Why is breast surgery available at 15 when bottom surgery is only available at 18? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by Stoneblackdog@beehaw.org to c/lgbtq_plus@beehaw.org

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I was watching this video by second thought and when he talked about the bomb threat towards the children's hospital, he mentioned that breast surgery is available for 15 and older while genital surgery is available for 18 and older. My question is, why? Is breast surgery less risky/more reversible/something else than bottom surgery? Please, I really am not writing this with transphobic intentions, I'm just tryinf to understand. Thanks.

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[-] exohuman@programming.dev 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Top surgery, while permanent happens in cis women too and can be changed using implants easily. Plenty of cis females have small breasts. MTF Bottom surgery is a hell of a lot more invasive and complex. It involves the removal of the testicles, the removal the penis, and new structures created using penile tissue and skin graphs. A person would need to be in bed for at least a week to 10 days, getting up only to use the bathroom. They will also need the privacy to dilate every day. Dilation involves inserting a medical dilator into the vagina to keep it from closing. The process can be painful and messy.

If for some reason they are misdiagnosed and want this reversed, undoing that is a complex, multistage procedure, with follow-up procedures.

With that said, 15 seems like it’s a bit young to expect responsible after surgery care. It’s a highly advanced procedure that is probably right to be set for 18.

Sources:

[-] HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Eh, with respect to being in bed, they actually encourage you to get up and walk, not a marathon but at least a little, as early as the day after. I definitely spent a lot of the first week in bed flying on pain meds, but I did also get up and shuffle around, and I got the packing out after six days.