Once referred to a gender Dysphoria clinic, alternatives to sex
reassignment are considered. Counseling is offered to the individual
about the range of treatment options and their implications.
Many people will choose to live as the sex they are
psychologically. This can involve counseling, speech therapy,
electrolysis (removal of facial hair) or hormone treatments.
Hormone treatments can play an important role in the anatomical and
psychological gender transition process for properly selected adults
with gender identity disorders.
Sex reassignment surgery, commonly known as a sex-change operation,
is given to people who are convinced that they are of the wrong
anatomical sex. Such people are said to be transsexual. The
transsexual person completes a detailed psychiatric and psychological
evaluation to ensure that the desire is genuine and permanent and has
been present for at least two years.
For a male becoming female, female hormones are taken orally to
produce changes in the secondary sex characteristics, such as body
hair reduction and breast development. Electrolysis and cosmetic
surgery may be undertaken. The person is also required to live as a
female for a minimum of one year before surgery is authorized.
If surgery is approved, the testes and erectile tissue of the penis
are removed under general anaesthetic. An artificial vagina is created
and lined with skin from the penis. Tissue from the scrotum (the sack
that contains the testes) is then used create the labia, and the
urethra (urine tube) is shortened and positioned in the female
location.
For the female to male patient, the process is similar. The
male hormone, testosterone, is taken by injection or patch. It
produces largely irreversibly effects of beard growth and masculine
muscle development, as well as a deepening of the voice. A mastectomy
may then follow and the ovaries and uterus may be surgically removed.
Penis construction, artificial testes implants and operations to
create a male urethra and relocation of the clitoris to the head of
the penis are available but the surgery is complex and costly.
The vast majority of transsexual people experience a successful
outcome in terms of subjective well-being, preservation of bodily
attractiveness and sexual function.
