Gender Reassignment Surgery

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Gender Reassignment Surgery Gone Wrong Gender reassignment is a very controversial topic. Does it really work, can surgery really change your gender? People will always tell you about all the things that go right with surgery, but does anyone truly pay attention to the significant problems that this surgery can cause? Gender reassignment surgery (GRS) is a surgical procedure by which a person’s physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble that of the other sex. It is said that this surgery is used to treat gender identity disorder (GID), which describes the condition in which an individual identifies with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their assigned sex. Having surgery performed can cause both physical and mental tribulations. While death is an unlikely result of complications, things do go wrong, as with all surgeries there are risks. There are also major mental, physiological, social and emotional side effects. Surgery will not fix the underlying psychological problems that cause the request for surgery. Anyone considering surgery needs to proceed with caution, as it can result in irreversible damage. The first publicly documented gender reassignment surgery took place in Germany in 1930, male to female surgery. The first procedure to be performed in the United States was in 1966 at John Hopkins University performed by Dr. Elmer Belt. It is difficult to obtain statistics as to how many procedures have been performed to date. Crespo 2 Many procedures take place in private facilities, which are not obligated to report procedures. It is estimated that between 100 and 500 sex change procedures are performed in the United States a year.... ... middle of paper ... ...ceeded with extreme caution. Obviously the idea of being able to change your sex for people who suffer from GID sounds appealing. They need to take into consideration the seriousness that this surgery entails. The significant irreversible damage that can be suffered is not something to take lightly. And the main component that they need to understand is that there is no clear coherent knowledge or understanding of how changing genders can be an effective treatment. No surgery will change the underlying psychological problems that a person has. No surgery will ever change the fact that you were born either man or woman, your DNA will never change. Works Cited http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/Pa-St/Sex-Reassignment-Surgery.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21364939 http://www.sexchangeregret.com/ http://allpsych.com/disorders/sexual/genderidentity.html

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