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In Australia, medical transition begins with the
commencement of testosterone replacement therapy.
Your GP or General Practitioner is the first
'port-of-call' in order to begin testosterone
therapy.
In all states, with the exception of South
Australia and anyone with the Monash
Gender Dysphoria Clinic (Victoria), transition
usually proceeds through the following stages:
- Consult with your GP for a referral to an
endocrinologist (hormone
specialist);
- Endocrinologist carries out blood tests to
establish your hormone baseline levels and
general health. (Some endocrinologists require a
psychiatric assessment to exclude mental illness
with similar symptoms);
If psychiatric
assessment is required by your endocrinologist,
this is usually a straightforward process to
determine there is no co-existing mental illness
causing your desire to transition. For most
people this is easily established and your
endocinologist is informed.
- Given you have reasonable health, the
endocrinologist proceeds with testosterone
prescription;
- Around this time or before, many men legally
change their name or start using a
male-appropriate first name they are comfortable
with.
[see Name
Change]
- Consult with your GP for a referral to an
plastic reconstructive surgeon to carry out male
chest reconstruction.
[see Male
chest reconstruction]
If psychiatric
assessment is required by your surgeon, this
is usually a straightforward process to
determine there is no co-existing mental illness
causing your desire for surgery. For most people
this is easily established and your surgeon is
informed.
- Once chest surgery is completed, you have
been treated under medical supervision with
testosterone therapy for at least two (2) years,
it is possible to correct your sex designation
on your Medicare record to show male.
[see Medicare]
- Many men at this point undergo removal of
the female-reproductive organs (total
hysterectomy).
[see Reproductive
Surgeries]
If psychiatric
assessment is required by your surgeon, this
is usually a straightforward process to
determine there is no co-existing mental illness
causing your desire for surgery. For most people
this is easily established and your surgeon is
informed.
In all states/territories of Australia it
is now possible to correct your Birth
Certificate to show your birth sex is male.
[see Birth
Certificate]
- For the vast majority of men, medical
transition is complete and their legal sex is
male.
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"Taking
hormones and having surgery doesn't make
us male, it merely makes our outsides
match our insides. Puts our bodies in
harmony with our minds. I don't want
surgery and hormones for anyone elses sake
or to fit with society... I want surgery
and hormones to fit with me. To match the
male/man I am on the inside with the
male/man I need to be on the outside."
—
Ben,
Victoria, 2003
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"Real Life Experience"(RLE) or
"Real Life Test" (RLT)
You might hear of the phrase "Real Life
Experience"(RLE) or "Real Life Test" (RLT) in
the early stages of transition. This refers to a
period of time living as your true self, in
order to 'test' if you can psychologically
function in the gender you know yourself to
be. This 'test' has proven tremendously
useful for women who were identified
male at birth.
Many female-to-male people who know
themselves to be male from an early age
are often able to live in their male gender role
from a relatively young age. Others simply begin
living as young boys or young men long before
starting medical transition or even
knowing it was possible to have medical
treatment.
For many of these men, the 'Real Life Test'
has come and gone as a natural part of life.
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The Medical Process of Transition
