About 9,000 transgender surgeries are performed a year in the United States as government and private insurance increasingly cover them. Globally, the sex reassignment surgery market is projected to be $1.5 billion by 2026. But how safe are the expensive procedures, like the popular genital or “bottom” surgeries whose costs starts at $25,000?
Male-to-female and female-to-male genital surgeries seek to create an “aesthetic genital organ, as well as to allow for their excretory and related functioning,” wrote researchers in Current Urology last year. For example, in addition to achieving the correct look, most female-to-male surgical patients want to “stand up” when they urinate. Unfortunately, the urological aspects of the surgeries are the most prone to complications for both men and women.
