So I'm actually a doctor who specializes in providing transgender HRT, and I've come here to support you all.

Hi! I'm Dr. Will Powers, I'm a family doctor and HIV specialist in detroit, and I have about 1000 transgender patients under my care. I have my own method of doing HRT which is a bit different, and I do my absolute best to provide the healthiest and most effective transition I can for my patients.

That being said, I also do my absolute best to provide the healthiest and most effective de-transition for my patients who want that.

I think that people have the right to use their body and modify it in any way that they see fit. If we own nothing else, we own our own meat sacks. I've seen transition turn someone from a miserable withdrawn human into someone vibrant and happy, and I've also seen it ruin someone's life. In the push for society to accept transgender people (of which, there really are people who truly are transgender and benefit from transition who don't belong here) there has been too much of a push to over-diagnose gender dysphoria.

In my personal experience dealing with transgender teens and kids, I will say that the majority of the kids who present have an underlying endocrine system abnormality, and that the correction of that abnormality (with blockers, cis-hrt, whatever) to the normal physiologic state corrects the gender dysphoria the majority of the time starting at about age 12, then "sometimes" in the teens, and "almost never" over age 18. I have better success in FTMs than in MTF patients. Even in kids approved by psychiatry to start HRT, I encourage this option as it is temporary and reversible. By "corrects" I mean that the kid says "you know what, I don't think I need to take X now, I am okay just being Y". They often remain gender non-conforming, but do not feel they need HRT. I've never had an adult over age 25 succeed with this. (example: 15 year old AFAB has testosterone of 150ng/dl due to genetic mutation, they present with a dirt stache and want to transition to male. I put them on bicalutamide and after a month of it, they decide they're a butch lesbian and stick with that instead as the powerful androgenic signal in their brain is gone. They have to remain on the medication for life though, or at least until their brain is mature, I'm not sure yet, I have only been doing this for 7 years and haven't had anyone age out yet to stop it and see if the dysphoria comes back. Stopping it in that 15 year old almost always results in the dysphoria coming back)

I know the rules of the sub, so I don't want to "promote" anything, but I want to say that in the same way that transition can cause some people to lead happier, healthier lives than they otherwise would have, for some, it simply doesn't. I've helped about 30 people de-transition. I have dealt with some 'vaginoplasty' nightmares who couldn't go anywhere else. I've helped some patients who performed self penectomy due to their dysphoria. Trust me, I have seen some serious shit. In the same way that deciding to transition is a deeply personal choice, so is de-transitioning. It's not something I ever influence my patients on. I let psychiatry sort things out in terms of "what" should be done, and I focus on the "how" something should be done for them.

It was mentioned to me that many anti-transgender subreddits were banned today, and this was one I saw in the list that I immediately reacted with "Oh no, that was a terrible mistake".

I'm really happy you're still here.

I have followed this sub for awhile, and I read it carefully to listen to the experiences on it so that I never lose my vigilance in screening my patients as carefully as possible to make sure I never do anyone harm. I think it's a great subreddit and a great resource for those who wish to de-transition, which as I said earlier, is an extremely difficult and personal decision and a medically complex process. I am really glad you aren't banned. You need to be here.

TLDR: I am a transgender medicine HRT provider and well known specialist in the field, and I think this subreddit should exist and not be banned. I think it serves as an important resource and community for people in this situation, and if anyone ever wants me to answer questions about detransitioning, you can mention my username anytime and I'll be happy to give an unbiased "unofficial totally not personal medical advice" answer.

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Edit: I'm on my desktop now and I can link some studies that you can google that correspond with what I said above:

Gender Dysphoria and Gender Change in Chromosomal Females With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Arianne B Dessens 1, Froukje M E Slijper, Stenvert L S DropAffiliations expand

• PMID: 16010462
• DOI: 10.1007/s10508-005-4338-5

Sexual Orientation in Women With Classical or Non-Classical Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia as a Function of Degree of Prenatal Androgen Excess

Heino F L Meyer-Bahlburg 1, Curtis Dolezal, Susan W Baker, Maria I NewAffiliations expand

• PMID: 18157628
• DOI: 10.1007/s10508-007-9265-1