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Management of Transsexuality in an Outpatient Gynecologic Area

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Menstrual Cycle Related Disorders

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Abstract

Transsexualism is an emergent medical and legal problem. Discrimination, inaccessibility of medical care, lack of qualified medical specialists, high costs of services, lack of ethical skills, transphobic moods, inadequacy of existing mechanisms of medical care to transgender people with the principles of human rights, and imperfection of the legislative base among other circumstances are actual concerns nowadays. Transsexual subjects need to receive an effective and safe treatment. The purpose of those treatments is to rehabilitate a person as a member of the society in the gender area with which he or she is identified. Options for medical treatment include feminization or masculinization of the body through hormone therapy and/or surgery that are effective enough to alleviate gender dysphoria and are medically necessary for many patients. Despite the improvement in the medical care of transsexuals in countries with advanced human rights protection, there are multifactorial problems around the world that are associated with providing medical care to this group of patients, both in primary and highly specialized institutions. The lack of qualified health professionals and medical information on trans-health care is cited as one of the main reasons for the limitations for patients with gender transition seeking for medical assistance. The result of inaccessibility of qualified medical care can be self-castration, uncontrolled hormone therapy, suicidal mood, and long-term social disadaptation of transsexuals who cannot compensate for their gender discomfort. This review discusses the management of transsexuals, the types, the rationale, the effectiveness of their treatment, the recommendations of clinical centers, and the potential side effects of cross-sex hormonal treatment.

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Correspondence to Camil Castelo-Branco .

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Naumova, I., Castelo-Branco, C. (2019). Management of Transsexuality in an Outpatient Gynecologic Area. In: Berga, S., Genazzani, A., Naftolin, F., Petraglia, F. (eds) Menstrual Cycle Related Disorders. ISGE Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14358-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14358-9_12

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