Masculinizing hormone therapy
Masculinizing hormone therapy is a medical treatment often sought by transgender individuals to align their physical bodies with their gender identity without undergoing surgery. This therapy primarily involves the administration of testosterone, which promotes various masculine secondary sexual characteristics such as increased body and facial hair growth, voice deepening, and fat redistribution. For many, these changes help alleviate gender dysphoria, allowing individuals to feel more comfortable in their bodies and improve their overall quality of life.
Before beginning therapy, patients undergo comprehensive medical evaluations to ensure they are healthy enough for treatment, including tests related to blood sugar, lipids, and liver enzymes. It's important to discuss future fertility with healthcare providers, as testosterone therapy can impact reproductive capabilities. Treatment can be administered in several ways, including injections, gels, or pills, and typically requires ongoing prescriptions to maintain physical changes.
While masculinizing hormone therapy can significantly benefit many, it also carries risks, including potential side effects and the increased likelihood of certain cancers. For safety, it is crucial that individuals pursue this therapy under medical supervision rather than self-administering hormones, as improper management can lead to serious health issues. Overall, masculinizing hormone therapy represents an important option for many transgender individuals seeking to live in congruence with their gender identity.
On this Page
Masculinizing hormone therapy
Masculinizing hormone therapy is a medical procedure that is often prescribed to transgender people. It allows transgender individuals to change their bodies without surgery, adopting many of the secondary sexual characteristics that are associated with their gender identity. This can help relieve the negative symptoms of gender dysphoria by allowing a transgender person’s body to match how they view themself.
Masculinizing hormone therapy increases the body’s testosterone levels, which makes it take on masculine characteristics. These include the redistribution of the body’s fat deposits, the growth of body and facial hair, and an increase in muscle mass. However, though effective, masculinizing hormone therapy can have serious negative side effects. For these reasons, it should never be undertaken without the assistance and supervision of a medical doctor.
Background
Transgender individuals are those whose gender identity does not match their outward appearance. Gender identity refers to how a person sees themself and is not connected to biological sex, which refers to the physical characteristics that are associated with specific gender roles within a society. For example, in western society, skirts are commonly associated with women. However, what is associated with a particular gender varies strongly among locations and time periods.
When a transgender person’s gender identity does not match their outward appearance, they sometimes experience gender dysphoria, which is a strong dislike of the traits associated with the gender assigned at birth. Those with gender dysphoria may be anxious or depressed and engage in self-harm. Gender dysphoria is often treated by transitioning to the gender that matches an individual’s gender identity. Transitioning refers to someone changing their outward appearance to match a specific gender identity. It often includes changing a style of dress and manner of speaking. An individual who is transitioning may also change their legal status, such as the gender listed on a driver’s license. Some transgender individuals seek specialized surgical procedures to make their bodies appear more like their gender identity. However, not every transgender person chooses to undergo surgery. It is expensive and painful and involves some risk.
Many transgender people seek out transgender hormone therapy to reduce their gender dysphoria symptoms. Transgender hormone therapy is a medical process in which a doctor provides medication that manipulates the levels of testosterone and estrogen in the body. This causes the body to gradually change the secondary sexual characteristics that it displays. In many ways, this process can be compared to undergoing a second puberty.
Overview
Masculinizing hormone therapy is a subset of transgender hormone therapy intended to carefully raise the levels of testosterone in the body. Doctors increase testosterone levels until the patient’s body undergoes many of the changes the male body undergoes during puberty. Masculinizing hormone therapy can change a patient’s body to better suit their personal image of themselves, reducing symptoms of gender dysphoria and improving overall quality of life.
When doctors and patients begin discussing the possibility of masculine hormone therapy, doctors often order a series of tests to ensure that the patient is healthy enough for the procedure. These tests include screenings for blood sugar levels, lipids, electrolyte levels, and liver enzymes. They might also ask questions about the patient’s history of drug and tobacco use and any diseases the patient may have. If the tests and questions show that the patient is a suitable candidate for masculinizing hormone therapy, doctors may discuss fertility with the patient. Because masculinizing hormone therapy has a strong chance of making future contraception much more difficult, some doctors recommend that patients freeze their eggs before undergoing the treatment. This ensures them the opportunity to have children if they choose to do so.
After all preparatory work is completed, doctors begin masculinizing hormone therapy by prescribing a low dose of testosterone. Testosterone can be administered in a variety of ways. It can be applied to the skin as a gel, injected with a syringe, ingested as pills, or placed under the skin as pellets. Once the body begins adjusting to a testosterone prescription, the doctor will slowly increase the amount of testosterone prescribed each day. As the amount of testosterone is increased, more changes will occur in the patient’s body.
Though timelines vary among individuals, masculinizing hormone therapy typically causes noticeable changes within weeks or months. Some of the earlier changes include pausing the patient’s menstrual cycle and growing facial and body hair. After several months, many patients have a significantly deeper voice, a redistribution of body fat, and an increase in muscle mass. In one or two years, patients experience vaginal atrophy and clitoral enlargement. To maintain these changes, patients will have to continue a testosterone prescription for the rest of their lives. If the prescription is interrupted for an extended time, many of the changes will revert to their original state.
Patients undergoing masculinizing hormone therapy should be monitored for potential side effects. They may be more likely to develop certain types of cancers, particularly cervical and breast cancer. They may also periodically need their hormone levels adjusted by doctors to maintain the physical changes induced by the therapy.
Some transgender people seek to begin or continue hormonal therapy without working with a doctor. Many lack access to the quality medical care required for hormonal therapy. Others worry that seeing a doctor for transgender issues will lead to instances of bigotry and discrimination. Some transgender people carry out hormonal therapy themselves by illegal purchasing medication, often ordering the drugs through the Internet. Experts advise against self-administering hormonal therapy because patients are much more likely to experience negative side effects without a doctor managing the treatment. Additionally, it can be difficult for individuals to verify the integrity of illegally purchased medications.
Bibliography
“Effects of Masculinizing Hormone Therapy.” Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer‗public/15/38/15388d56-b877-4829-b28a-c88f9d5ea11f/2043‗effects‗of‗masculinizing‗hormone‗therapy‗0417.pdf. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.
“Gender Dysphoria.” Mayo Clinic, 21 July 2021, www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/masculinizing-hormone-therapy/about/pac-20385099. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.
“Learning About Masculinizing Hormone Therapy for Gender Affirmation.” MyHealth.Alberta, myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/aftercareinformation/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=acj3068. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.
“Masculinizing Hormone Therapy.” Cleveland Clinic, 3 Feb. 2022, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22322-masculinizing-hormone-therapy. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.
“Masculinizing Hormone Therapy.” Mayo Clinic, 21 July 2021, www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/masculinizing-hormone-therapy/about/pac-20385099. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.
“Masculinizing Hormone Therapy.” Nebraska Medicine, www.nebraskamed.com/transgender-care/masculinizing-hormone-therapy. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.
“Overview of Masculinizing Hormone Therapy.” UCSF, 17 June 2016, transcare.ucsf.edu/guidelines/masculinizing-therapy. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.