Aesthetic considerations in secondary procedures for gender reassignment

Abstract

Background: Patients who have successfully undergone gender reassignment surgery seek further aesthetic refinements to suit their new gender role. Objective: The study evaluated secondary aesthetic procedures, laryngeal surgery, and adjuvant hormone therapy in 22 male-to-female gender reassignment change patients. Methods: Thirty-two aesthetic procedures performed in 22 patients were evaluated for operation type, surgical technique, complications, and satisfaction rates. Aesthetic procedures included rhytidectomy, platysmaplasty, rhinoplasty, brow lift, blepharoplasty, cheek or chin surgery, and body contouring. Results: A wide range of secondary aesthetic procedures was successfully performed with only 1 minor complication and 1 major psychological depressive episode. Conclusions: Secondary surgery in gender reassignment patients extends the frontier of aesthetic surgery and provides lessons that can be extrapolated to facial and body contour aesthetic surgery in the general patient population.