Sex reassignment surgery

Sex reassignment surgery (SRS) includes the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are changed to that of the other sex. It is part of a treatment for gender identity disorder in transsexual and transgender people.

Standards of care

It can be extremely difficult to get sexual reassignment surgery. There are very few surgeons willing to perform SRS. Most jurisdictions and medical boards require a minimum duration of psychological evaluation and living as a member of the target gender full time, sometimes called the Real Life Experience (RLE) or Real Life Test (RLT) before SRS is permitted. However, transsexual and transgendered people are often not allowed to change the listing of their sex in public records until SRS is completed. (See legal aspects of transsexualism.)

Related Topics:
Transsexual - Transgendered - Legal aspects of transsexualism

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In many countries or areas, an individual's pursuit of SRS is often governed, or at least guided, by documents called Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders (SOC). This most widespread SOC in this field is published and frequently revised by the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA). Standards of Care usually give certain very specific "minimum" requirements as prerequisites to SRS. For this and many other reasons, both the HBIGDA-SOC and other SOCs are highly controversial and often maligned documents among transgender patients seeking surgery. Some alternative local standards of care exist, such as in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Much of the criticism about the HBIGDA-SOC applies to these as well, and some of these SOCs (mostly European SOC) are actually based on much older versions of the HBIGDA-SOC. Other SOCs are entirely independent of the HBIGDA. The criteria of those SOCs are even more strict than the latest revision of the HBIGDA-SOC. The majority of qualified surgeons in North America and many in Europe adhere almost unswervingly to the HBIGDA-SOC or other SOCs.

Related Topics:
Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders - Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association

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