As tensions rise over the medical care of trans children, a new analysis shows hundreds of adolescents in Canada have undergone female-to-male “top surgery” — double mastectomies — over the past five years.
Hospitalizations and day surgery visits for bilateral mastectomies for gender reassignment surgery have risen sharply, from 536 in 2018-19, to 985 in fiscal 2022-23, according to data compiled for National Post by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Of the 4,071 visits in total involving gender-affirming mastectomies or breast reductions reported since 2018, 602 involved youth 18 and under.
Of those, 303 involved teens 17 and younger. The youngest age was 14.
The numbers tell only part of the story. The CIHI data exclude Quebec hospitals as well as surgeries performed in private clinics like the McLean Clinic in Mississauga, which describes its surgeons as “industry pioneers” for top surgery — mastectomies and breast reductions in those assigned female at birth, and breast augmentation for those born male transitioning to female.
One specialist in transgender health issues said that, when applying for OHIP funding for people seeking top surgery, “50 to 70 per cent will go to McLean.”
Female-to-male chest surgery involves removing the breasts to achieve a flatter, more masculinized torso, to better align the person’s physical body with their gender identity and reduce gender dysphoria, defined as the persistent distress that can accompany the incongruence between the gender one identifies with and one’s gender at birth.
Hellbound and Down 