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Assessing Quality of Life and Patient-Reported Satisfaction With Masculinizing Top Surgery - A Mixed-Methods Descriptive Survey Study
Assessing Quality of Life and Patient-Reported Satisfaction With Masculinizing Top Surgery - A Mixed-Methods Descriptive Survey Study
T
ransgender, or trans, is a catch-all umbrella suicidality (attempts and ideation) compared with
term used to describe individuals whose gen- the general public.1,2 These higher rates of depres-
der identity and gender expression differ sion and suicidality are attributable to societal and
from their sex assigned at birth. In this article, the structural discrimination experienced by trans
term transmasculine refers to transgender people and nonbinary people.
who were assigned female at birth but who iden- Some trans individuals experience gender
tify more strongly with masculinity, which includes dysphoria, or distress related to the incongruence
but is not limited to transgender men. Nonbinary between their gender identity and body.3 This
individuals identify outside of the gender binary, incongruence, compounded by the aforemen-
either as not exclusively feminine or masculine, or tioned widespread societal discrimination, can be
as another gender entirely. It should be noted that associated with immense bodily and emotional
an individual may identity as both transmasculine distress.
and nonbinary. Gender-affirming surgery, defined as any surgi-
Transgender people living in the United States cal procedure that modifies an individual’s body to
report lower quality of life and routinely encounter reach congruence with their gender identity and
provider insensitivity and discriminatory practices expression, is one treatment option available for
when seeking health care. Transgender individu- gender dysphoria. Not all transmasculine individu-
als also have heightened rates of depression and als seek or need surgery; however, gender-affirming
surgery is a medically necessary standard-of-care
treatment, if in line with a patient’s goals.4
From the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery, New
York Langone Health; and Biostats, Inc.
Received for publication November 24, 2017; accepted July
18, 2018. Disclosures: The authors have no financial interest
Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to declare in relation to the content of this article.
DOI: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000005113
272 www.PRSJournal.com
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Volume 143, Number 1 • Quality of Life after Male Top Surgery
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Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery • January 2019
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Volume 143, Number 1 • Quality of Life after Male Top Surgery
Table 2. Self-Reported Negative Health Effects of were satisfied on any given measure that asked
Chest Binding about preoperative life. Following top surgery,
No. of All Effects
subjects’ quality of life and sexual confidence
Participants (%) Reported (%)* improved significantly in all domains (p < 0.001):
Total no. 41 135
feeling self-confident (91 percent reported
Negative effect improvement), confident in a social setting (85
Respiratory† 21 (51.22) 57 (42.22) percent), attractive (83 percent), comfortable
Musculoskeletal‡ 4 (9.76) 4 (2.96) in their clothes (96 percent), satisfied with their
Skin§ 26 (63.41) 35 (25.93)
Breast 1 (2.44) 1 (0.74) bodies (94 percent), less dissatisfied with their
Pain║ 34 (82.93) 34 (82.93) bodies (96 percent), emotionally able to do the
Psychosocial¶ 8 (19.51) 13 (9.63) things they wanted to do (83 percent), and emo-
*Participants reported multiple negative health effects. tionally healthy (78 percent) (Fig. 1). Similar
†Respiratory: difficulty breathing, difficulty taking deep breaths.
‡Musculoskeletal: poor posture, muscle atrophy, shoulder dislocation. improvements (76 to 94 percent) were observed
§Skin: scarring, swelling, acne, itching, redness/color changes, rash, in the context of sexuality: degree of sexual confi-
bruising, blistering, irritation, sweating/overheating. dence (77 percent reported improvement), satis-
║Pain: chest pain, shoulder pain, back pain, rib pain, muscle/gener-
alized soreness and discomfort, other. faction with sex life overall (76 percent), comfort
¶Psychosocial: concern for health, decreased job performance, dif- and ease during sexual activity (81 percent), feel-
ficulty engaging in physical activity, anxiety, irritability, financial bur- ing sexually attractive while clothed (91 percent),
den of buying multiple binders, decreased body image, sadness.
feeling sexually attractive unclothed (94 per-
cent), sexual confidence without a shirt on (91
percent), and likely to remove shirt for sex (85
Top surgery was the first gender-affirming percent) (Fig. 2).
