Gender Affirming Surgery in Nonbinary Patients: A Single Institutional Experience.

Area of Science:

• Medical Science
• Gender Studies
• Surgical Procedures

Background:

• Growing number of nonbinary individuals seeking gender-affirming procedures.
• Limited understanding of preferred treatments for nonbinary patients.
• Improved access to gender-affirming care facilitates these procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the specific treatment goals of nonbinary patients.
• To analyze the types of gender-affirming procedures sought by nonbinary individuals.
• To understand the demographic and clinical characteristics influencing treatment decisions.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of nonbinary patients within an institutional Gender Health Program.
• Analysis of patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and surgical goals.
• Review of operative variables and treatment outcomes.

Main Results:

• Out of 375 gender dysphoria patients, 67 (18%) identified as nonbinary.
• Most nonbinary patients were assigned male at birth (85%); 49% preferred they/them pronouns.
• 66% received hormone therapy, and 69% desired or underwent gender-affirming surgery (e.g., facial feminization, vaginoplasty, mastectomy, orchiectomy).
• Nonbinary patients assigned male at birth (NB-AMAB) were more likely to receive hormone therapy (72% vs. 30%), while nonbinary patients assigned female at birth (NB-AFAB) were more likely to undergo surgery (100% vs. 63%).

Conclusions:

• The majority of nonbinary patients in this cohort were assigned male at birth.
• NB-AFAB patients exclusively pursued surgical interventions.
• NB-AMAB patients were primarily treated with hormone therapy, indicating different treatment pathways based on assigned sex at birth.