Kochi too reporting sex change surgeries

KOCHI: A city hospital has conducted three sex-change surgeries while more people are on waiting. “A transgender operation, as we call a sex-change surgery, differs fundamentally from others as both body and mind are to be affected, let alone external and internal limbs. Hence, it takes three to four years for its completion in stages, and that is the reason for this waiting list. We did our first transgender surgery in 2010, and so far, we have done three and the fourth one is in the process,” says Dr K. R. Rajappan, plastic surgeon, who supervises such surgeries at Specialists Hospital here.

Dr Jayakumar, who heads the plastic surgery department here, said a person affected with gender identity disorder (GID) cannot be rushed in for sex-change surgery. “He or she requires complete psychiatric evaluation before undergoing such an operation, and for this, many a sitting with the psychiatrist who is trained and experienced in this field is also required. In this stage, the person may be required to cross-dress to get the feel of being the other sex. As it involves hormonal changes as well, medications and procedures suggested by an endocrinologist are also to be done,” Dr Jayakumar said.

Dr Senthil, who heads the sex-change surgeries here, says even the final stage is also time-consuming, more than that it involves multi-limb replacements and intricate replants. “For a female to male change, the uterus has to be removed, and male genitals had to be reconstructed. In both female-to-male and male-to-female cases, the only impossibility after the surgery is conceiving a child in the case of a woman or fathering a child in the case of a man. But orgasm being a nerve action, satisfactory sex life in the new role can be guaranteed,” Dr Senthil pointed out.

Those who had undergone sex change surgeries at the hospital include a 30-year-old doctor and 50-year-old and 24-year-old sales persons. While the 50-year-old has undergone sex change surgery to change his gender to male, the other two did it to become females. The doctor was a married man. Meanwhile, a 25-year-old artist is presently undergoing sex change surgery to become a female. In the male to a female gender change, vaginoplasty and breast reconstruction are done. The female to male surgery includes hysterectomy, ovariectomy, penile reconstruction and urethral lengthening.