Mental health and quality of life after feminizing genitoplasty

The aim of the study was to evaluate mental health and quality of life (QoL) aspects in women operated on because of disorders of sexual differentiation (DSDs) in childhood.

Questionnaires were mailed to 45 women older than 15 years who had been operated on because of DSD, of which 24 patients (53%) responded. Of these, 16 had been prenatally exposed to androgens. Eight females had 46,XY karyotype. Mental health was measured with the 90-item Symptom Checklist, QoL with the 20-item Life Situation Survey questionnaire, and health-related QoL (HRQoL) with the 15D questionnaire.

The QoL and HRQoL scores appeared normal in most of the patients. Furthermore, mental health of the patients was similar or better compared with previously published scores of a Finnish community sample in all dimensions (somatization, obsessive compulsivity, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism). However, 5 patients had poorer scores in some of the 3 questionnaires. These 5 had either distressful memories because of a too-late operation, the operative treatment itself, or current poor sexual function.

The QoL, HRQoL, and overall mental health of female patients with DSD are usually normal.