Two biological men a day given trans surgery on the NHS

[hholiday]

I couldn’t see this had been posted already. From the Telegraph with an interview with a detransitioner. Some of these patients were just so, so young.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/25/two-biological-men-a-day-given-trans-surgery-on-nhs/

archive.is/EcAqN

'Dr Louise Irvine, the co-chairwoman of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender, said: “If this surgery is intended to relieve gender dysphoria then as far as we know there is no research to show how effective it is, but we know that there is a high level of complications such as infertility, loss of sexual function, scarring and urinary problems.'

I’m afraid that is incorrect.

Stonewall seemed it transphobic to make gender dysphoria a prerequisite for being ‘trans’. They deliberately defined it in the policies they dictated and embedded in thousands of organisations that the only prerequisite for being trans is saying that you’re trans.

Stonewall also went to great lengths to ensure that no employer dares ask for any proof of ‘transition’ for people claiming to be trans. It in entirely on self declaration.

The prostate produces the seminal fluid, the testes produce the sperm. Only in soldiers injured in action have they been able to take recently produced sperm stored in other parts of the body.

I also thought that the NHS was well known for poor-quality sex change operations and that compilations were common as the surgeons aren't specialised. Perhaps the NHS would be better placed just to offer nullification surgery?

So the NHS refuses to sterilise women under 30 in case they change their mind about wanting more children, yet will remove the penises (penii?) of 18 year olds on their say so?

This shouldn’t be happening.

Except it actually had happened, and is equally damaging and grotesque

www.bmj.com/content/320/7231/332.1

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_integrity_dysphoria

People do have perfectly healthy limbs removed. There was a documentary about it 15 years ago. They blackmail the doctors by threatening to lie with their limb on a train track.

I haven't assumed anything.

Can you provide evidence that it was tried and didn't work?

Do you think there have been any medical advances in the last 50 years?

Do you have a study on the effectiveness?

Yes. Here is a 40 year follow-up study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36149983/

“Conclusion: Gender-affirming surgery is a durable treatment that improves overall patient well-being. High patient satisfaction, improved dysphoria, and reduced mental health comorbidities persist decades after GAS without any reported patient regret.”

There's a difference between breast reduction and having them lopped off entirely. Any 17 year old that wanting that for aesthetics wouldnt be entertained.

That doctor only carried out these operations on a few patients before he was stopped. Apparently the patients were very happy with the results. That doesn't make it ethical.

Of 97 patients, 15 agreed to participate in the phone interview and survey.

What about the other 82 patients?

That’s a fair point. It is a small sample size.

Here is a study with a larger size that found lower psychological distress and suicidal ideation.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/2779429

Do you have a study to share?

So out of 97 extremely carefully evaluated and selected patients, only 15 would even respond to the survey? Isn’t that somewhat concerning?

It’s a shame it’s behind a paywall. @PoisedRubyLion can you provide more studies with some actual data we can look at - considering how many procedures have been carried out, there must be oodles of really strong positive data.

Suicide is more likely after operation than before.

We are now getting into the age where they are getting old and developing dementia and then questioning what on earth happened to their body.

15 out of 97. Oh come on.

No way should the NHS be funding this. I self dentify as a rich person but the government doesn't solve my economic-dismorphia by giving me lots of money.

This was a survey conducted in 2015 of people 2 years post claimed surgery. It sounds entirely self selecting and not necessarily verified responses.

The studies I’ve seen show higher significant mental health problems after surgery. Sadly there have also been some deaths of people who realised that surgical transition didn’t deliver the promised fix and felt like they’d run out of options. Others have lost their lives due to an accumulation of serious complications from procedures that have a complication rate of 70%+

What is your source for this understanding?

Whatever happened to “ First do no harm?”

These young people need intense counselling and psychological assessments over a long period of time before they’re allowed to be mutilated.

And the fact that this is being done on the NHS when others are languishing on waiting lists for months, even years, for actual medical issues is a disgrace.

I don't have access to the study and it's only a two year follow up period but there is this

This retrospective database study analyzes mental health outcomes in transgender individuals following gender-affirming surgery using the TriNetX database (N=107,583).

Post-surgical mental health risks: Both transgender males and females showed significantly elevated rates of depression and anxiety after surgery compared to non-surgical controls (males: depression RR 2.20, anxiety RR 4.88; females: depression RR 1.56, anxiety RR 1.48).
Gender-specific vulnerabilities: Individuals undergoing feminizing procedures demonstrated particularly high risk for depression (RR 1.78) and substance use disorders (RR 1.28), suggesting potential gender-specific risk profiles.

hcn.health/hcn-trends-story/examining-gender-specific-mental-health-risks-after-gender-affirming-surgery-a-national-database-study/

I had a skin tag on my eyelid that was causing distorted vision and a watery eye. It felt like I had something in my eye constantly. The NHS refused to remove it as skin tag removal is classed as aesthetic/cosmetic surgery.

I tried a few private aesthetic beauty clinics, but nobody would touch it because of the risk of damage to my eye.

I really had to pressure my GP who had to argue my case with a referral panel within the NHS as it was affecting my quality of life.

I find it frustrating that trans can have perfectly healthy tissue removed for personal reasons, yet people like myself have to fight for treatment that is causing daily discomfort.

Sympathies. This also distresses me daily.

No bugger in the government does anything to solve my distress though.

I'm afraid that's an outdated use of the term, like it or not. Self-id and the relatively recent online movement (embraced by Stonewall, and this is what they've been teaching in their training to employers) mean that "trans" means a person is - literally - the gender they say they are. Not necessarily the opposite sex, because that relates to the body and not a gender identity.

And to say that trans= a person with gender dysphoria is to medicalise and stigmatise the experience of being trans (and, of course, is inherently transphobic).

It's very difficult to discuss when there are different and unknown meanings of words floating about.