surgery for all but two individuals [n = 56 (97 Preoperatively, approximately half [n = 30
percent)], both of whom reported prior hysterec- (53 percent) of participants characterized their
tomies. Only nine respondents (17 percent) had overall mental health as “poor,” and 46 (81
undergone additional gender-affirming surgery percent) reported depression, anxiety, and/
since their top surgery—eight had hysterectomies or another mental health condition related to
(with and without oophorectomies) and three gender dysphoria. Of the 49 respondents who
had phalloplasties. reported being on medication before top sur-
gery, 26 (46 percent) reported taking selective
Preoperative and Postoperative Quality of Life, serotonin reuptake inhibitors and benzodiaz-
Sexual Confidence, and Mental Health epines. In optional free response prompts that
Most respondents rated their quality of life corresponded with questions about preoperative
and sexual confidence before top surgery as very life, respondents’ recounted experiences with
low; no more than 30 percent of respondents depression, suicidal ideation, self-harm, ongoing
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Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery • January 2019
discomfort from chest binding, physical and loss of nipple sensation, only 13 (24 percent)
emotional bodily discomfort, stress headaches, expressed complete dissatisfaction with current
and anxiety in social settings. After top surgery, nipple sensation.
38 (86 percent) reported improvement in their Fears of postoperative regret were not sub-
mental health. Only one respondent character- stantiated in the six respondents (11 percent)
ized their mental health as “unchanged” since who indicated that fear of later regretting surgery
top surgery, and zero reported diminished men- hindered their surgical decision-making process.
tal health.
There were no statistically significant differ-
ences in postoperative quality of life, sexual con- Table 3. Satisfaction with Top Surgery
fidence, or mental health detected based on time Measure No. (%)
elapsed since top surgery. Patients who had top
Total 54
surgery less than 1 year previously were at least as Feeling that top surgery changed your life
satisfied as respondents who had top surgery over for the better
1 year previously. Agree 53 (98)
Neutral 1 (2)
Satisfaction with Decision Disagree 0 (0)
Impact of top surgery on life
Respondents were highly satisfied with the Huge positive effect 46 (85)
decision to undergo top surgery (Table 3); 53 Moderate or minimal positive effect 6 (11)
(98 percent) said that top surgery positively No positive effect 0 (0)
Unsure or neutral 1 (2)
impacted their life, and 85 percent characterized Other 1 (2)
that impact as “huge.” Almost universally, respon- Do you ever regret having top surgery?
dents reported that undergoing top surgery was Never 52 (96)
Occasionally 2 (4)
important in their public [n = 49 (91 percent)] Always 0 (0)
and private [n = 50 (93 percent)] sphere gender- Feeling that a reconstructed chest is much
affirmation process, and that having a masculine better than the alternative (n = 53)
Agree 50 (94)
chest was important in affirming their personal Neutral 2 (4)
gender identity and expression [n = 52 (96 per- Disagree 1 (2)
cent)] (Table 4). Willingness to encourage other people in
similar situations to have top surgery
Respondents were satisfied with how much Agree 47 (87)
their reconstructed chest felt like a “natural” part Neutral 7 (13)
of their body [n = 49 (91 percent)], how their Disagree 0 (0)
Satisfied with your decision to undergo top
reconstructive chest felt now compared to before surgery
surgery [n = 50 (93 percent)], and the quality of Agree 53 (98)
their scars [n = 40 (74 percent)]. Although most Neutral 1 (2)
Disagree 0
respondents [n = 53 (96 percent)] reported some
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Volume 143, Number 1 • Quality of Life after Male Top Surgery
Table 4. Role of Top Surgery in Gender-Affirmation Our findings corroborate the stance that the
Process* primary goal of gender-affirming surgery is sub-
No. (%)
jective rather than technical. Although 96 percent
of respondents in this study reported some loss
Total 54 of nipple sensation, only 24 percent expressed
How important was the role that top surgery had
in affirming your gender in the public sphere? outright dissatisfaction with their current nipple
Somewhat or very important 49 (91) sensation. It is generally normal to have acutely
Neutral 1 (2) diminished nipple sensation during the healing
Somewhat or very unimportant 4 (7)
How important was the role that top surgery had process, which is separate from “long-term” sen-
in affirming your gender in the private sphere? sation that never returns. Anecdotally, patients
Somewhat or very important 50 (93) report that nipple sensation is different from their
Neutral 2 (4)
Somewhat or very unimportant 2 (4) sensation previously, but most are not bothered
Overall, how important is having a male chest to by the difference. For many patients, the potential
your personal gender identity? benefits of masculinizing top surgery far outweigh
Somewhat or very important 52 (96)
Neutral 1 (2) the potential for sensation loss, but it is neverthe-
Somewhat or very unimportant 1 (2) less a crucial aspect of surgery that must be dis-
*Discrepancy in sum of percentages is caused by rounding. cussed preoperatively. Similarly, respondents who
expressed lower satisfaction with the appearance
and feel of their chest wall and/or the size, color,
Almost all (n = 52) respondents reported never and projection of their nipple-areola complex did
experiencing any postsurgical regret, two peo- not report decreased satisfaction with top surgery
ple (4 percent) reported occasional misgivings overall.
