Behnam, Amir, MD

Camacho, Justin Michael

Herr, Sanjeev

Quindlen, Caroline E

Rosales, Odette

Sejdiu, Zane

Yasback, Ali

English

Scholar Commons @ Tower Health

Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS) is a subset of plastic surgery procedures that are performed under the umbrella term gender-affirming surgery (GAS) for transgender patients. The field of GAS has gained increased traction in the transgender community as it has been instrumental in alleviating the incongruency transgender individuals with gender dysphoria suffer from. However, there is presently minimal literature detailing the impact FFS has on quality of life (QoL) in Male-to-Female (MTF) patients. In this literature review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the most prevalent FFS procedures that are used in transfeminine patients along with the surgical recommendations for each procedure, its impact on quality of life, and its significance in transgender care. A thorough literature review was conducted utilizing the SCOPUS and PubMed databases with careful adherence to the PRISMA guidelines. Of the 66 captured articles, only 12 studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria. While the improvement in the QoL of transgender patients after gender-affirming surgery has been documented, the assessments to gather these patient-reported outcomes have not been validated nor standardized1. Our review found that the most common targeted areas for FFS surgery are the forehead, nose, brow, mandible, and chin. Given that the aforementioned features are such prominent components of our facial structure, it is evident that MTF patients greatly benefit from receiving access to FFS procedures. In our review, one study found that 96% of their patient cohort had undergone an FFS procedure and reported high levels of satisfaction utilizing the phrases either “very much” or “completely”2. Out of the twelve studies reviewed, two detailed that the greatest increase in QOL was found to be at 6 months post-surgery. However, our review found in concordance with other literature that despite a growing interest in QoL measurement in the transgender patient, there continues to be a gap in the standardization of an assessment to measure the impact of FFS on QoL longitudinally. Therefore, while our literature review supports the notion that QoL is improved by FFS, longitudinal studies with a standardized assessment need to be conducted to account for the true impact of FFS.    

The Impact of Facial Feminization on QoL in Transgender patients

https://scholarcommons.towerhealth.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&amp;context=th_researchday

The Impact of Facial Feminization on QoL in Transgender patients

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