Laser hair removal for genital gender affirming surgery.
Genital gender affirming surgery (GAS) involves reconstruction of the genitals to match a patient's identified sex. The use of hair-bearing flaps in this procedure may result in postoperative intra-vaginal and intra-urethral hair growth and associated complications, including lower satisfaction with genital GAS. Despite the significant increase in genital GAS within the past 50 years, there is limited data regarding hair removal practices in preparation for genital GAS and notable variation in hair removal techniques among dermatologists and other practitioners. We present a literature review, recommendations from our experience, and a practical laser hair removal (LHR) approach to hair removal prior to genital GAS.
1 Department of Dermatology, 2 Department of Urology, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA.
William R
WR
Zhang
1 Department of Dermatology, 2 Department of Urology, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA.
Giorgia L
GL
Garrett
1 Department of Dermatology, 2 Department of Urology, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA.
Sarah T
ST
Arron
1 Department of Dermatology, 2 Department of Urology, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA.
Maurice M
MM
Garcia
Gender dysphoria; hair removal; laser; sex reassignment surgery