related to aesthetic outcomes, and zero reported It is notable that preoperative chest binding
complete regret. was a major source of physical and mental distress
for the vast majority (81 percent) of study partici-
DISCUSSION pants. On average, participants practiced binding
Existing research into transmasculine experi- for 5 years. At the extreme, patients reported hav-
ing endured a long list of negative health impacts
ences with gender-affirming surgery is dispropor-
for 15 to 20 years. Having top surgery likely facili-
tionately concerned with genital reconstruction
tated relief from many of these negative health
surgery (i.e., phalloplasty and metoidioplasty),
impacts.
despite the fact that, currently, few transgender
Although not all respondents expressed com-
men in the United States undergo these proce- plete satisfaction with their postsurgical bod-
dures.1,5,12,13 Relatively minimal research has evalu- ies, none completely regretted their decision to
ated how masculinizing top surgery, independent undergo top surgery. Gender dysphoria is a com-
of other gender-affirming procedures, affects plicated and multifactorial issue tied to numer-
patient-reported mental health, quality of life, ous factors beyond the appearance of the chest
and sexual confidence. wall. In this regard, top surgery alone cannot
The overwhelming majority of respondents be expected to completely alleviate gender dys-
in this study experienced statistically significant phoria and associated impairments to quality of
and clinically important improvements in quality life, mental health, and sexual confidence. One
of life, mental health, and/or sexual confidence. recurrent theme in qualitative analysis was that
In general, technical goals of top surgery include top surgery did not alleviate bottom dysphoria
removing breast tissue and excess skin, reposi- or dissatisfaction with genitalia, which can also
tioning and reshaping the nipple-areola complex, negatively impact quality of life. Furthermore,
and minimizing chest wall scars.14,15 Surgical tech- even the “ideal” surgical result does not address
nique is chosen based on patient characteristics— the systemic social discrimination that contribute
most notably breast size and body habitus—and to precipitating gender dysphoria. Despite these
may have important implications for aesthetic considerations, top surgery significantly improved
outcomes, postoperative nipple sensation, and overall quality of life for participants in this
patient satisfaction. Our data represent an aggre- research study.
gate of several surgical techniques, which could Our findings have several important limita-
not be parsed out because of an anonymous sur- tions. First, this was a retrospective survey study
vey design that precluded access to respondents’ comparing subjective feelings at two different
medical records. time points in the past, predisposing to error.
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Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery • January 2019
Because all survey questions were optional, some In our experience, positive results of this mag-
surveys were incomplete or missing data. The nitude are not typical of most plastic surgery oper-
respondents, who completed top surgery at a pri- ations. As public and private insurance coverage
vate academic medical center in New York City for top surgery remains inconsistent throughout
and agreed to complete an online survey, rep- the United States, our findings contribute to a
resent only a small sample of patients, and their much-needed body of evidence that top surgery
experiences are not representative of all transmas- improves the quality of life and mental health of
culine and/or nonbinary individuals. The study transmasculine individuals to a marked extent.
follow-up period was variable between subjects
Alexes Hazen, M.D.
and relatively short term (range, 3 months to ≥6 Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery
years). Although survey questions were designed New York University Langone Health
by a panel of experts and transmasculine patients 305 East 33rd Street
to address the issues being studied, they were New York, N.Y. 10016
alexes.hazen@nyumc.org
not themselves validated. Notably, no validated
patient-reported outcome instruments currently
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Volume 143, Number 1 • Quality of Life after Male Top Surgery
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