Gender confirmation surgeries rose 20% in the last two years

Enlarge / Gearah Goldstein speaks with her plastic surgeon, Dr. Loren Schechter, about her gender confirmation surgery. (credit: ASPS)

Gender confirmation procedures are on the rise in the US, doctors reported Monday.

Surgeons performed more than 3,200 transfeminine and transmasculine procedures in 2016, according to new data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). That's nearly a 20 percent increase from numbers in 2015, when the ASPS began tracking the procedures, the society says.

Gender confirmation surgeries encompass a variety of procedures, including those that contour or transform the face, chest, or genitals. "There is no one-size-fits-all approach to gender confirmation," Loren Schechter, a board-certified plastic surgeon based in Chicago, said in a statement. "There's a wide spectrum of surgeries that someone may choose to treat gender dysphoria, which is a disconnect between how an individual feels and what that person's anatomic characteristics are."

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