(2015-06-30) When Transgender Kids Transition Medical Risks Are Both Known And Unknown

When Transgender Kids Transition, Medical Risks are Both Known and Unknown. When someone makes the decision to transition, part of that process can be social — choosing a new name, changing pronouns, wearing different clothes — and part of it can be medical.

One of the more recent medical developments is the use of puberty blockers to treat children who are transgender or gender non-conforming. The medications, which suppress the body’s production of estrogen or testosterone, essentially pause the changes that would occur during puberty.

the use of puberty blockers to treat transgender children is what’s considered an “off label” use of the medication — something that hasn’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And doctors say their biggest concern is about how long children stay on the medication, because there isn’t enough research into the effects of stalling puberty at the age when children normally go through it.

Another area where doctors say there isn’t enough research is the impact that suppressing puberty has on brain development.

The stakes are higher for children who want to continue physically transitioning by taking the hormones of their desired gender. Doctors grapple with when to start cross-sex hormones, and they say it really depends on the child’s readiness and stability in their gender identity.

The physical changes that hormones bring about are irreversible

Another potential dilemma facing transgender children, their families and their doctors is this: Taking cross hormones can reduce fertility.

While transgender adults have taken hormones sometimes for years, the generation growing up now is among the first to start taking hormones so young. Since most people who start hormones take them for life, doctors say there also isn’t enough research into the long-term impact of taking estrogen or testosterone for what could end up being 50 to 70 years.