mutilation and other "gender-affirming" treaments. Watch the video below where Cole shared how she underwent the gender-reaffirming surgery and how she regretted it after a year. This video is from the Liberty Station channel on Brighteon.com.

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Teen detransitioner regrets double mastectomy, sues doctors

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