Trans Health Experts Say Gender-Affirming Care Can Begin Earlier
metroweekly.comThe Associated Press, which WPATH provided with an advance copy of its update ahead of publication in a medical journal later this year, the group acknowledged some risks associated with beginning gender-affirming care at younger ages, but stressed that each patient being treated for gender dysphoria must be judged on an individual basis, rather than a strict set of one-size-fits-all guidelines.
WPATH also called it “unethical” and “harmful” to withhold gender-affirming treatments from youth who identify as transgender.
Youth who do not identify with their assigned sex at birth may start on drugs known as “puberty blockers” which temporarily prevent the development of secondary sex characteristics that may lead to heightened feelings of gender dysphoria.
Those treatments, which are reversible, can either be stopped if a patient chooses not to transition, or can be dropped in favor of hormones that will assist in transitioning.WPATH’s recommendations are that those assigned female at birth may start puberty blockers around ages 8 to 13, and those assigned male at age 10 to 15 — the same as the guidelines issued in the last revision of the standards of care.While sex hormones, either estrogen or testosterone, can begin at age 14 under the new guidelines, it can be lifelong treatment that must be entered into with patients aware of the potential side-effects, which in some may include infertility, weight gain, increased risk of stroke, or higher blood pressure.
