What are the risks of masculinizing genital surgery?

The decision to have masculinizing genital is extremely personal. You'll have to decide if the benefits will achieve your goals and if the risks and potential complications are acceptable.

Your mental health is very important. Surgery affects everyone differently. There is not enough research to say if masculinizing genital surgery will improve or worsen your mental health or improve or alleviate your gender dysphoria.

This surgery is considered permanent and may be impossible to reverse. Some patients later report regret about their decision to have gender surgery. There is not yet good data on the number of patients who regret their surgery or later detransition.

Your plastic surgeon and/or their staff will explain in detail the risks associated with surgery. You will be asked to sign consent forms to ensure that you fully understand the procedures you will undergo and any risks or potential complications.

Depending on which procedure you choose, the possible risks of masculinizing genital surgery include, but are not limited to:

• Bleeding
• Infection
• Poor healing of incisions
• Hematoma
• Nerve injury
• Failure of the transplanted tissues (skin flaps) to survive
• Unsightly scars from where the skin graft is taken to create the neophallus
• Exposure of the implantable device/prosthesis
• Injury to the urinary tract
• Narrowing of the urethra, making it painful to urinate (urinary stricture)
• Abnormal connections between the urethra or the rectum and the skin (fistula)
• Painful intercourse or loss of sensation during sex
• Anesthesia risks