According to a recent study, it is less common than previously thought for transgender and gender-diverse individuals to experience regret after undergoing gender-affirming treatment.
Three Johns Hopkins University experts are urging the health community to dispel the notion that those who undergo surgery later regret it. This notion is frequently held by critics.
According to an article published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Surgery, that claim is unsupported by science.
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Scientists Harry Barbee, Ph.D., Bashar Hassan, and Fan Liang, M.D., conducted a retrospective analysis of the scant studies looking at gender-affirming care. The “regret rate” is less than 1%, according to their findings.
According to the authors of the report summary, the rate of surgical regret among (transgender and gender-diverse) patients appears to be significantly lower than rates of regret following comparable procedures among the general population, including cisgender individuals.
In fact, according to a systematic review, all of the research studies examined had an average prevalence of clinical regret of 14.4%, which the authors claimed was relatively low.
Legislators all over the nation have used the justification for outlawing gender-affirming procedures on the grounds that people regret having it done. According to the Movement Advancement Project, there are 22 states in total with laws that restrict gender-affirming care, though some of them are currently being contested in court.
Governor of Ohio on Friday A bill that would have prohibited gender-affirming surgeries for transgender children was vetoed by Mike DeWine. If Ohio’s House of Representatives and Senate, with a three-fifths majority voting, bypass the governor’s veto, the bill might still go into effect.
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However, the governor stated that he will continue to draft operational rules to outlaw gender-affirming surgery on children. DeWine stated that he is also giving his administration instructions to gather information on trans health care and to take action against clinics that don’t offer enough mental health counseling.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and American Psychological Association all have recommendations for best practices that are consistent with Johns Hopkins’ analysis.
According to the experts, the lower rate of regret may be the primary factor in people choosing to have surgeries in the first place.
According to a news release from Johns Hopkins, “that decrease in regret may also (be) due to careful implementation of existing evidence-based, multidisciplinary guidelines and standards of care for those who are (transgender or gender diverse), such as requiring an established history of gender dysphoria (feeling mismatch between biological sex and gender identity).”
