Hospital processes are of great importance in the preparation of the right circumstances for the performance of gender reassignment surgeries and the finalization of the treatment. Gender reassignment surgeries require surgical interventions that take a long time to perform and include a process that necessitates patience. With a report from preoperative health boards and court approval, there are no barriers to gender reassignment and affirmation procedures. A number of examinations that need to be done before surgery in the hospital ensure that the physicians who will perform the surgery have information about the health status of the individual.

• Blood tests
• Urine test
• Urology tests
• Gynecology tests
• Biochemistry tests

Blood tests, urine tests, urology tests, gynecology tests and biochemistry tests are among the necessary workups. Finally, the process leading to surgery is initiated with the physical examinations to be performed by the physician. Gender reassignment surgeries include operations requiring major surgical interventions, such as removing the uterus. For this reason, surgeries are usually performed under general anesthesia. The anesthesiologist may also request tests such as ECG and chest x-ray according to the age of the individual and their general clinical picture.

Surgical Process

The most important process in the hospital is the patient’s preparation for the surgery. Before the surgery, the individual should be both physically and psychologically prepared. It is important for the physicians and technicians who will perform the operation to be experts in their fields focused on gender reassignment and affirmation, where surgical interventions with long durations are usually involved.

Operating room preparations are processes of preparing all team members and equipment required before the patient enters the surgery. The anesthesiologist, plastic surgeon and general surgeon should take part in the surgery, as well as a gynecologist in the surgeries of trans men and a urologist in the surgeries of trans women.

Postoperative Process

Gender reassignment surgeries are treatments that cover quite long periods and require different surgical operations. After the operation, the patient is kept under monitoring in intensive care for them to recover from the effects of general anesthesia. As with all surgeries performed under general anesthesia, various discomforts including pain are likely to occur at the end of gender reassignment surgeries. Depending on the type of the surgery, pain that may vary in intensity is alleviated by medication prescribed by the physician.

One of the natural consequences of gender reassignment surgeries is that the mobility of the patient may be limited for a while. After such surgeries, it is recommended that the patient not move too much for a while.

Dressing and wound examination is of great importance in both the hospital and the individual’s self-treatment stages after surgery. Dressings and health checks should be maintained without interruption according to the schedule determined by the physician.

The removal of sutures means that the incisions resulting from the surgical intervention are about to heal. Nerves and veins are sewn especially during the formation of the penis performed in female to male gender reassignment surgeries. For this reason, the sutures the individual should be carefully cared for in the periods until their removal, and the person must avoid activities that will damage the sutures.

Possible Complications After Surgery

Gender reassignment surgeries also have various risks, as in all surgical interventions performed under general anesthesia. Infection is the main one among such potential complications. Minimizing the risk of infection is possible only by completely sterilizing the operating environment and ensuring the individual’s full compliance with personal hygiene after the surgery.

The risk of edema is also among the common complications. Edema formation can be eliminated in a short time with the treatments applied by the physicians who perform the surgery.

Another complication may involve the loss of function or the development of restrictions in some tissues. In particular, taking tissues from different organs of the individual for the formation of other body parts may lead to such complications. After a certain period, such losses and restrictions disappear.

After gender reassignment surgeries, sexual intercourse must be avoided during the period recommended by the physician, physical activities must be carried out in moderation, and post-hospital drug treatment must be maintained without interruption.