Here are a few things to know about puberty blockers:
- They temporarily pause puberty.
- They won’t reverse any pubertal changes that have already happened.
- They are reversible.
- They have been safely used in children for over 40 years.
- They can reduce the need for gender-affirming hormones and surgery in the future.
- They can have few, but easily manageable side effects.
- They may increase the overall well-being of some people living with gender incongruence and gender dysphoria*.
*Gender incongruence is when a person’s experience of their gender doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth. This can mean they strongly feel they are a different gender, wish to be treated as a different gender, or wish for their body to have features more like the gender they feel inside. The feeling of distress that can arise from this incongruence is referred to as gender dysphoria (2,20).
Resources
Mental Health Helplines & Resources | ScienceUpFirst
Sources
- Puberty Blockers | WeAreAllies
- An affirming approach to caring for transgender and gender-diverse youth | Canadian Paediatric Society | June 2023
- Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) Analogues | LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury on the National Library of Medicine Bookshelf | March 2018
- How hormone blockers put puberty on pause | CBC News | February 2024
- Precocious puberty and statural growth | Human Reproduction Update on Oxford Academic | March 2004
- Children and adolescents in the Amsterdam Cohort of Gender Dysphoria: trends in diagnostic- and treatment trajectories during the first 20 years of the Dutch Protocol | The Journal of Sexual Medicine on Oxford Academic | January 2023
- How gender-affirming health care for kids works in Canada | CBC News | November 2023
- Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8 | International Journal of Transgender Health | 2022
- Puberty blockers | Trans Care BC
- Individual Treatment Progress Predicts Satisfaction With Transition-Related Care for Youth With Gender Dysphoria: A Prospective Clinical Cohort Study | The Journal of Sexual Medicine on PubMed | February 2021
- Endocrine Treatment of Gender-Dysphoric/Gender-Incongruent Persons: An Endocrine Society* Clinical Practice Guideline | The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism on Oxford Academic | September 2017
- Pubertal Suppression, Bone Mass, and Body Composition in Youth With Gender Dysphoria | American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on PubMed | March 2021
- Bone Mineral Density in Transgender Adolescents Treated With Puberty Suppression and Subsequent Gender-Affirming Hormones | JAMA Pediatrics | October 2023
- Experiences of Puberty and Puberty Blockers: Insights From Trans Children, Trans Adolescents, and Their Parents | Sage Journals | June 2022
- Puberty Suppression in Adolescents With Gender Identity Disorder: A Prospective Follow‐Up Study | The Journal of Sexual Medicine on Oxford Academic | August 2011
- Short-term outcomes of pubertal suppression in a selected cohort of 12 to 15 year old young people with persistent gender dysphoria in the UK | PLOS ONE | February 2021
- Young adult psychological outcome after puberty suppression and gender reassignment | American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on PubMed | October 2014
- Individual Treatment Progress Predicts Satisfaction With Transition-Related Care for Youth With Gender Dysphoria: A Prospective Clinical Cohort Study | The Journal of Sexual Medicine on Oxford Academic | March 2021
- Impact of Hormone Treatment on Psychosocial Functioning in Gender-Diverse Young People | LGBT Health on PubMed | July 2023
- Gender incongruence and transgender health in the ICD | World Health Organization
Share our original Tweet!
View our original Instagram Post!
