ASPS statement to press regarding gender surgery for adolescents

Many ASPS members may have read the recent article titled "A Consensus No Longer" published Aug. 12 by City Journal, which cites the American Society of Plastic Surgeons as the first major medical association to challenge the "consensus" of medical groups over gender surgery for minors.

The following is the ASPS statement in its entirety provided to the reporter prior to publication:

ASPS has not endorsed any organization's practice recommendations for the treatment of adolescents with gender dysphoria. ASPS currently understands that there is considerable uncertainty as to the long-term efficacy for the use of chest and genital surgical interventions for the treatment of adolescents with gender dysphoria, and the existing evidence base is viewed as low quality/low certainty. This patient population requires specific considerations.

ASPS is reviewing and prioritizing several initiatives that best support evidence-based gender surgical care to provide guidance to plastic surgeons.

As members of the multidisciplinary care team, plastic surgeons have a responsibility to provide comprehensive patient education and maintain a robust and evidence-based informed consent process, so patients and their families can set realistic expectations in the shared decision-making context.

Guided by evidence

It's important to note that, as an organization and specialty guided by evidence, the Society's stance on this issue has remained consistent: More high-quality research in this rapidly evolving area of healthcare is needed.

To that end, ASPS efforts in this area include capturing clinical data on gender surgery procedures for adults and the development of practice resources to better aid members in implementing best practices in offering gender-surgery services when higher quality evidence is available. ASPS supports transgender patients' constitutional protections and right to dignity, privacy and humane medical care.

Further, it has always been the Society's position that members should be able to provide medical care without fear of government-sanctioned penalties and criminalization – and ASPS opposes any attempts at legal encroachment into the practice of medicine.