Some people in our community choose bilateral orchiectomy prior to or instead of vaginoplasty. This medical procedure is also called orchidectomy or gonadectomy and is commonly known as castration or by the abbreviations “orch,” “orchi,” “orchy,” and “orchie.” Bilateral orchiectomy involves removal of both testicles, which eliminates the primary sources of androgen production.
This procedure is most often performed by urologists or endocrinologists and is sometimes done for treatment of prostate cancer and testicular cancer in cisgender patients. This is different than getting a vasectomy, a surgery that cuts the vas deferens to block sperm from reaching the semen that is ejaculated from the penis.
Important: Bilateral orchiectomy will change your body so you can’t ever make children. Patients need to think about their reproductive options before getting an orchiectomy.
Overview
Reasons to get an orchiectomy:
- Costs much less money than vaginoplasty
- Shorter recovery time
- Fewer possible complications
- Patients don’t need antiandrogens after the surgery
- Patients can take lower doses of feminizing hormones after the surgery
Problems that can happen:
- It can shrink the amount of tissue available for vaginoplasty
- It leaves small scars which may affect a later vaginoplasty result
If you want to get vaginoplasty at a later date, you should speak with the surgeon(s) you are considering before getting an orchiectomy. Some of them may have suggestions or recommendations about incision placement to ensure a better vaginoplasty result at a later date.
Some people have been able to change the gender on their legal documents following orchiectomy in places where the law requires surgery. You will may to ask your surgeon for a letter affirming that the surgeon performed irreversible genital surgery.
Unqualified people performing the procedure
When our community had a harder time getting medical services last century, some people had this done by people who did not have the right medical training or equipment. Some tried to do it on themselves, which is very dangerous and can lead to death or serious injury. I strongly urge you to seek out a qualified practitioner to perform this procedure under the safest conditions.
Physicians performing the procedure
Below are medical professionals who currently perform transgender surgery in the United States like orchiectomy, or have performed them in the past for our community.
Note: many links below contain images of surgery and genitals
Align Surgical Associates (alignsurgical.com)
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Dev Gurujal
- Thomas Satterwhite
Gabriel del Corral (drdelcorral.com)
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
The Cosmetic Concierge (cosmeticconciergemd.com)
- Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
- Hope Sherie
Crane Center for Transgender Surgery (cranects.com)
- Greenbrae (San Francisco area), California, USA
- Curtis Crane
- Angela M. Rodriguez
- Michael H. Safir
- Austin Texas, USA
- Richard Santucci
- Ashley DeLeon
- Dr. Crane succeeded Michael Brownstein (brownsteincrane.com), who retired in 2013.
Jenelle Foote (jenellefootemd.com)
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Josef Hadid (josefhadeedmd.com)
- Beverly Hills, California USA
International Center for Transgender Care (thetranscenter.com)
- Plano (Dallas area), Texas, USA
- Alan Dulin
Keelee MacPhee (keeleemacpheemd.com)
- Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Lake Oswego Plastic Surgery (lakeoswegoplasticsurgery.com)
- Lake Oswego (Portland area), Oregon, USA
- Tuan Nguyen
Christine McGinn (drchristinemcginn.com)
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
The Meltzer Clinic (themeltzerclinic.com)
- Scottsdale (Phoenix area), Arizona, USA
- Toby Meltzer
- Ellie Zara Ley
MoZaic Care (mozaiccare.net)
- San Francisco, California USA
- Heidi Wittenberg
Orchiectomy (myorchie.com)
- Farmington Hills (Detroit area), Michigan, USA
- Marc Arnkoff
Rumer Cosmetic Surgery (rumergendersurgery.com)
- Ardmore (Philadelphia area), Pennsylvania, USA
- Kathy Rumer
Restore (restoremedcenter.com)
- Bay Harbor Islands (Miami area), Florida, USA
- John L. Whitehead
- Alain Ramirez
- Christian Quintero
- Successors to Harold Reed
Loren S. Schecter (drlschechter.com)
- Morton Grove (Chicago area), Illinois, USA
Consumer experiences with unnamed surgeons
Ruby’s Journal (rtaylor36.tripod.com)
- The orchiectomy chronicles (September 2003) [archive]
Jessi via Caitlin H. (road-less-traveled.com)
- Jessi’s orchiectomy experience (2000) [archive]
Anonymous
- Orchiectomy [archive]
Resources
Note: many links below contain images of surgery and genitals
Surgery Encyclopedia (surgeryencyclopedia.com)
Trans HealthCare (transhealthcare.org)
Sherry’s Transition Site (sherrylanina.tripod.com/sjc.htm)
Gender.org.uk (gender.org.uk)
- Orchidectomy as a first stage towards gender reassignment: A positive option by Russell Reid (1996)
- Reports good psychological outcomes in 14 orchiectomy patients.
Annie Richards (secondtype.com)
- Orchidectomy [archive]
Healthline (healthline.com)
Looking Glass Society (looking-glass.greenend.org.uk)
- Bilateral Orchiectomy (1998)