Barriers To Finding A Gender Affirming Surgeon.

Area of Science:

• Medical research
• Surgical specialties
• Health informatics

Background:

• Gender affirmation surgery is increasingly sought, yet finding qualified surgeons remains a significant challenge.
• Transgender individuals commonly use online resources for pre-surgical information, highlighting the need to assess online accessibility of surgeons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate online barriers encountered by patients seeking gender affirmation surgeons in the USA.
• To analyze the availability and distribution of surgeons providing various gender affirmation procedures.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive review of online directories for US-based surgeons offering facial feminization/masculinization, breast/chest augmentation/masculinization, vaginoplasty, metoidioplasty, and phalloplasty.
• Data collected included surgeon specialty, practice name, location, and procedures offered, with Chi-square analysis for comparisons.

Main Results:

• 660 gender affirmation surgeons identified in the USA, predominantly in plastic surgery, otolaryngology, and urology.
• Geographic distribution showed higher concentrations in the West (30.5%) and Northeast (25.6%), not necessarily matching patient populations.
• Chest masculinization (70.2%), facial feminization (42.7%), and chest feminization (42.6%) were the most frequently listed procedures.

Conclusions:

• Plastic surgeons are the most common specialty for gender affirmation surgery.
• The geographic distribution of surgeons does not align with patient distribution, posing access challenges.
• Significant difficulties were found in verifying surgeon-provided procedures through online profiles.