A Survey of Transsexual Hormonal Treatment in Twenty Gender-Treatment Centers

No systematic study has been published of the effects of hormonal therapy in the transsexual; specifically, its effect on physical changes, its suppression of endogenous hormones, or its side effects. With the growing number of transsexual treatment centers, it seemed timely to survey these programs and attempt to determine if a standard hormonal treatment regimen exists. Twenty centers for transsexual treatment responded to a survey concerning their current hormonal treatment plan before and after gonadectomy. At least 9 different male-to-female transsexual therapy programs and 11 different female-to-male transsexual testosterone therapy programs were reported. The typical program utilizes, for male-to-female transsexuals, 2.5-5.0 mg/ day of conjugated estrogen and, for female-to-male transsexuals, 200–400 mg of intramuscular long-acting conjugates of testosterone once a month. However, less than half of the centers are in agreement and the great diversity of reported therapies highlights the need for systematic studies of the effects of hormonal therapy to determine the optimal program for transsexuals.