The sex reassignment surgery market was valued at $1.9 billion in 2021. It is estimated to grow to $2.1 billion by 2022 and to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.23% between 2022 and 2030, reaching $5 billion, according to an analysis by Grand View Research (GVT).
The demand for these surgeries is growing rapidly due to an increase in gender dysphoria. According to a 2020 study conducted by Cedars Sinai, a Los Angeles hospital, 78% of transgender men suffered from this disorder by the age of seven. Cases of gender dysphoria in minors has increased by 70% in just one year: 2021.
From women to men
Representing about 41% of the total number of surgeries, the number of female-to-male gender reassignment surgical procedures is three times higher than male-to-female, generating the highest number of admissions in 2021. The GVT attributed this to medical and surgical innovations in the modification of male body parts:
- Metoidioplasty: the creation of an artificial penis.
- Phalloplasty: modification of the penis.
- Scrotoplasty: the creation of a scrotum.
- Thoracic reconstruction: breast removal.
However, the male-to-female market is likely to outgrow the female-to-male market in the coming years due to a higher incidence of gender dysphoria among biological men. The GVT says that major players in the gender reassignment surgery market are "adopting new strategies to strengthen their market presence." This includes offering increasingly specialized surgeries, such as chondrolaryngoplasty (Adam's apple reduction), breast reduction, neovaginoplasty and genital reshaping.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, transgender men in the country underwent 9,985 gender reassignment surgeries in 2020, compared to 8,986 in 2019.
Insurance companies cover sex changes
The growth of this market can also be attributed to the increase in health insurance coverage for gender reassignment procedures. Companies are investing in LGBT healthcare and insurers are more willing to cover these surgeries. Some of them already provide insurance for surgical procedures for the removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes, uterus, testicles as well as the removal of the ovaries.
Government support is also driving the market. In the U.S., about 152,000 transgender people are enrolled in Medicaid, according to GVT. Of these, 69,000 have access to gender affirmation care coverage.
The dangers of gender dysphoria
According to The Economist, gender dysphoria is an increasingly common disorder in young people. Hormone inhibitors are usually administered to minors between 9-14 years of age in order to slow down the appearance of their biological physical features and to make the subsequent sex change less complicated from a medical point of view.
Some studies show that sexual identity problems at this stage are temporary. 85% of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria who have not received treatment overcome the disorder thanks to psychological therapy and develop their adult life normally as persons of their biological sex.
Paul Hruz, an endocrinologist at the University of Washington, explains that prescribing inhibitory drugs can be counterproductive because it interrupts the activation of hormonal processes that are "determinant" for the natural development of sexual identity. The doctor points out that there is a lack of scientific evidence to differentiate those who really suffer from dysphoria from those who suffer from passing identity crises. He also says that the transgender community should not be politicized, because it could harm "those they are supposedly intended to help.”
The danger of turning trans rights into one of the battlegrounds of the culture wars is that it prevents discussion of the dangers of prescribing puberty blockers and hormones in children suffering from gender dysphoria. And, therefore, they may end up harming those they are supposedly intended to help.
