Healthcare costs and quality of life outcomes following gender affirming surgery in trans men: a review

Introduction: Options for gender affirming therapy in trans men include social transitioning, mental coaching, hormonal therapy and gender affirming surgery. Research has concluded that gender affirming therapy is safe and feasible and generally leads to high satisfaction rates. However, research regarding the cost-effectiveness is scarce.Areas covered: A literature research was conducted on PubMed, Google scholar and Scopus, searching for relevant articles on the subject of the effects of gender affirming hormone therapy, gender affirming surgery and fertility in trans persons. Out of the 77 full text articles, 29 on the topic of quality of life and sexual desire following the initiation of gender affirming hormonal therapy and gender affirming surgery were selected for this review.Expert commentary: Multiple studies have shown the positive effect of gender affirming hormonal therapy and gender affirming surgery on quality of life of trans persons and several studies describe an increase in their psychological wellbeing. In addition, satisfaction rates after gender affirming surgery are high and surgery is rarely regretted. However, as only one study has addressed cost-effectiveness of gender affirming treatment in trans men, further research is necessary.