This part is for young people who want to make a gender change. If you are not sure, please see the part for people who are questioning their gender. If you are sure you want to change how you look and act, here is how to do it.
Who can get it?
Surgery is usually for adults who can give legal consent.
In some cases, surgery is offered to mature minors after they have:
- therapy
- expert assessment
- family agreement
- social gender changes
- legal identity changes
- considered reproductive choices
- hormone blockers
- hormones
Some trans and gender-diverse youth who are mature minors are able to get surgery with fewer steps.
Surgery is not reversible and has been safely performed on mature minors who understand the possible risks, burdens, and benefits.
What surgery can be done?
Facial gender confirmation surgery
Some cisgender minors get facial plastic surgery. Common procedures include rhinoplasty (nose job), otoplasty (ear pinning), and maxillofacial surgery to improve bites.
Some transgender minors choose facial gender confirmation surgery for their head and neck as part of a gender transition. This can reshape things including your forehead, hairline, throat (trachea/Adam’s apple), jaw, chin, nose, and ears. There are also soft tissue injections, facial implants, and facelifts.
These surgeries are rarely done on minors.
Voice gender confirmation surgery
Some people want to make their voice sound higher or lower. Some are not able to do so with voice practice or voice therapy. They may choose voice gender confirmation surgery as part of a gender transition.
- Feminization (higher)
- Masculinization (lower)
This surgery is rarely done on minors.
Top gender confirmation surgery
The most common surgery done on minors is masculinizing top surgery. Each year, about 14,000 cisgender men and boys, most of them minors, get masculinizing top surgery for unwanted breast tissue. Each year, a much smaller number of transgender minors get top surgery for the same reason.
Some people choose surgery for their chest area as part of a gender transition. This is called top gender confirmation surgery.
- Feminization (breast augmentation)
- Masculinization (breast removal)
These surgeries are rarely done on minors.
Bottom gender confirmation surgery
The most common bottom surgery performed on minors is circumcision. The second most common bottom surgery performed on minors is to improve function due to traits like hypospadias. Transgender minors rarely get bottom surgery. In the few cases where it is performed, patients are almost always age 15 or older and have either been legally emancipated or deemed to be mature minors who also have full parental consent. For instance, singer Kim Petras was able to have bottom surgery at age 16 with full consent of both parents, but this is a rare exception.
Some people choose surgery for their hips, waist, and genitals as part of a gender transition. This is called bottom gender confirmation surgery.
For women and transfeminine people
Some of the bottom surgery choices for women and transfeminine people are:
† These genital surgeries will change your body so you can not make children.
- † Orchiectomy (castration or removal of testicles)
- † Vaginoplasty (creation of a vagina)
- † Vulvoplasty (creation of a vulva without a vagina)
- Liposuction and fat transfer
- Gluteal augmentation (buttock implant)
- Hip and thigh augmentation
For men and transmasculine people
Some of the bottom surgery choices for men and transmasculine people are:
† These genital surgeries will change your body so you can not make children.
- † Hysterectomy (removal of uterus)
- † Salpingectomy (removal of fallopian tubes)
- † Oophorectomy (removal of ovaries)
- † Vaginectomy (or colpectomy/colpocleisis, removal of vagina)
- Phalloplasty (creation of a penis via skin graft)
- Metoidioplasty (creation of a penis with existing genital tissue)
- Liposuction (fat removal) and fat transfer
- Leg augmentation
Most trans people do not have any surgery until they are able to give legal informed consent. Bottom surgery typically does not happen until you reach legal adulthood.