Vaginoplasty for Transgender Women

This entry focuses on a medical aspect of gender transitioning in transgender (trans) women. Some transsexual and transgender individuals may wish to alter their physical appearance by seeking out gender-affirming surgery. Gender-affirming surgery includes any surgical procedure to alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics to match that of a person’s identified sex—such as, in transwomen, facial feminization surgery, breast implants, and vaginoplasty. This entry focuses on the latter, and gender-affirming surgery from here on refers to a procedure on the genitals (often called sex reassignment surgery). Vaginoplasty describes the surgery through which a vagina is shaped from existing skin. This entry describes the importance of gender-affirming surgery for [Page 1280]trans patients; provides a review of the techniques behind the shaping of a sensate vagina (vaginoplasty), ...