Can Transgender Hormone Transition Therapy Be Reversed?
At HEALORâ„¢, we know how meaningful and exciting it is to move forward with gender transitioning and become the person you were always meant to be. Transgender hormone therapy is an integral part of gender dysphoria treatment, whether it takes place in the pre-surgical phase of the process or as a standalone approach. Double board-certified physician Dr. Raj Singh MD has advanced expertise in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and has guided numerous patients in the Las Vegas, NV LGBTQ community throughout their gender reaffirmation journeys.
Before moving forward with this treatment, it is important to understand whether or not transgender hormone transition therapy can be reversed. Taking feminizing or masculinizing hormones will have a physiological and emotional impact, and we want to ensure you are fully aware of how this process will affect your body, health, and quality of life. Dr. Singh and our caring team are here to provide the information you need and will be with you every step of the way.
What is transgender hormone therapy?
Transgender hormone replacement therapy is the administration of hormones to help patients acquire the physical characteristics of their true gender. Feminizing hormone therapy is administered to individuals who wish to transition from male to female (MTF) and involves taking estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone blockers such as Aldactone, bicalutamide, and cyproterone acetate.
Female-to-male (FTM) transition patients receive testosterone throughout the course of their hormone replacement therapy. Hormones may be taken via oral pills, injections, or absorbed through the skin via a transdermal patch or topical cream. Another novel approach we utilize is insertion of hormone pellets under the skin. Hormone pellets provide several months of treatment without the inconvenience of pills, or pain associated with injection therapy.
Can Transgender Hormone Transition Therapy Be Reversed?
The effects of transgender HRT take place over time. While some are irreversible, many components of transgender hormone therapy for Las Vegas, NV patients can be reversed when the hormones are no longer administered. However, the extent to which a person might experience such effects is largely dependent upon the length of time the hormones have been taken, genetics, and other factors. During your consultation at HEALORâ„¢ , Dr. Singh can talk with you about these effects and answer any questions you have.
Many of the physical characteristics that result from transgender HRT taken to block testosterone production in the body (in trans women) may diminish or be reversed when the hormones are no longer taken. Some of these include:
- Skin texture (softer skin)
- Increased acne
- Distribution of fat
- Less muscle mass
What elements of transgender HRT are irreversible?
Understanding the full scope of how transgender hormone therapy will affect your body as it changes is important for all patients who are considering this option. Certain effects of transgender hormone therapy are long-term changes and, generally, are not reversible. These may entail:
- Decreased fertility. We recommend that sperm and eggs be banked at a fertility center before starting feminizing or masculinizing hormone therapy
- Enlargement of breast tissue (Gynaecomastia)
- Growth of sex organ tissues such as clitoris
- Voice changes are often irreversible due to changes in vocal cord muscle mass
Transgender hormone therapy in Las Vegas, NV
Transitioning to your true gender is certainly a thrilling, life-changing decision. For more on the effects of transgender hormone therapy, contact HEALORâ„¢ in Las Vegas, NV and schedule your visit today. Double board-certified physician Dr. Raj Singh and our team have advanced expertise in guiding trans men and trans women through the transition process and are excited to help you achieve your treatment goals.
I need irreversible muscle reduction as I'm having severe body dysphoria. Though I'm female in mind, family pressure compelled me to go to gym center. Now my hand muscle is almost double than any male person around me.
What remedy you can suggest for muscle reduction?
Don't give an advice of high rep exercise. It actually increased my bulk.
Hi Ina,
Thank you for your question. I can understand how distressing it must be when you do not have adequate social support and you are expected to do things that do not correspond to your gender identity. you probably have untreated elevated testosterone levels and also enhanced testosterone production in response to exercise. I do not see any other solution other than being on feminizing hormone therapy with the estrogen and taking androgen blockers. Please discuss with your doctor and get appropriate testing done for all your hormones.
I'm a 47 year old biological male who is considering the prospect of HRT for the purposes of transitioning. I'm new to a lot of this, I've contacted a site who will provide medical consultation and therapeutic support. Can you please tell me, what does it mean in the "irreversible" list that "sex organ growth" is one of them? What does that entail? Thank you?
Hi Michael, Thank you for your question. Feminizing or Masculinizing Hormone therapy should only be initiated after discussion with a counselor and a complete medical examination by a doctor. Even after the hormone therapy is discontinued there are some physical changes in the body that are irreversible. I will make the necessary changes to the blog to clarify this more. depending upon the choice of hormone used, there can be irreversible gynecomastia or enlargement of the clitoris and these changes are not often reversible even after hormone therapy has been discontinued.
I wish you would stop using the term preferred gender. It is inaccurate. No one prefers to be a gender that is incongruent with their sex assigned at birth. Transpeople do not chooses to be trans. Transpersons are born trans and do not transition to their preferred gender. They transition to their true gender. Call it gender identify if you must but it is their true gender and you would better serve the community by replacing the term preferred gender with true gender.
Hi Sarah, you are absolutely correct and true gender is the appropriate term. Although we try to be as accuarate as possible we have many guest writers and sometimes this gets missed. This blog has been updated and incorrect preferred gender has been updated to the term true gender. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. we will review remaining blog posts and update the content if needed. Thanks again
Hallo dear doctor.
Im biological male 22 years old from Prague and during whole 2022 I have conducted HRT. Nevertheless I realized that Im not just biological man but also I feel myself by gender as a male. So after many consultations I quit HRT and quicky tried to reverse some of the changes.
But I still suffer from sever erectile dysfunction. I want to ask you, If there is any chance, that my erections will be back to normal.
Your sincerely
Domas Drakovsky
Hi Tomas, thank you for your question. are you able to comment on what medications were you taking and for exactly how long and if your also taking any medications currently so I can provide a proper assessment. thank you in advance
Hi I have daughter who was transitioning to male but now is detratransitioning back to female. They stopped taking HRT cold turkey and are having side effects. They have very low hormones and doctor told her to come back in a few months. In the meantime we don't know what to do. The gender endocrinologist does not know what to do as they don't have many detransition cases here where we live. Do you have any suggestions of what we can do to at least minimize the side effects?
Hi Savina,
Your daughter is experiencing hormone withdrawl and imbalance which can happen if hormones are stopped abruptly. Ideally would have been better to taper HRT slowly. Unfortunately, due to liability reasons I am not able to advise on specific hormones and medications as that establishes a doctor patient relationship. If interested, we can setup a virtual consultation. Please note that we only provide care to adults 18 and above.