Improvement in Quality of Life in Transmasculine Individuals After Chest Masculinization Surgery

Many transgender masculine individuals experience gender dysphoria, including body dysphoria. Body dysphoria is the experience that our body does not align with our gender identification. For many of these individuals, their chest is an area of body dysphoria. Subsequently, many seek out a surgical masculinization of their chest, or what is commonly called "top surgery" to reduce the dysphoria. This systemic review aims to evaluate the current literature on changes in quality of life in trans masculine individuals after top surgery. APA PsychArticles, APA PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global were the databases utilized for this search. Chaining was also used as the literature is sparse concerning this subject. There was no date range, and exclusions were minimal due to the sparsity of literature. The search produced 8 articles that could be used for this review. All of the studies that utilized proper data analysis found statistically significant evidence that top surgery results in improved body image or body congruence. The studies that included psychological wellbeing or psychological symptomology as a form of quality of life found statistically significant improvement in those areas. All studies found that the majority of participants felt more satisfied with their chests than dissatisfied. Based on the above studies, there is evidence that quality of life does improve for trans masculine individuals who receive top surgery. These studies imply that the gender affirming model of care of transgender individuals is a viable model to use for the treatment of body dysphoria. More studies in this area need to be conducted on this topic in order to validate these findings.